Ginger Twist Celebrates Decade Of Success

Edinburgh’s mini-Mecca for yarn enthusiasts is celebrating a decade in business – after

producing 5000 miles of hand-dyed wool in its ten years of trading.

Ginger Twist was founded in Summer 2013 by Jessica James-Thomson and became

established on London Road. After ten years of steady growth, it now boasts a

burgeoning online and in-person customer base and has grown to incorporate an off-

site dye studio for its sister brand Ginger’s Hand Dyed.

Now, her online orders come from customers in more than 25 countries, and visitors

flock to her shop near Easter Road, where Jess can be found when not in her dye

studio in Meadowbank. Internet orders come from across Europe, Nigeria and South

Africa, Argentina and Chile, Australia and New Zealand, United States and Canada, and

Japan and South Korea.

Jess and her two employees held a small gathering at a nearby hotel with family, friends

and customers to mark the milestone. Jess, who lives in Edinburgh’s Carrick Knowe

with husband Dave and two-year-old daughter Molly, is originally from Portland, Oregon

in the United States. At aged 12, she was taught to knit by her grandmother.

Jess said: “I moved to Edinburgh as a student in 2010, and quickly realised Edinburgh

could do with another wool shop, and there was possibly a space in this city where I

could make my dream of owning a wool shop a reality.

“I vividly remember just how nervous I was to embark on this adventure and start my

own shop. I did not have any sort of financial safety net, and I was just going for it! It

was a big risk for me, even to start a teensy wee shop. It was clear to me from the jam-

packed opening night party in 2013 that this wee business was going to be a success –

although I could not fathom just how successful and sustainable it would be.

“I’m very fortunate that I was able to take something that I’m still incredibly passionate

about and turn it into a business. Ten years on, this shop has become a real destination

for knitter and crocheters, and I have customers from all over the world (both in person

and online). It is the cutest wool shop and is enmeshed in Edinburgh’s Abbeyhill

community.

“Things are going so well, and I just keep working hard and pursuing my passion. Who

knows what the next 10 years will bring.”

In 2018, Jess was described by TV homecraft queen Kirstie Allsopp as “the Usain Bolt

of knitting” after speeding her way through a televised knitting challenge. She took just

30 hours to produce an intricate festive jumper and less than an hour-and-a-half to

make a knitted bobble hat on Channel 4 show Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas.

Jess, 38, was one of a select group of four UK knitting specialists chosen to feature on

the ‘jumpers’ episode of the series. For the subsequent speed challenge, Jess produced

a complex mohair bobble hat. In the allotted 90 minutes, she also found time to produce

a pom-pom for a fellow contestant who was struggling against the clock.

For more information on Ginger Twist, visit gingertwiststudio.com

Edinburgh’s international yarn Mecca celebrates a decade of success