We remember first meeting Estelle and Mark and Midwinter Yarns on their very first day of trading a few years ago at Wonderwool in Wales. We've loved watching them grow their business and are now very excited to welcome them to the Pop-Up Marketplace!
Midwinter Yarns was born from a desire to bring the best of Scandinavian yarns to a wider audience - I am Swedish myself and grew up with a love of all things craft and natural materials. Our emphasis is on "proper" wool in glorious colours - good, strong yarns that smell of sheep and make for hard-wearing garments that stand the test of time and weather.
It's so hard to decide! We've got yarns in so many colours and for such different uses, so picking the "best of the best" is a real challenge. We will be bringing the wonderful Pirkkalanka from Finland - the one that usually makes up our "wall of colour" if you've come across us at shows before. Pom Pom magazine has just produced a beautiful pattern called Maude in the Worsted weight Pirkka in their latest issue so we will definitely bringing the yarn to support that, along with our Ullcentrum gradient colours and hopefully a fresh batch of the very popular Lithuanian Linen.
Seeing finished projects in our yarns, without a doubt! Just knowing that what started as a hank on our shelves brought someone knitting enjoyment and resulted in a warming garment or a special present is amazing and I get so excited seeing them "in the flesh" at shows!
Mark was shamed into learning to knit at Unwind Brighton last year. I had tried to convince him to learn for 12 years before that to no avail, and while he was perfectly knowledgeable about weights and fibre contents and prices, he was looking at it all from a salesman's point of view. At one point, he was showing two gentlemen the Lithuanian linen and explaining it all to them when they asked "yes, but what is it like to knit with?". He blushed and muttered that...well...he wasn't a knitter. They simultaneously took a step back and looked him up and down with such vigour that he asked me to teach him as soon as we'd gotten in the van to drive home that night! He is currently working on his first ever sweater after knitting both his mother and his stepmother lace shawls for our recent wedding.
Sounds like Mark took to knitting like a duck to water! And congratulations on your recent nuptials you two!