Ipswich craft shop Jenny Wren’s Yarns goes from strength to strength

We may be in something of a mass-produced world but traditional crafts - making your own clothes and accessories, is having a renaissance.

In Ipswich it can be seen at Jenny Wren’s Yarns, in St Peter’s Street, which is run by keen knitter Lois Mickleburgh.

She said: “It is more than just a shop, if you know what a mean. It is going from strength to strength.

“People seem to like coming to the place.

“We have fun here.

“We have a knitting group and often the place is full of people knitting, doing crochet and chatting, and we always have cake on special days.

“We had our best ever day on Yarn Shop Day recently.”

The shop usually has a break from courses in the summer and is putting together a programme for the autumn. Details will be up on the website in a few days.

“We have some great teachers who come here, including Anne Howard from Colchester and Gillian Fulton from Bury St Edmunds.

“We will have knitting and crochet classes, there is some weaving too and yarn dyeing is another one we hope to do for those that want to attempt it.

“We are putting the programme together at the moment.”

Jenny Wren’s Yarns has been in this bright and airy shop unit for five years, having started across the road as a `shop-within-a-shop’ at Love One a year before.

She added: “We have come a long way in a short time, and we keep on growing.”

Lois is something of a knitting expert, while assistant Kate Dickinson is skilled in crochet.

“There are a lot of people who want to come along, to learn some new skills and meet some new people. We have a great community.”

Jenny Wren’s Yarns has been nominated again in a national award scheme, for the Best Independent Yarn Shop in the South East, an award it won in 2016. Voting for the British Knitting Awards is open until August 30.

“We have been nominated by our customers,” added Lois, “Which is really pleasing and exciting.

“It would be nice to win again. This is the third year we have been nominated.”

More information is available from the website: jennywrensyarns.co.uk