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arlier this summer I had a chance to give a presentation about
Yarn Market News to a knitting guild. Even though
YMN is a trade magazine for professionals, fiber
folks of all stripes tend to be passionate about yarn and
are fascinated to learn about the inner workings of the industry.
In preparing for my talk I spoke with both former editors
in chief of Yarn Market News, Kate Mathews and Jeane
Hutchins. Kate was kind enough to send me some back issues,
including the very first one, which she and her then-husband
Rob Pulleyn (founders of Lark Communications) published 30
years ago, in October of 1978. (OK, there was a hiatus in
there, and YMN started out as a weaving-oriented
magazine. As things trended more toward knitting, the focus
of the magazine followed suit.) I just love looking through
those old issues and seeing what’s changed and how much
is still pertinent. Yes, we’ve gotten slicker, with
our gorgeous covers and glossy paper and our focus on technology.
But many of the basic business topics remain constant: managing
inventory, the importance of model garments, trends, the economy,
advertising and publicity. The original YMN even
held a business conference for several years. If I ever run
out of article ideas, believe me, I can just leaf through
those back issues for inspiration. Check back with us in the
October issue for an in-depth look at the history of Yarn
Market News, including interviews with all of the editors
and publishers, past and present.
Just like YMN, I started out as a weaver, too. My
dad brought me a small table loom from Sweden and I wove scarves
for my family for Christmas that year. Then rock-’n’-roll
and boys came along and I got distracted from my crafty pursuits
until college, when I took a weaving and textiles class. I
learned to spin and dye with natural dyes. I even gave spinning
and weaving demonstrations in period costume. And then I learned
to knit and crochet—it was portable; no more warping
looms and cumbersome equipment. I don’t think I’ll
be investing in a new loom anytime soon, but I do love the
fact that more and more LYS owners are mixing things up by
adding spinning, weaving, beading and more to their offerings.
Cross-crafter Shannon Okey talks about that trend in “Mix
Mastery” on page 48. Oh, I’ve dusted off my sewing
machine and am planning to order a new spinning wheel....
Dyeing is one art I don’t feel the need to revisit,
given the abundance of exquisite hand-dyed yarns available
these days, and this issue is full of them. We’ve swatched
up an artist’s palette’s worth on pages 18–19
and interviewed dyeing-artist extraordinaire Colinette Sansbury
on page 56. And pioneering dyer Cheryl Schaefer provides the
inside scoop on hand-dyes in “Getting to the Heart of
Hand-Paints” on page 52.
Many of you are already “on” Ravelry,
using it to manage your personal stashes and reading threads
to find out what people are knitting and talking about. And
lots of LYS’s have active groups going. But there are
still many shop owners who either “don’t have
time” or just don’t get it. Leslie Petrovski,
one of the moderators of the Yarn Market News Ravelry
group and an active Raveler herself, has written a primer
for LYSO’s to help the Ravel-resistant understand a
bit more what this social knitworking phenomenon is all about—and
how it can work for you. (Read “Unraveling Ravelry”
on page 44.)
And when you do get on Ravelry,
check out the Yarn Market News group and let us know what’s
on your minds.
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