About
Welcome to Red Robin Yarns!
My name is Natalie and I am the owner, chief whip, creative manager and all round boss here at Red Robin Yarns. I can’t not mention Alan who is my biggest cheer leader, humper and dumper and general lackie but without him Red Robin Yarns wouldn’t exist.
Where it all started…
We are a team and have been married for 25 years, best friends, bickering buddies, eaters of carbs, lovers of cheese, walkers of our 2 dogs and I can’t remember life before we became family. Oh, we also have 2 men children (23 and 24) that still are living at home that bring nothing to the yarn party!
My yarn journey started back in the early 80’s when my Gran taught me to knit, crochet and make GIANT pom-poms. My Gran was a force of nature, the best Gran in the world, role model and was an OG feminist. I remember watching her knit at the speed of light with that calming click clacking of her needles, in awe of how she could knit a complexed pattern without looking whist having a conversation or watching TV. It was like sorcery!
She was very much from the ‘make do and mend’ generation that lived through the war and would often unravel old sweaters and make them into something new, double dip tea bags, grew vegetables and was all round thrifty. I could write for days about how much I loved her and how much she taught me, I miss her terribly every day. I hope I am making her proud.
Fast forward
To my teens and knitting, crocheting and sewing was not cool, well I thought it wasn’t. I was too busy learning dance routines to Top of the Pops, back combing my hair within an inch of its life and trying to fit in with the ‘cool’ girls in school. I need to point out I was not cool, I was trying to find my place in the world.
At 16 I joined the army, and spent the next 12 years serving in the Royal Artillery. This is where I met Alan, we really didn’t like each other (verging on hate) until we were made to work together and found out we were SO similar and got on so well. Within a year we were married and started our family!
Its at this point my knitting, crochet and general craftiness reared its head.
I had my first home, I was about to have my first child and I wanted to make him things to wear and to keep and make things for our home. The thing that makes my heart swell is that both of my boys still have crocheted teddies and blankets from when they were babies. You know the blanket that gets bought out when you are ill and need to feel comforted, that’s the ones I made.
I started to shop about for yarn that wasn’t acrylic for sweaters, cardigans etc and always had a colour in my mind and couldn’t find exactly what I wanted so always compromised on colour or the make up of the yarn. I went down the rabbit hole of indie dyed yarn and started to go to yarn festivals and met some AMAZING like mind people. Its at this point I started to bore Alan to death with how I wanted to start dyeing my own yarn and selling it to the public but I think at that point I wasn’t ready. I started dyeing yarn for my own projects and completely caught the bug!
Fast Forward Again…
To 2020, yes you’ve guessed it the pandemic. 2020 was the worst year for me mentally, physically and I am sure many people are in the same boat.
I was put onto furlough and this was the first time I had no purpose, I was rudderless. The first few weeks were DIY, baking, gardening and just getting by. Then in April 2020 I lost my friend to COVID 19. Grief enveloped me and I can honestly say I don’t remember April to June, I barely existed.
I was called back from furlough in July and within 2 weeks of being back at work I had a severe car accident that could’ve killed me. This was the kick up the bum I needed, it made me revaluate my life and dreams.
“If you don’t try you will never know.”
I spoke with Alan about the yarn dream (again) and he told me to DO IT! His exact words were ‘If you don’t try you will never know. If it fails you cant say you never tried but you will always regret not trying’. This is how Red Robin Yarns was born.
I wanted a connection to my Gran and toyed with calling it after her, Lavinia.
However, I then thought people would think I am Lavinia and it would get confusing. One thing that reminds my sisters, cousins and I about my gran is a robin red breast. There was a lamp next to her arm chair that always had a wee robin perched on the top and at Christmas another 3 robins would join it.
my Gran used to say it was his family visiting for Christmas, so Red Robin Yarns was born. Strangely, when I decided on the name a robin appeared at my window and I knew it was my Gran visiting me and letting me know she approves of the name.
Red Robin Yarns was born out of my love for yarn and in memory of my Gran.
Natalie xoxo
P.S. Every Skein of your yarn is quality tested by Gunner & Bailey, our Working Cocker Spaniels!
