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.]

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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