TIK News

Drumroll, please!

We’re thrilled to announce that our new online shop is now open. There’s so many new and exciting things to tell you about it that one blog post won’t be enough, but here’s just a couple of them.

When you create an account, you can set up a wishlist for things you really love the look of. This is, of course, awfully useful for making sure you get the perfect present in the future, but it’s also good for reminding yourself!

We’re very happy that we have so many customers who live outside Ireland, and now we’ve made things a bit easier for them by pricing in three different currencies. At the top of the screen, just to the right of the This Is Knit logo, you can choose whether you want to see prices in euros, sterling or US dollars – just click on the currency you want displayed.

If you’re shopping from outside the EU, you don’t have to pay sales tax (VAT) on purchases here. In the past the VAT could be deducted after an order was placed, but we have now made the process simpler and easier by showing only VAT free prices for customers who register an account with a non-EU shipping address.

There’s an awful lot more to share with you yet, but right now we’re in a mood to celebrate. So if you live in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland and place an order before midnight on March 31st, we’ll pay your shipping for you. Simply enter the coupon code “SendMeYarn” to avail of this promotion.

So if you fancy an exciting parcel in the post (or want to send a gift to a yarn-loving loved one), come have a look round.

As you know, the online shop has been offline for a few weeks now while we gussy it up and make it better for you. We’ve been doing a lot of photography for it this week, so we thought it would a good idea to share with you a bit of what’s been going on behind the scenes.

We were able to do much of the shooting in the Powerscourt Centre loft, the lovely space which has hosted special events like the Yarn Tasting and last year’s birthday party. This was just as well – we needed a generous space for the amount of yarn we needed to shoot.

So much of the last few days looked like this:

We’re rather excited about all the new functionality that the improved online shop will have. It’ll be easier to navigate and better integrated with the bricks-and-mortar shop, and we’ve been able to include things you asked for, like wishlists. Here’s a very small preview of the new look:

We think it’ll be a big improvement, and we think you’ll like it a lot. But there’s lots more to do, so we’d better get back to it!

Since we announced the big move, people have been asking if we were going far away. We’ve paced it, and the new unit is exactly 32 paces from the door of the smaller old unit. Of course, there’s two ways of approaching, and you saw one of them near the end of yesterday’s post: if you come in the South William Street entrance, you’ll most likely come upon us right at the top of a short flight of steps, through the doors pictured at the end of the post.

If you come the other way, from the direction of the old shop and the car park entrance, you’ll pass the counter of the Pepperpot. When you turn right immediately after the cakes, you’ll be walking through our door.

If you take a moment to look through the window, you’ll see something like this:

Once inside, the shop’s airy and bright, with lots of shelf space. In the far corner, you’ll see the round table, where you can sit while you decide what to make (perhaps something from the magazines we’ve recently begun to stock?).

If you’re looking for even more patterns, head up the stairs, past luxurious skeins of yarn just asking to be fondled and pattern books full of ideas:

You’ll find shelves full of patterns and technique books up in the gallery – take your time and relax on the sofa as you read them (thanks, Aileen, for doing just that!):

The ballwinder and swift are up there as well, so we can wind those skeins into handy yarn cakes for you as fast as possible:

On the far side of the sofa, you’ll find the teaching area. We’ve now got an ideal space for learning new skills, with a generous table for working in comfort, away from distraction.

Do drop in – we can’t wait to see you!

….we’ve been aching to tell you this and now it’s official:

This Is Knit is moving!

We’re staying in the Powercourt Centre, but moving to a single larger unit beside the Pepperpot, the one currently occupied by Article, who are themselves moving to a new unit in the main house. We’ll have even more room for yarn, and for classes, and for all manner of good things.

As you can imagine, we’re terrifically excited about this. There’ll be more details here soon, including the date itself, but we simply couldn’t wait to tell you all.

Squee! Ahem!