YarnYAY! to Cease Production of Yarn Subscription Boxes

Vickie Howell, yarn industry cheerleader extraordinaire and founder of YarnYAY!, a subscription box for knitters and crocheters, has announced that the company will cease production of the boxes this winter.

The December box will be the last one for people who purchased the monthly subscription plan; quarterly subscribers will get a last package for winter in January.

Howell says in a Facebook post announcing the closure that the company kind of fell into her lap at a time when she was looking at getting into retail but wasn’t sure how to do it. The long version is in the post, but the short version is, after expected support from CrateJoy fell through at the last minute, she ended up taking on the whole project herself.

The first crates went out in May 2018 and were focused on knitters, but since June of that year both knitting and crochet projects have been offered in the boxes, which include yarn, notions, patterns and other fun stuff.

Howell says YarnYAY! has partnered with more than 175 small businesses to provide products and patterns for the crates.

“Over the past 18 months however, while prices from everything from fiber and cardboard, to software and shipping have relentlessly continued to rise, subscribers to our monthly box (YarnYAY’s main source of revenue) have steadily dropped,” she wrote. “The losses have snowballed and now, to quote an infamous start-up CEO’s recent announcement, ‘we have more debt than assets.'”

In order to support Howell and the YarnYAY! team through this transition, she asks that people buy the December box or preorder the quarterly box. There will also be inventory clearances going on over the next few months as operations wind down, so be on the lookout for that as well.

We’re always sorry to see a bit of the fiber arts industry go, and we wish Vickie (who’s a former Craft Gossip-er from way way back!) the best in whatever’s next.

[Photo: YarnYAY!]

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New Knitting Subscription Box Service by Vickie Howell

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

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