A Maryport craft shop has been chosen to be the shop of the month in a national publication.

Handmade By You, owned by Lisa Harrison, was selected by the editor of Simply Knitting to feature in their January edition.

Lisa was proud to be selected and said: "I am very proud to have been selected to be a feature in a national magazine. We have lots of yarn shops nationwide and to be selected for a feature from all of those is overwhelming.

I love to offer a wide selection of yarns as well as fabrics and other craft items, to be able to give my customers the best choice possible."

Being selected for the magazine was a complete surprise for Mrs Harrison, 38, from Maryport, who has run Handmade By You for four and a half years.

The shop stocks yarns, fabrics, craft equipment, local people's hand crafted wares and runs classes in crafts.

Mrs Harrison started the craft shop after finding herself frustrated in previous jobs. She had worked as a civil servant for 13 years and said: "It wasn’t all bad in previous jobs, but I think once you hit a point where it becomes difficult to enjoy what you do, it becomes more of struggle and hard work to find your get up and go, then it is time to change.

"It was a big commitment and one we didn’t take to lightly when discussing it with my husband, but sometimes the satisfaction far outweighs the other things and you just need to go for it. I don’t regret making the leap, my only regret is not doing it sooner!"

Mrs Harrison said she loves her job, can't imagine doing anything else and is enjoying building the business, she added: "I certainly won’t be a millionaire but I am happy. As many crafters know, you never get paid the time it takes to make your products and that is no different running the shop. As the shop builds, I hope to take a wage from it, but at the moment I am happy to put the money straight back into it and continue to build the business.

"It is already a huge success story for the town and to be featured in Simply Knitting, a national magazine, as the shop of the month for January is a great honour for me to have been selected and also a great advert for the fabulous town we live in."