A SHOP that will stock everything woolly is opening in Conwy.

Ewe Felty Thing are opening at the old Natwest bank on 24 Castle Street, which has been empty for six years, on December 2 at 10am.

Ewe Felty Thing, run by Nikki Small, Wendy Collins and Helen Faulkner, was previously located in Llandudno on Madoc Street. The shop specialises in dyed yarns and fibres.

Nikki and her team were "broken-hearted" after closing their base in Llandudno after five years but are now looking ahead and are delighted not only to be opening a new shop in Conwy, in such a location, but one with "so much scope to grow."

Nikki said: "The new shop is opposite Tan y Ddraig pottery and between Johnny Doughs and Telfords Bistro. You can see the castle from the front door!

"We are very excited about opening and also, very exhausted. We’ve been in the shop every day for the last few weeks ripping up old flooring, clearing through, painting, hammering in what seemed like a million carpet staples, more painting, plastering two walls and one ceiling, dismantling safes, and have now started laying the new flooring."

Nikki, Wendy and Helen initially looked around the property in August - but they have actually wanted it since 2019.

"It seemed like the perfect location," Nikki said.

"Conwy is a unique location with a great atmosphere. The local shops are almost all small independents, and there are a lot of artisan products as well. Ewe Felty Thing feels like it fits in here really well.

"We were gutted to have to come to the conclusion of shutting the shop in Madoc Street, but there was no way at that time to keep it going. We made the decision to have a strategic withdrawal, focus on our online presence, and build up to having another shop when we found the right location.

"We hadn’t ever envisaged opening again quite this soon.

"The truth is that if it wasn’t this property, we wouldn’t be doing it. We’ve loved this building for years and it’s always been our dream location. When we saw the estate agent signs had changed in August, I emailed Colin at St David's straight away to ask if we could have a look around. As soon as we went in, we knew how it would all be laid out, how the shop would work, and that it would give us the space and opportunity to relaunch Arterium Hub as a CIC (community interest company) where we can help the local community as well."

Ewe Felty Thing closed their shop in Llandudno earlier this year.

"Those who visited our Madoc Street shop are going to see many of the things that they loved in our Conwy shop," Nikki said.

"Our ‘Wall of Colour’ full of indie-dyed yarns, will be back and improved with new stock from existing dyers and some exciting newcomers as well. We’re growing our ranges to include a lot more handmade items, both from our own staff and our amazing contributors. These include felted pictures, woven scarves and shawls, knitted and crocheted items, shawl pins, jewellery, ceramic buttons, and much more.

North Wales Pioneer: The guest list for the opening weekend!The guest list for the opening weekend! (Image: Ewe Felty Thing)
"As with the previous shop, we don’t stock acrylic yarns and are very careful about how we source our fibres to ensure they have high animal welfare standards and that the companies we stock from have good ethical standards.

"At opening, we will have stock from around 26 different UK and Irish indie dyers both in the form of yarn for knitting, crochet and weaving, and as fibre for spinning and felting. We are an Ashford stockist, so customers can come here to try out different spinning wheels and weaving looms, purchase them or learn how to use them.

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"As well as our independently dyed ranges, we also stock yarns by West Yorkshire Spinners, Noro, John Arbon Textiles, and Rowan. We have a wide range of tools as well, such as knitting needles, crochet hooks, sewing needles and stitch markers."

As well as having a wide range of woolly products to buy, Arterium Hub will be running groups and classes.

Nikki said: "We’ll have classes available to book for the opening weekend and the following two Saturdays on the run up to Christmas."

Ewe Felty Thing was sparked from Nikki’s love of all things woolly.

Nikki originally learnt to knit as a teenager when unwell with glandular fever.

Over the past two decades, she has learnt crochet, spinning, felting, weaving and many other crafts. When moving to North Wales eight years ago, Nikki started looking for ways to sell her creations as well as teach.

She attended and ran craft fairs, rented shelf space, sold on Facebook and Etsy, and eventually in 2018 opened the original Ewe Felty Thing in the back room of Promise Art and Crafts.

Nikki suffers from chronic health conditions that leave her housebound or wheelchair bound for significant periods of time.

She said having her creative pursuits has "really kept her going" over the last 22 years.

Nikki said: "Many people say that they don’t know how they’d have got through without their knitting, their crochet, their sewing etc. Ewe Felty Thing and Arterium Hub both work to help as many people as possible to have access to that creative support and therapy."

Wendy has been an avid crocheter for many years and met Nikki by signing up to one of her felting classes, at Promise Art and Crafts, whilst Helen is the newest member of the Ewe Felty Thing team but has been with Nikki since the very beginning.

It was Helen that came up with the name Ewe Felty Thing.

Nikki added: "There’s a lot to come together, but we know we’re going to make it.

"We can’t wait to have our little piece of fibre paradise up and running and welcome everyone in."

Ewe Felty Thing will open 10am until 5pm from Wednesdays to Saturdays and 10am until 4pm on Sundays.

During the opening weekend on December 2 and 3, Ewe Felty Thing will be having a visit from Christine Perry from 11am to talk all things socks. Margaret Markland, weaving enthusiast, will be doing demonstrations and talking all things weaving.

Many of Ewe Felty Thing's independent dyers will be making an appearance and be able to chat to customers about how they create their colours.

Three workshops for each of the two days are also planned. There will also be a range of tea, coffee and cakes for customers.