Monday, 2 November 2015

Guest Blogger - Lisa of For The Love Of Yarn

The lovely Karen has asked me to guest blog for her, how could I resist! I have followed Karens blog for a long time, and as you know she is a member of my blanket club and regularly buys yarn from me. So to guest blog for her is a pleasure!

Shall I start off by introducing myself? - My Name is Lisa and I run For the Love of Yarn. (www.fortheloveofyarn.co.uk) I starting out over three years ago making polymer clay handled crochet hooks, my mum suffers from osteo and rheumatoid arthritis and can’t hold a normal hook, this gave me the idea that something with a pretty handle would help lots of people with joint issues and chronic pain to get back to a hobby they once loved. Not only that but the health benefits related to taking up crochet or knitting are well documented... So For the Love of Yarn was born! I started off making a few hooks for family and friends but quickly grew to the business you see now, I now make hundreds of hooks, stitch markers, buttons, notions as well as dye my own hand painted yarn.



 I absolutely love my job! I wouldn’t change it for the world. It allows me to juggle having three young children and work, but not only that I am lucky enough to go to work every day and do something I thoroughly enjoy, my customers, like Karen, are amazing! I really love interacting with them every day showing me what they have made using my yarn, or helping them get back to a hobby they once loved by developing a hook especially for them. I am a very lucky lady.

OK so that’s me in a nutshell... So I thought it would be nice if I showed you the recent yarn exhibition I was at which I’m sure some of you will know all about - Yarndale is a yarn event held in Skipton, Yorkshire every summer, and I was exhibiting again this year. Yarndale was first brought together by Lucy from ‘attic 24’ and a small group of others to create an event that showcases the talents surrounding the yarn community. However it quickly grew, and it is now a massive show with over 200 exhibitors and sees in excess of 7,000 people through the doors over the two day show.

We were there this year and had a fantastic time! We had opted for the double size pen space so we could showcase all we do, and I was so glad we did, with that amount of people anything smaller would have been too cluttered. This was our stall, I could have faffed for hours about how to lay everything out... That’s another thing about me, I’m a tad anal lol.


 The show had everything you could possibly imagine, crochet hooks, yarn, knitting needles, notions, fibre, art, spinning wheels and even alpacas!! Yes real live squishy cuddly alpacas... What’s not to love. I encourage anyone who is thinking of going next year to definitely go. Its a fantastic event with something for everyone.

Our showcase this year was our new blanket club :) Those of you who have followed Karen's progress with her blanket club will know a little about it. Basically blanket club is a subscription based club, where each month you receive hand dyed merino yarn in a surprise colour-way and a pattern to follow for the month along with an added extra gift. Come the end of the year you will have created a beautiful blanket using hand painted merino yarn that you wouldn’t necessarily have done had to had to buy all the yarn outright. Its also a great way to learn new techniques, and chat with other like minded crochet lovers as their is a facebook group especially for blanket club members. 

This years blanket club has been a huge success and next years is set to be even better, the pattern and theme has changed a little, taking on-board comments from this years group, we have developed a graph based pattern. Each month you will receive all the yarn in all the colours needed to create a large multicoloured square, that will then be joined together to create a beautiful large crochet blanket to cherish.


So those of you who would like to know more feel free to pop over to www.fortheloveofyarn.co.uk for more information - pm me on facebook and I’ll happily add you to the newsletter list.

Thank you for having me over here at Karen's fabulous blog. It’s been a joy.

Happy hooking :) 

Love Lisa xx

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