Chrissy Smith, the founder of The Lost Sheep Company, developed her business through the Pop Up Scheme run by Colwyn Bay Townscape Heritage Initiative and Communities First. Chrissy started making and selling yarn, alongside knitting supplies, and today manages her own shop at 20 Conway Road, where she sells yarn she has spun from rare Welsh breed sheep, runs classes and sells unique knitting tools and products.

Colwyn Bay Townscape Heritage Initiative has over the last year supported The Heritage Wool Project, a scheme to encourage conversation about history, share and record stories about yarn, knitting and memories, and bring people into Colwyn Bay to enjoy heritage crafts.

Chrissy hosted a Memory Wall in her shop, which customers and passers-by could attach things to, such as old knitting patterns or a written note of a memory.

As the wall filled up, these pieces of heritage were put into a Talking Textiles scrapbook, to collate all the memories, traditional yarn techniques recorded and heritage items donated. Throughout the year, Chrissy has also had bigger items such as old spinning wheels donated.

Chrissy also ran traditional heritage skills classes throughout the year, where she was able to pass on skills learned over the years, teach heritage methods of working with yarn, and enjoy a chat and listen to people’s memories at the same time.

Check out Chrissy’s website, The Lost Sheep Company here.

Memories shared on the comment cards:

Items shared:

Inside Chrissy's shop: