How it all started .....................
I learned to knit when I was in my teens, I had no option - my mother was an avid knitter which prompted her to set up a business, encouraged by eager American cousins who were enthralled with the wonderful 'Fisherman' (Aran) jumpers she used to make and take across the great pond as presents.
Knitting wasn't as it is now in the 80's, there were few (well known) designers, and hand-knitting in the American market was novel, so there was definitely a niche.
'Mary Courtney-Harris Handknits' started out as a small cottage industry adapting Aran patterns and marketing them as her own, give her credit, she had the gift of the blarney and was soon seeing various buyers, going to wool and fashion shows, finding resources for wool etc (don't forget, we didn't have the luxury of the net then!).
T. Forsell played a huge role in supplying of Aran - huge skeins of the stuff lined up in the hallway, Aran sweaters strewn around the living room in various stages of being knitted, needing sewing up, labels attaching etc. My dad became a dab hand at stretching or shrinking sweaters to meet the required size, and I became an expert at sewing sweaters up !!
More later.................
I learned to knit when I was in my teens, I had no option - my mother was an avid knitter which prompted her to set up a business, encouraged by eager American cousins who were enthralled with the wonderful 'Fisherman' (Aran) jumpers she used to make and take across the great pond as presents.
Knitting wasn't as it is now in the 80's, there were few (well known) designers, and hand-knitting in the American market was novel, so there was definitely a niche.
'Mary Courtney-Harris Handknits' started out as a small cottage industry adapting Aran patterns and marketing them as her own, give her credit, she had the gift of the blarney and was soon seeing various buyers, going to wool and fashion shows, finding resources for wool etc (don't forget, we didn't have the luxury of the net then!).
T. Forsell played a huge role in supplying of Aran - huge skeins of the stuff lined up in the hallway, Aran sweaters strewn around the living room in various stages of being knitted, needing sewing up, labels attaching etc. My dad became a dab hand at stretching or shrinking sweaters to meet the required size, and I became an expert at sewing sweaters up !!
More later.................
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