18 knittingmag.comHusband-and-wife team Carole and Colin Wareing have plunged
into a new life aloat after tiring of careers in secondary school
teaching and electronics production. Back in 2006, the year before
they got married, the pair took a gap year from their previous jobs –
and after dipping their toes in boating, found that they didn’t want
to go back to working for other people anymore.
A long summer boat trip from their home in West Lancashire
to London inspired the pair to embark on a new way of life, and
in 2009 the Wool Boat opened as a roving trader, initially selling
hand-knitted goods made by Carole along with greetings cards
featuring Colin’s photography.
Colin recalls: “The Wool Boat is, as far as we know, a unique
loating wool and knitting shop. The shop is based on a canal narrow
boat and is the only loating yarn shop that welcomes people aboard
and into the shop.” Customers enter the shop by stepping on to
the back deck of the boat and then down four steps into a cabinwhere they can browse the extensive yarn selection. “All the yarn is
displayed in baskets, so if customers can’t get aboard, the yarn can
be brought out to them,” Colin adds.
The couple’s irst store opened on board the Patty Ann, a
50-foot-long narrow boat. As they travelled the Leeds and
Liverpool canal from Lancashire to Yorkshire, they came across
other boaters, one of whom asked if they had yarn for sale as well
as knitted items. They responded by loading up a shipment of basic
acrylic yarns from James C Brett in nearby Bingley, and the loating
yarn shop was launched.
The couple’s current boat, 57-foot-long Emma Maye, set sail in 2011
to accommodate a growing yarn ofering, including British wools from
West Yorkshire Spinners and a range of sock yarns from Opal.
“The extra seven feet in the middle are a storeroom for the yarn and
display baskets when the shop isn’t open,” says Colin. “This means the
stock is about 40 lines of yarn and wool, and numbers around 3,CAROLE AND COLIN WAREING ARE TAKING A WOOLLY WALLOW AROUND
THE NATION’S WATERWAYS IN A UNIQUE FLOATING YARN SHOP
Roving wool shop
PHOTOGRAPHS: COPYRIGHT COLIN WAREING