Red Heart Joins the Yarnspirations Family

Consolidation seems to be a part of most businesses these days, and it’s true of yarn companies, too. Two giants in the field have joined forces and Red Heart yarns has become a part of the Yarnspirations family.

Visitors to Red Heart’s website will be forwarded to Yarnspirations, where they will find the full catalog of Red Heart yarns to purchase. Red Heart patterns are being migrated to the site as well, so the site will have thousands of free patterns from all the various yarn lines, including Red Heart, Caron, Patons and more.

In a Facebook Live about the merger, knit and crochet designer and spokesperson for Red Heart Marly Bird said the reason for the combination of the two websites was because the Red Heart website wasn’t great and this allowed the parent company to combine all of its brands into one website rather than continuing to keep a separate website for that brand.

The major change aside from the different website is that many of the Red Heart designers will no longer be a part of the team, though Marly said she is continuing in her role and will now use the full range of Yarnspirations yarns instead of just Red Heart.

I love the Yarnspiration website so I think this is a great change and it makes it clear that Red Heart is part of the family, which I’m not sure everyone knew (the company was purchased in January). What do you think about the change?

[Photo: Yarnspirations.]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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