Please remain calm.
I’m alive.
More importantly—judging by the emails I received during August—Dr Thomas is alive.
I took August off and disappeared without warning. Some of you assumed I was having a well-earned rest. Others presumably thought I had finally been crushed beneath an avalanche of yarn.
But most of the messages said:
“IS DR THOMAS ALL RIGHT?”
He is absolutely fine.
He spent August looking handsome and working hard, so business as usual.
I am also well.
Thank you to the three people who enquired.
The customer survey—or the Dr Thomas popularity contest
Before I disappeared, many, many, many of you completed our customer survey.
I read every response carefully. You told me what you loved, what needed improving and which products and brands you wanted to see at McIntosh.
Then I reached the section about our emails.
The verdict was overwhelming:
“More Dr Thomas.”
I’m glad we bothered with the survey.
I started the business. I choose the yarn. I pack the parcels. I write the emails. Dr Thomas stood beside a few balls of wool looking vaguely aristocratic, and now he has a fan club.
After nearly 16 years together, I have decided not to be bitter.
Dr Thomas has been promoted to Head of Looking Expensive.
I remain responsible for everything else.
I can see clearly now
August also brought a major technological breakthrough.
I got varifocals.
GOOD GRIEF.
There are individual leaves on trees!
Books contain words!
People have faces!
I can now see things that are nearby, far away and—if I move my head very slowly—somewhere around Birmingham.
Dr Thomas was so impressed by my transformation from Mr Magoo into a functioning adult that he bought me a second pair.
I now have one pair for jeans and another for chinos.
To the untrained eye, they look identical.
To the trained eye, they also look identical.
But one pair says:
“Creative yarn entrepreneur.”
The other says:
“I have strong opinions about Chateauneuf du Pape.”
This is what glamour looks like now.
Welcome to McIntosh 2.0
The varifocals arrived just in time because our enormous new website—affectionately known as McIntosh 2.0—is officially live.
It is beautiful.
It is fast.
It is enormous.
And I can read it, which has worked out exceptionally well.
I listened to everything you told me in the customer survey and added it to the website.
Then I became overexcited and added approximately everything else that has ever existed.
You can now explore:
-
More than 2,500 knitting-pattern kits
-
Over 20,000 knitting needles, crochet hooks and accessories
-
New brands and ranges
-
RE:DESIGNED project bags
-
More Addi
-
The complete Schoppel range
-
All of ChiaoGoo—including cords, connectors and every tiny component specifically engineered to disappear into the carpet
Twenty thousand knitting needles and crochet hooks.
That is no longer a product range.
That is military capability.
If Britain ever faces a national knitting-needle shortage, McIntosh will be asked to address Parliament or attend a COBRA committee.
You’ll also find old favourites including McIntosh hand-dyed yarn, KnitPro, WOOLADDICTS, LANGYARNS, Lantern Moon, Lopi, Tulip, Clover, Scheepjes, The Oxford Company punch needles, Symphony Hand Dyed Yarns and Eucalan.
If it involves yarn, needles or washing something very gently while whispering, “Please don’t felt,” it is probably on there. Oh we also have a needle felting section too!
Crocheters, your time has come
There is also a much bigger crochet section.
I would like to apologise to crocheters for our previous offering, which was less of a “crochet department” and more of “a hook somebody once found in a drawer.”
But your time has come.
We now have hooks, patterns, kits and accessories—and you no longer need to creep onto the website disguised as a knitter.
Meet Naturalis by LANGYARNS
One particular arrival is currently making me behave like a five-year-old who has consumed an entire birthday cake:
Naturalis by Lang Yarns.
Naturalis is a commercially produced roving yarn in a worsted/Aran weight. Its beautiful colours are created using natural ingredients—including trees, roots and bark—with no chemical dyes or chemical fixers.
Apparently, the forest has been quietly developing an autumn/winter collection behind our backs.
The colours are glorious, and you can see them on the front page of McIntosh 2.0.
A very special knit-along
The Knitter magazine is once again working with the wonderful Kath Andrews on a three-part knit-along featuring a beautiful shawl made with Naturalis.
The yarn is available from McIntosh—which is a staggering and entirely unplanned coincidence.
Even better, McIntosh customers can enjoy a special offer on a subscription to The Knitter.
It is such a good offer that I read it twice.
Admittedly, that may have been the varifocals.
[EXPLORE THE KNIT-ALONG AND CLAIM YOUR SPECIAL OFFER]
We’re nipping to Switzerland
On Monday, we are nipping to Switzerland for a few days to visit LANG.
Nipping to Switzerland.
I have never been able to say that before, but I already find it suits me.
“What are you doing on Monday, James?”
“Oh, nothing much. Dentist. Dry cleaning. Switzerland.”
This is, of course, an extremely serious business trip.
There will be meetings.
There will be yarn.
There may be charts.
I intend to nod thoughtfully and say impressive things such as:
“Interesting twist.”
“Excellent stitch definition.”
And:
“How much of this sample room will fit into my hand luggage?”
Dr Thomas is coming too, naturally.
I shall carry the notebook, ask the questions and attempt to understand the Swiss trains.
He will stand near the Alps looking magnificent.
By Tuesday, he will probably be on the cover of the LANG catalogue.
I’m hoping to return with exciting news, enormous inspiration and a suitcase that makes a strange woolly noise when opened.
I promise to report back with photographs, gossip and the results of my important investigation into whether Swiss chocolate qualifies as a legitimate business expense.
Tell me what you think
Please explore McIntosh 2.0 and let me know what you think.
The new website has been an enormous labour of love, shaped by everything you told me in the customer survey.
Except for the person who suggested renaming the business “Dr Thomas and That Yarn Man.”
That remains under consideration.
With love,
James
McIntosh
Founder, yarn obsessive and administrative support to Dr Thomas
