Lion Brand Announces Partnership with Quince & Co.

Here’s a bit of breaking yarn industry news for you that’s pretty short on details, but I will update you as I have more information.

Lion Brand Yarn announced on its Facebook page a partnership with indie yarn maker Quince & Co. The post welcomes the yarn maker “to the pride” and goes on to say:

With the elevated expertise and passion of our combined teams, we look to create an even better experience for our valued customers.

Our consumers should expect the same great quality of products, patterns, accessories, and services – plus so much more. We are excited to see where our newfound engagement takes us next!

Unfortunately that’s about all there is to the statement, and when someone asked for more details the reply from the company was to stay connected and they will share updates.

I’m not seeing any information on the Lion Brand or Quince & Co. websites about the news, nor on the Quince & Co. social media pages, but I will continue to look and provide more details as I have them.

Lion Brand Yarn was founded in 1878 and is the oldest producer of craft yarn in the United States. It has been run by members of the Blumenthal family for five generations, and is celebrating its 145th anniversary this year.

Quince & Co. was launched in 2010 by designer Pam Allen in partnership with a historic mill in Maine. The company’s about us page says Allen wanted to start a yarn company because, after working for a major yarn company, she “wanted to work with mills to design yarns from the ground up” and to be able to produce yarn made in the United States.

It will be interesting to see if Quince & Co. yarn is still produced in the same way and this partnership just gives them wider distribution channels (such as the ability to be sold in big-box craft stores). It also gives Lion Brand a much wider selection of natural fiber yarns that it can introduce to its consumers.

Update: This was first posted on June 21. On the 22nd, Quince & Co. shared the news on its Instagram page, with some of the same wording as the Lion Brand announcement, but a little more for its customers: “As our beloved customer, you should expect the same great quality of our bespoke products, patterns, accessoreis, and services that you have come to know and love from Quince & Co. and Twig & Horn.
[Photo via Lion Brand Facebook page]

Next Pattern:

It might sound weird to you, but one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns is ribbing. I find it kind of fun to knit, because it feels mechanical after a while and I don’t really have to think about it, but it makes a texture that’s more interesting than stockinette stitch.

Over at Our Daily Craft I recently wrote a giant post all about knitting ribbing that includes most of what I know on the subject. There’s a fun variation on the cable cast on that is perfect for using with ribbing, tips on how to follow the stitch pattern, binding off in pattern and more.

I even talk about everyone’s least favorite part of knitting ribbing, which is what to do when you have to increase or decrease in ribbing (short answer: it’s going to mess up your pattern but it will also be OK).

I also share a few of my favorite ribbing patterns, because of course it doesn’t have to be knit 1, purl 1 or knit 2, purl 2 all the time. (In fact my favorite is probably 3×3. I find it super fun and love the texture of the fabric.)

You can check out the post all about ribbing here.

And if you’re ready to try an allover ribbed project yourself, check out my ribbed cowl knitting pattern. This one is fun because it starts out being knit flat and ends up in the round, so it opens up over your shoulder for easy wearing but is snuggly as a turtleneck at the top.

This one uses worsted weight yarn and is pretty quick and easy to knit. It’s a good one to try if you’ve never done a project in the round because you don’t have to worry about twisting the cast on since you’ll have already knit flat for several inches before you join. (Of course you could work the whole thing flat and make a seam where you want it to be closed, but knitting in the round is easier.)

Do you have a favorite rib stitch? I’d love to hear about it!

Practice Ribbing with this Hat and Mitt Set

Have You Tried This? Ribbing with No Purling

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

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