September Offers from LoobyLou Yarns

September 2019

September! How did we get here so soon? We have had a really busy summer here at LL Yarns - we  have opened up a second bricks and mortar shop in my old home town of Thornbury (Blog post to follow), and this has kept us busy for most of last month. Unfortunately an August newsletter happened but we are now back on track and raring to go!

So to celebrate our new venture, here's what we have to offer you for September...

 

New into both shops is Stylecraft Cosy Delight Chunky - a chunky yarn on 100g donut with a light, fluffy feel and impressive meterage.  A delightfully cosy yarn for the chilliest of winter days, and with most garments taking just 4 or 5 balls to complete its great value for money. 

 

  
We love this yarn so much we want you to love it too so if you enter COSY15 when checking out you will get 15% off your order...try it, you won't be disappointed.

Now the nights are starting to draw in its definitely back to full on knitting time - I'm starting a new pair of socks right now....how about 15% off all West Yorkshire Spinners Signature sock yarns to kick off your sock knitting season?

     

 

Type SOCK15 into the box at the checkout and receive 15% off your warm feet this winter!

                              
 

And finally for a touch of luxury, how about discounted Manos Alegria to tempt you? This has to be one of our favourite yarns ever (so far) and we have plenty in stock to choose from.


Again, type MANOS15 into the box at the checkout to receive 15% off your luxurious, soft, colourful skein of loveliness :-)                   

 

 

Don't forget delivery is free for any orders over £25.00, and we offer a returning customer discount after your first order on-line. Of course if you are local to the bricks and mortar shops we would love to see you in person - and if you quote the above codes we will give you the discount in-store!


Today the sun is shining and its warm, and while we are loving the last moments of summer, we are starting to look forward to cosy nights in with good tele and our projects. What are you looking forward to?


Thanks for subscribing, Happy September :-)

With lots of love from Tina and the LoobyLou Team

xxxx

Yarn Stories...Special yarn for special things

I am asked quite a lot in the shop for a 100% wool baby yarn for extra special garments for extra special babies - and so after a little bit of research I have added some of Yarn Stories 100% Fine Merino DK to the shelves. Not necessarily a baby yarn, but this yarn is so very soft that it can be used for any baby project.

  
Yarn Stories is a kind of spin off from Stylecraft yarns - I am told it is a passion of one of the directors to make high quality yarn from high quality fibres, and I absolutely love this product. Super soft with a lovely smooth feel to it, it glides over the needles and is a pleasure to knit with. I have chosen some 'baby' colours for now, but there are many beautiful 'grown up' colours too and the patterns available are fabulous. 

Another great thing about Yarn Stories Fine Merino DK is that it is produced here in England - in a traditional old mill in Yorkshire, steeped in history and tradition.
So if you are looking for something a little bit extra special then this may be just for you...I'm about to start a little garter stitch cardigan in the natural colour for a special little girl bump my daughter is growing - I've got until September so I should manage to finish it!!
You can find this beautiful yarn here, we hope you like it as much as we do!

Memories from the old shop...

This afternoon I have been trying to think of something interesting to write for a new blog post and have, as usual got bloggers block! So I went through some of my old posts from years ago for inspiration (or, if I'm totally honest for something to copy!). And I found so much stuff that I had forgotten about......so many pictures from my time owning a different wool shop, making all those buried memories come back to me. 

Firstly I found a photo of the first shop I owned - look how small it was! How did I ever fit everything into it, let alone customers! I think I remember three customers at once made it look pretty full. I loved that shop, it was the beginning of a lot of good times and great memories...

How about the time when we appeared on Countryfile!! What a wonderful day spent behind the scenes for the filming of the summer special - cups of tea and knitting with John Hammond, chatting with Matt Baker (I was a bit star struck!) and actually being filmed for the tele!! Us, a little shop in the west country actually on the tele! I will never forget that day it was brilliant!

                              

Or the time we yarn bombed Thornbury for the Queens Jubilee and surprised everyone with a whole load of red, white and blue which seemed to appear overnight! That was pretty brilliant too. 

I cant miss out when we were asked to knit hanging flower baskets for Thornbury in Bloom - my amazing knitting group and customers rallied round and knitted hundreds of flowers and leaves, and me and my mum spent a whole day wiring them and making 13 hanging baskets that were dotted all around Thornbury High Street - we were in the local papers for that effort, and were so pleased with how many people popped into the shop to comment on them. Good times.

And then Countryfile called us again and set us a challenge to 'knit the presenters'! Of course we rose to the challenge and knitted up a set of tv presenters that rode on the back of sheep in a race on their summer special. Oh the things you can do with two sticks and a bit of wool...…!

All this and lots more happened during my time in my first shop. More adventures came my way during our three years in wales - including Alpacas, wayward goats, hatching chickens, pig sitting and wool shop sitting in Llandeilo. More great and happy times.

Now we have moved back to our home stomping grounds and I have opened LoobyLou Yarns, I am hoping that the adventures will continue and in a few years time I can look back on the photos from today and remember all the things that can happen - and DO happen when you are the owner of a little old wool shop!

Knitting certainly has a lot going for it!

Lots of love

Tina

PS If you are from Countryfile and are reading this, we are back in business and ready for another wool based challenge....!!

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all 

Wow, its been almost six months since I last posted anything! Lots of excuses, but from April onwards, 2018 was an actual event filled whirlwind....

Firstly in April my beautiful 2 year old Granddaughter was diagnosed with a terminal illness called Leukodystrophy, and this diagnosis set the scene for the rest of the year. As a family we decided to move back from Wales to our home area so that all of the families could get to spend time with Zoey and get to know her as much as possible. So Arhosfa House and Arhosfa Cottage were put on the market and we began to search for houses in the Gloucester/South Gloucestershire areas, resulting in us finding a lovely little terraced cottage on the high street in Berkeley - a total change from being on the edge of the mountain in Wales but  perfect for our next new life.  

                            

With all my animals re-homed, I felt that when I moved I would need something to occupy my time, so between us me and my daughter Hayley concocted the idea of setting up a shop together. So we did! We now are the proud owners of LoobyLou Yarns and Mint Plants Wotton under Edge! We share the shop space and the odd sounding combination of house plants and yarn is actually working out really well. I have to say August, September and October were fairly stressful with lots of travelling between Wotton, Cardiff and our home in Wales - we were very glad once the house and shop had completed and we could all be in one place!

After spending nearly three months in a children's Hospice in Cardiff, Zoey is now at home with her family and has been stable for a few weeks now. We take each day as it comes and are thankful for each day as it ends. The shop is doing well, the house is getting straight and we are getting to relax a little bit....for now! In the space of a few months we have moved houses, moved businesses, travelled a million miles up and down the M4, and opened a shop - we are a bit tired out!
                                                                    

2018 was an awful year in a lot of ways - hearing the news that your grandchild will not live very long is a complete devastation, but we feel that we have made the best decisions for us as a family and there have been some highlights as well as really low times. We have definitely learned all about unconditional love, making the most of everything and how precious the good times are, no matter how small. Our dreams for a rural life working from home and looking after our animals has had to do a U turn but we have new focus and new ideas to look forward to in 2019, while also dreading what the coming year may bring us.
I really hope your 2018 was a lot less eventful (and stressful) than ours was, and also hope that your 2019 is a good one and treats you all kindly. My next blog posts will focus on the new shop and our visions for the future of this little venture.....exciting times ahead I think.

Happy New Year and lots of love from us all here at LoobyLou Yarns xxxx