The Secret of Jimmy Beans’ Success

If you’ve been in the online knitting world for a while, you’ve probably heard of Jimmy Beans Wool. An actual yarn store in Nevada, Jimmy Beans is best known as an online marketplace for a wide variety of yarn and supplies and has an annual revenue of more than $7 million.

How did a little yarn store started by a pair of former software engineers become one of the biggest things on the Internet? There are lots of reasons, no doubt, but a big part of it was posting videos on YouTube. As Laura Zander told the New York Times blog You’re the Boss, the company has focused on building its brand since 2007 and used Zappos.com as a model for building their business.

And the company’s YouTube channel has more than 1,400 subscribers and nearly 1.5 million page views, and serves as a great educational resource as well as a way to connect with customers old and new.

Check out the blog for more information on this fun yarn company.

[Photo via the New York Times.]

If your family is the sort to do a turkey trot for Thanksgiving, or even just to take family pictures, you’ll want to get started knitting up some Turkey Sack Hats with this pattern from Underground Crafter.

The pattern uses super bulky yarn and is rated easy. It’s knit flat but there are a few skills in here around the shaping of the eyes, which includes changing colors, working bobbles and doing a wicked purl 3 together decrease. Twice.

But that’s all in one row, and the rest of it is pretty simple. The beak is worked separately and sewn on, and the side of the hat is stitched up to make it into a hat.

What’s great about this one is that it comes in 10 sizes, ranging from newborn to adult large, so you really can make one for everyone in the family. And because it uses super bulky yarn you can knit a bunch pretty quickly if that’s a thing you’d like to do.

It’s also fun because you could use this base pattern to make different animals or for different holidays. Make it all in orange and stitch on a jack o’lantern face for Halloween, or make a white one that’s a snowman, for example.

In any style this would also be a fun gag gift for that person in your life who has everything or doesn’t want gifts, or if you do a secret Santa or white elephant gift exchange at work or elsewhere.

And make sure whether you’re making it a turkey or some other character that you include the pom poms at the top! They’re just so cure and a great way to add a bit more color to the project, and they’re easy to make. (See also: ways to make a pompom with yarn.)

You can grab the free pattern at the Underground Crafter website.

[Photo: Underground Crafter]

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