Hidden Gems: Woolsty Crafts
For local crafters and creatives, Woolsty Crafts on Wigton High Street is the place to be.
With walls lined with wool and fabrics and shelves stocked to the brim with haberdashery, cross-stitch and craft supplies, Woolsty Crafts has become a destination shop. Customers have travelled to the Wigton shop from as far away as Gosforth and even Haltwhistle for the yarns that they keep in stock.
However, Woolsty Crafts is not just a shop, it’s a hub of activity. Pop in on more or less any day of the week and you’ll find a knitting or stitching class in full swing. Since moving to its current location in 2016, the shop now has a dedicated workshop space and owner Sandra Pringle, hosts a variety of classes from patchwork and dressmaking, to crochet and knit and natter. “Because people can get the materials so cheap online, you’ll find that they come for the experience,” explained Sandra. “What the internet can’t provide is me and what I know, and a place to do it with others.”
Sandra does knows her stuff. Taught to knit by her father as a child, she once worked at Shaddongate Mill in Carlisle doing commission embroidery and invisible mending. After going on to teach for many years, she opened the business in 2013 and is now enjoying sharing a different type of skill set and building a crafters community. “These people know each other through coming here,” she said. “They are a source of emotional support for each other.”
While the social aspect can help overcome isolation and loneliness, crafting is known to combat stress and knitting has even been proven to reduce anxiety and depression. A study by Harvard Medical School Institute of Minds and Body Institute found that knitting lowers the heart rate by an average of 11 beats per minute and induces an “enhanced state of calm” similar to that of yoga. “It occupies you sufficiently so that you’re not thinking about your concerns, without it causing you further stress,” explained Sandra.
In addition, the repetitive movements release the chemical serotonin into the brain, which can dull pain and lift moods.
By the sounds of animated chatter and hoots of laughter coming from the table, I would say it’s working, Sandra laughed: “You don’t have to be mad to enjoy classes here, but it helps.”
For more information contact 016973 42470 and follow @WoolstyCrafts on Facebook
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