S1 E10: Celebrating Big Dreams and 20 Years of Loop with Susan Cropper

Hello yarn friends -

It’s Sweater Weather - finally! - and welcome to November. Of course, this is one of the mildest Novembers that I can remember here in the UK so the heavy knits haven’t made it out of the wardrobe yet. I can hardly believe that the podcast started back in August and sunshine and now here I am wrapping up Series 1 under Landon’s grey skies.

This is Episode 10 of the podcast, and to wrap things up in a celebratory way, I’m delighted to chat with Susan Cropper, owner of the iconic Loop yarn shop here in London and which this year is celebrating their 20th anniversary.

Loop holds a special place in my heart - it was the first yarn shop I knew about in London and even before moving here I looked forward to seeing their unique and hard-to-find yarns that were even difficult to find in Canada. My partner Jordan visited Loop on a work trip to the UK before we moved over and brought back a sweater’s quantity of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Thistle, which I knit into a Central Park Hoodie while I waited in Toronto for mine and Harry’s visa paperwork to process. And when I finally left Canada for our UK adventure it was with a card from my stitchy friends at my LYS directing me to Loop where a gift card was waiting to help me enhance my stash on my arrival in the London.

During my time in London, Loop has been a constant part of the UK yarn landscape and woven into my knitting adventures with Yarn in the City, and even becoming one of Susan’s Loopettes for a couple of years. So it was an honour to chat with Susan about the origins of her shop and her design background and how she built her shop from an idea to have a sweet knitting shop with the kinds of yarns she wanted to knit with to the celebration of colour and textiles that it is today.

Susan’s love for textiles is obvious - from the way she plays with colour to her discovery of textile artists and how she finds, works with and promotes artists. Her love of discovering talented people is sharing them with her audience is a big part of the shop and what makes it so unique. Loop’s collaborations with makers are delightful - from knitting and crochet designers and their wonderful patterns exclusive to the shop, to unique one of a kind kits like the Bomboloni Babette Blanket or the Loop’s The Original Sweater by Sophie Ochera.

When I asked Susan what her strategy for the shop was, she didn’t have one. Or at least, not in a conventional “business-y” way. Rather, her strategy is simple: do what you love, and trust your gut. Plus some pearls of wisdom from her dad to work really hard at what you do, and be good at it. A lovely combination that I think is relevant today and can be applied to everything - not just building and running a yarn shop.

I really enjoyed our chat and hope you will too! And of course this is the last episode for a while, but I’m already planning Series 2 for next year. I’ve got a big, juicy theme I’m working on that I can’t wait to share with you. If you’ve got any comments or feedback about the podcast so far, or a suggestion for someone you’d like me to talk to, let me know.

Thank you so much for listening, and wishing you all the best for the upcoming festive season.

Best,

Allison

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