Karen Miller and Susan Ritchie are the dream sister team behind the yarn and pattern store, Mrs Moon. With two books now available, Simple Chic Crochet and Simple Chic Knits, they've designed tons of beautiful knitting and crochet patterns that you will just want to make, gift and wear.
We caught up with Susan following the recent release of Simple Chic Crochet. Read all about their Mrs Moon story, favourite crochet projects from the book and more below...
Photo of Karen Miller and Susan Ritchie © Rob Haines
Can you tell us a bit about Mrs Moon and your beautiful yarns?
My sister Karen and I set up Mrs Moon back in 2009. We come from a crafty family - our mother is a brilliant seamstress and happens to be quite handy at knitting and crochet too! We were both looking for a career change after having children and decided that opening a yarn store was the thing to do!
We loved our little shop and stocked a beautiful range of natural fibre yarns, but we spent a lot of time teaching and then, more and more, designing. People seemed to like our designs and things sort of went from there. We really changed our focus when we developed our first yarn, Plump which filled a gap that we had in the store. We wanted a superchunky that was as luxurious as some of the finer yarns as we found a lot of knitters and crocheters wanted quick projects but didn't want to compromise on the fibre they were working with.
As our yarn range developed - we now have three with Plump dk and Fluff - and with more in development we decided to close the shop and focus on designing and selling yarn through other stores. We're loving the variety this brings our working day!
You have now written two brilliant craft books, one with simple chic knits and another with crochet patterns. Do you each have a preferred craft?
Thank you for being so lovely about our books! We're very proud of them. We've always tried to de-mystify knitting and crochet for people and we hope that the books show that you can achieve great things right from the word go! We've fortunate as I am definitely more of the crochet expert and Karen is more of the knitting pro! We have both contributed to both books, but there is very much a lead of each!!
Can you choose a favourite project from Simple Chic Crochet?
I think my favourite project is the Owl as I fell in love with him as I was making him... he's very cute! But from a technical perspective I think I'm proudest of the skirt. It is quite challenging but absolutely worth every second!
Aside from knitting and crochet, how do you like to pass the time?
We both have large families, so much time is spent organising and prompting teenagers.... I love running and hiking and get out as much as I can.
You often exhibit at craft shows and fairs, can we expect to see you at any this year or is there anything else that you’re looking forward to in 2017?
We're attending the Spring Knitting & Stitching Show this week at Olympia. Our next outing in the UK will be to Yarndale (hopefully!) which is in September in beautiful Skipton. Well worth a visit if you've never been before! In between time we're off to a couple of trade shows in Cologne and Ohio.
Click to find out more about Simple Chic Crochet and Simple Chic Knits. There's still time to win the books and some beautiful yarn from Mrs Moon - head to our competition blog post to enter!
Hear more about their story and the first book, Simple Chic Knits, in this 2 Minutes with Mrs Moon video...