Welcome Anna!

Welcome Anna!

Anna joined the AYS team in February and here's your chance to get to know her a bit better.

A weaver and recent graduate of Bath Spa's renowned Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors program, I'm thrilled to have Anna in the shop. With an amazing eye for color and a sleek modern design aesthetic she's a perfect fit. You can usually find Anna in the shop a couple days a week, so if you get a chance stop by and say hi, in the meantime she shares a bit of her Yarn Story below.


Q: What is currently on your needles?
A: I am just about to start the final section of Brenna from The Fibre Company’s Fell Garth Collection. I also have a moss stitch draped jacket which I started literally years ago but I am determined to finish it soon!

Q: When did you start knitting/crocheting? Who taught you?
A: I think I was about 14 when my Mum taught me to knit as a way to switch off my brain in the evenings. This pig from Laura Long’s book Knitted Toy Tales and was the first thing I knitted that wasn’t a flat rectangle! I taught myself to crochet a few years later but it’s never stuck in the same way as knitting.

Q: You recently graduated with a degree in textiles and have specialised in weaving - what drew you to weaving in particular?
A: I was torn between specialising in print or weave at university and chose weaving partly as it was the less popular option! But the main reason was that I like the balance between the technical skill and creativity. There is also nothing quite as satisfying as taking a length of cloth off the loom which started as (often quite a tangled) collection of yarn.

Q: What is your favorite fibre to work with?
A: I love working with merino and alpaca as a base and then adding in different textures such as a silk mohair- the softer the better.

Q: What do you enjoy most about the textile crafts?
A: I love colour- choosing the colour palette for a new project is always my favourite stage which may seem odd as I am nearly always wearing black or grey! 

Q: What is the last project you completed?
A: I have just completed my first big weaving project since graduating which was for a National Trust Competition. It was quite daunting but it felt good to be designing and making again.

Q: What has you most excited about joining the AYS team? 
A: I feel very lucky to have a job which I look forward to going to in the mornings! I have particularly enjoyed learning more about all the different yarns (which has proved a good test for my self restraint) and getting to know the customers.

Q: Anything else you would like to share about yourself?
A: I have a worryingly large collection of nail varnish, I enjoy taking a book down to the Crescent on sunny evenings and I have a tendency to name inanimate objects; I have a new houseplant called Fergus, my car is called Mildred and my sewing machine is called Sybil.

If you'd like to see more of what Anna creates with her loom you can follow her on Instagram here.
-Carmen

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