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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Magical Woodland Knits by Clare Garland is a few years old as I write this, but it’s such a fun book I couldn’t resist sharing it. Step into a magical forest full of realistic woodland creatures including rabbit, deer and squirrel, birds and mice, to name a few.

In all there are 12 creatures, and though they are rather small (the wolf is the largest at 14.5 inches/37 cm tall and 18.5 inches/47 cm long), they are so detailed these are definitely not projects for new knitters.

One of the smaller projects, for example, is the robin, at 5/5 inches/14 cm long. It calls for nine different kinds of yarn. Sometimes some are held together, while others are worked with on their own. This pattern only includes three pages of instructions, but the print is rather small and in that time there are six different sets of short rows. None of this makes it too difficult for a knitter with experience reading detailed patterns, working short rows and working with multiple strands of yarn at once, but it’s worth knowing going in that even for small projects you’ll need a lot of supplies and time to work on them.

These are also not meant to be children’s toys, as they can include wires and other supports that could be a danger to little ones.

The process photos often look like taxidermy on a tiny scale, with little animal pelts stretched out and tons of stitch markers showing where and how things go together.

The finished animals are so pretty it’s certainly worth the effort to stitch up these creatures. You might be tempted to make all 12 and set up your own forest scene or use them to decorate your Christmas tree. You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry.

Along the way you’ll also find a little folklore about the animals, charming drawings and pretty photos of the finished animals, too. In the back you’ll find some helpful techniques like picking up stitches, making I-cord and working short rows.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 12 patterns. Published 2020 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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