We have had the best year yet here at Yarns Untangled, and that is thanks to the kindness and unending support of you wonderful people. Thank you for your love of craft, your passion for colour, and your true understanding of the value of small independent businesses in Toronto. Here’s to an even better 2019!
2018 was an exciting one for us, with many small shifts and improvements, as well as a couple of unexpected occurrences that kept us on our toes.
This time last year, you may remember that we had no water in the store, and that lasted for five weeks! With some support from our neighbours (thanks to Ideal Coffee and KOS for the constant access to their bathrooms, and to Ozzy’s for hot water and cleaning supplies), and some hardiness we didn’t know we possessed, we made it through.
At the same time, we welcomed Annabel to our staff! She has been an incredible addition and we have been very lucky to have her. In 2019, she will return to school and scale back her shifts at YU, but she will still be a regular face around the shop. We are excited to see what the future holds for her!
In other staff developments, we bid farewell to a long time friend and member of our team, Nicole, who has moved to KW to be with her true love and share her skills with Waterloo University. We miss her, but we know she’s destined for greatness and are proud to have called her one of our number for over two years.
As Nicole left, we welcomed Kelly who continues to blow us away with her ingenuity and dedication, not to mention her stunning knitting and teaching skills. Look forward to seeing what classes she’ll be offering in the new year in a later message from us!
Regular visitors will have noticed the “For Sale” sign above the shop, and many have clarified with us that indeed, the business is NOT for sale, but instead, our building has been on the market for a few months now. In fact, we can now announce that the building was officially sold and will change ownership in February. We have yet to meet with the new owners in order to get more information for what this means for us, but rest assured that you will be among the first to know after we do.
The summer months featured some ground-breakingly successful trunk shows, including first time visits from Westlake Knits, Shelridge Yarns, and the Yarn Therapist, and triumphant returns of Feisty Fibres, Trailhead Yarns, and Yarn Indulgences, to name a few. 2019 will bring an even more exciting list of delicious visitors!
For the first time ever, we collaborated with other members of the southern Ontario yarn community and brought in Alexa, of Tin Can Knits fame, to teach a wildly successful Colourwork class! It sold out with surprising speed, and we were very privileged to have her. Look for more events like this one in the future.
This fall’s Knitalong featured the beautiful handdyed yarn of our good friend and yarn crush, Feisty Fibres! This KAL was one for the record books, and brought in more participants than ever!
And the prizes go to:
Namita, for most metres worked
Anna, for best original design
And Rachel F gets the randomly drawn prize!
Here are the stats:
Participants: 23
Projects started: 34
Projects finished: 24
Patterns used: 28
IG posts: 50
Ravelry thread: 54 posts, 3 pages
Stay tuned for info on our next themed knitalong!
We had so many other fun events and happenings this year that it would get a little long here for me to mention them all, but special shout outs go to the Easter Egg Hunt, Topsy Farms’ annual lamb adoption, Romantic Scientist’s fibre line launch (more still available in store!), and Kate Atherley’s Knitter’s Dictionary book launch (who knew we could fit that many people in the store?). Thanks again to all of you who continue to make it possible for us to live and thrive, and here’s to a soft, colourful, and warm new year!
Lots of love,
The YU Team
What an awesome newsletter! 2018 was an awesome year! Here’s to 2019 🙂 xo