Focus on... ETHEL & EM

This welcoming shop in the heart of Lancaster is filled with colourful artisan yarns and knitting inspiration

- HELEN SPEDDING

FOR THE knitters of Lancaster and beyond, the yarn store Ethel & Em is a must-visit destination for beautiful yarns, inspirational books, essential tools, and a community of like-minded crafters. It's run by Melanie McKay and her friendly team, whose business is going from strength to strength. We chatted with Melanie about the story of Ethel & Em.

How did you come to run a yarn store?

"Goodness knows how this happened. Despite learning to knit as a child in New York City, I was never more than a knitter of rectangles (scarves) for more than three decades. In my early 40s, after a decades-long career in e-commerce for retailers across the UK, I had a bit of a mid-life crisis and thought that opening a wool shoppe was a great idea. And here I am now!

"There are not a lot of BIPOC yarn shop owners in the US where I am from, nor the UK where I live, so it felt a bit weird opening a shop when I did - not necessarily bad weird, but still weird - as a lot of very difficult conversations around race in the knittisphere were being had then.

"Even though it had opened after I had relocated to the UK, I was really lucky to have the super diverse, Chinese-owned Knitty City on the upper west side of Manhattan as my LYS when I visited. KC's founder, Pearl Chin, was welcoming and kindly took me for a coffee and a encouraging chat on my last visit there pre-pandemic, and she was a real role model for creating a truly inclusive environment for fibre crafters."

What can visitors expect when they pop into your shop?