patt711

Any avid knitters out there who have purchased yarn in London? We'll be there next month for a week, and I'd love to find some good yarn shops there. Thanks!

rhkkmk

my mother used to own a yarn shop so we always look for them in europe...there are quite a few around london and england in general...the quality of the yarns is excellent

Mischka

Hi Patt,
The are a few that I never made it to and if you do a search on google I'm sure you will find them.
I have bought the most yarn at Liberty, and was lucky enough to hit a sale last time I was there. They have a great selection.
All the large department stores have yarn departments.
Have fun looking and shopping

nytraveler

Agreed - unlike the US where sewing and knitting are largely a thing of the past they seem to be alive and well in europe. At least the big department stores still seem to have yarn and fabric departments - a thiing phased out in the US at least 20 years ago due to lack of sales.

Erin

My mother is an avid quilter, and I do needlepoint, so we are really looking forward to getting back to Liberty to restock our project drawers! Another place we have on our list is Kaffee Fasett's shop in Lancer square. I had never heard of him before, but my mother loves his fabrics. Here is the specific information I have in our travel file, directions and all:

Website is www.kaffefasset.com
Our London shop hours are:

Monday thru Friday 9:30am until 5:30pm
Saturday - 11am until 4pm
The best directions to follow are: Kensington High Street tube station - turn right at Barker's Department Store - left up Church Street to first turn on right at Cafe Rouge into Lancer Square.

This place is a 'don't miss' on our list. We'll be there next week, and I'll report back on it.

highledge

Liberty and John Lewis have the best selection of the Dept stores. I'd go on to a sewing or knitting website and ask there. Try threads. Don't forget to look for great buttons too!

Daisy54

I second (or is it third?) the recommendation for Liberty. However even they have cut back their crafts departments. I was their last April and the sales lady said they now stock only their own brand of fabrics, and the needlework dept. has very little cross stitch now where it used to have loads. They did have a lot of needlepoint kits however - I think needlepoint has become more popular in the UK than cross stitch.

jsmith

Try Peter Jones in Sloane Square.

Here is the address for "The finest wool shop in West London":

http://www.bunty-wool.co.uk/links.htm

Their words, not mine.

jody

If you make a day trip to Hampton court Palace, you might want to check out The Royal School of Needlework shop , located on the east front of the palace. Beautiful items !!

Daisy54

Jody - I was at Hampton Court a couple years ago but managed to miss the Royal School of Needlework shop you mentioned. Does the shop sell supplies for doing needlework or completed pieces? I'll be going back to London in April and may just have to make a return visit to Hampton Court!

SusanP

Daisy, the Royal School of Needlework shop sells complete kits as well as specialty threads and other supplies. They have the items made up so you can see the finished product, but those aren't for sale. To find the shop, when you go in the front of the palace, go straight through to the back where you exit to the grounds. As you face the outside, it's on the left, right before you go outside. Have fun!

Daisy54

SusanP, thanks so much for the info on the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court. I can't believe I missed it when I was there! Perhaps it was because they were doing some work on the outside of the back of the building and there was a lot of scaffolding along there - maybe it blocked the view of the shop. I hope to go back and find it on the next trip.

patt711

Thanks for your replies, Ladies. I'm still hoping for some specialty shops for knitting and weaving yarns in London.
NYtraveler, I'm surprised by your response... I agree about the fabric stores, but yarn stores are everywhere, at least here on the west coast. Knitting has become HUGE, with great novelty yarns, etc.
Keep those ideas coming!

jsmith

I'm hurt, sir.

Buster

Your best bets are likely to be John Lewis, Peter Jones and Liberty. I find that John Lewis has the best selection of yarns. I took a class a couple of weeks ago at Peter Jones, and the instructor was a rep from Rowan. She was lamenting that most yarn shops in London have closed. It seems that while knitting has experienced something of a renaissance in the States (I'm from the West Coast, and agree that it's gotten big there), it's really in decline in the UK and in London in particular.

That said, John Lewis really does have a fine selection of yarn. Not sure how to compare to what you're used to...I live here in London and started knitting here, so I haven't been to a yarn shop back in the States.

patt711

Thanks, Buster. Only 10 more days until we leave. Where are John Lewis and Peter Jones located? These are stores? Even if the yarn isn't as exciting/novel as what we have on the west coast, it's still great fun to me to buy yarn on a trip and make something special as a remembrance. It's a great way to feed my addiction! ;-)

fairfax

Topping this because I've been searching for decent yarn stores since i arrived in the UK seven months ago. I am living in Wales, a land full of sheep and have only just found a yarn shop, that just opened two months ago. Apparently, knitting in the UK isn't what it is in the US, where we had a group called the Knittin' Kittens (who were mostly actually the Drinking Kittens). I have been to the main John Lewis store, and to Liberty, but wasn't hugely impressed by their selection.

Tulips

If you do get to the Peter Jones store on Sloane Square, there's a shop on the other side of the square (direction Eaton Square, opposite the David Mellor kitchen shop) called VV Rouleaux. Don't think they do yarn, but they have fabulous ribbons, bows, accessories like pompoms (very 'in' right now). It's a lovely shop.

flanneruk

We don't call them yarn shops. They're called (or used to be called when you could always find a couple at the less-shopped end of every High Street) 'wool shops' or sometimes 'knitting shops'.

There are very few, but googling the English term seems to throw up several. The online ones might at least help Fairfax. Alternatively, Fairfax, spend more time in the centre of small French towns: even the rather naff ones we zoom past on weekends in the Pas de Calais. There are always one or two, usually in the kind of location you'd find a Boots or WHS in Chipping Nurdle or Llangwynneth.

fairfax

Actually, I've found a really nice one in Penarth, just outside of cardiff. Tiny place but great selection and good community of people. I've made a great scarf and am in the middle of a baby sweater with beautiful peasoup green cotton yarn.