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:

Using your yarn stash is important to me throughout the year, but as I start to feel the end of the year coming on I get more excited about using things I already have in the house. Maybe that’s because I don’t want to go to a store in the thick of holiday shopping times, or I like the idea of having a little space in my stash when the new year rolls around.

It’s super satisfying to use up all the little odd balls you’ve made over the year (or years), and I have several stash busting blankets I work on when it’s cold and will maybe finish someday.

If you’d like to start a stash busting project that’s perfect for using up odd balls, check out the Soukish pattern from Neisha Abdulla. This pattern is made for fingering weight/sock yarn, and it’s worked in a tube with allover color work.

This is great for a couple of reasons. You don’t really have to weave in your ends when you can hide them in a tube (this is one time you might even get by just tying a knot when you change colors!) and you can change colors whenever you run out of yarn and it will look good.

Of course the pattern is made with blocks where the designer changed colors, but you can change yours more or less often as you need to make it work for your stash. You can use blank charts to design your own color combinations, or even your own stitch patterns if you like. You can also adjust the length of the scarf as needed or turn it into a cowl based on the amount of yarn you have.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great thing to have on hand to stitch up and then to wear during the cold, gloomy months.

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Neisha Abdulla]

Another Way to Use Up All Your Sock Yarn Scraps

Gather Your Scraps for a Fun Wrap

A Scrappy Shawl Knitting Pattern to Use All Your Odd Balls

Use All Your Yarn Scraps on This Great Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

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