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Missouri Star Quilt Company to Acquire LoveCrafts

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In news I first saw reported by the Craft Industry Alliance, Hamilton, Missouri, based Missouri Star Quilt Company is in the process of acquiring British yarn craft company LoveCrafts.

Update: On 10/8 WEBS sent out an email with news of the deal, saying that nothing will change in users’ experience of WEBS online or in person. “We want to assure you that our commitment to providing you with the best experience remains the same, whether shopping online or in our retail store in Northampton, MA,” the statement said. “You’ll still be able to get the WEBS Discount, we’ll still have closeouts, and we’ll be working on bringing your favorite yarns back in stock!”

That bit about getting yarns back in stock may be a reference to complaints from some visitors that quality and stock have gone down since the company was purchased by LoveCrafts.

SkyNews reported that the deal could be done early this week, and is valued at millions of pounds. LoveCrafts is backed by several UK technology funds and saw its sales skyrocket during the pandemic, but it has been looking for a buyer this year because of declining sales.

Missouri Star Quilt Company might not be a name a lot of knitters and crocheters know, but it’s a destination shop for quilters. Founded in 2008 as a small, local fabric store, it has grown into the home of the biggest quilting channel on YouTube, with free tutorials published weekly. Hamilton is now known as Quilt Town USA, and is home to nearly 20 themed craft shops under the Missouri Star Quilt Company banner, including shops dedicated to florals, batiks, men’s fabrics and accessories, to name just a few.

One of the shops is a knitting and crochet shop, so this acquisition is sure to enhance their selection and their e-commerce footprint in yarn (right now it doesn’t look to me like it’s possible to buy yarn on their website).

LoveCrafts, on the other hand, is probably a company you’ve heard of. It was founded in 2012 as LoveKnitting, which branched out into LoveCrochet in 2015, but the two were brought under the same roof in 2019 with the launch of LoveCrafts. In 2021 they bought WEBS, one of the largest brick and mortar yarn stores in the United States, which also has a substantial online presence. WEBS has its own yarn line, Valley Yarns, and had also previously acquired Tahki Stacy Charles.

The Craft Industry Alliance reported that Edward Griffith, one of the founders of LoveCrafts, said the companies share a common mission and vision around the importance of crafting and community. They further reported that Jeff Martin, CEO of Missouri Star’s parent company, said the acquisition not only helps them to expand their product offerings but also to bring together passionate communities of makers.

[Photo via Missouri Star Quilt Company]

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Knit a Pet Bed on a Knitting Machine

I feel like I haven’t shared many knitting machine patterns lately, probably because I haven’t been using my knitting machines much lately. (I finally made space for them to live on the bookshelf in my office, and now that they have a “place” it’s almost like I forgot they existed for a while.)

But I did recently make a little cat bed, that surely would work for a small dog, too. 

This one uses two different sizes of knitting machine: a larger one (it could be any in the 40-48 needle range) and a 22 pin. 

The larger machine is used in flat panel mode to make the bottom pillow like part of the bed, while the smaller machine makes a long tube that is used around the edges as the sort of walls of the cat bed. 

For stuffing I used a bit of leftover quilt batting for the pillow, and some cut up old T-shirts for the tube. 

You can use any worsted weight yarn you like (I used two colors of Big Twist Pound+, which comes in huge skeins that weigh more than a pound). Acrylic or cotton yarn is nice for washablity, but you’ll be cranking for a while so make sure you use a yarn your machine likes so it’s not too much of a struggle. 

You can grab the pattern for this cat bed over at Our Daily Craft. I’m sorry to report the pictured is as close as a cat has gotten to it so far, but maybe your cats like to be cozy more than mine do?

If you’re looking for more options for cute handmade places for your cats and little dogs to rest, check out this roundup of knit pet beds. I still want to knit one by hand but the machine version was definitely a faster option (especially good since my cats are ungrateful).