Craft Yarn Council’s Mary Colucci and Jenny Bessonette

Craft Yarn Council‘s Mary Colucci and Jenny Bessonette joined us on the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird to share big new plans for this year’s I Love Yarn Day happening October 15th. 

Jenny Bessonette Short Bio: 

Jenny Bessonette is Executive Director of the Craft Yarn Council (CYC), a nonprofit trade association that represents major yarn resources, needle/hook manufacturers, publishers, and consultants to the yarn industry and is Assistant Executive Director of the Warm Up America! Foundation, one of the industry’s leading charities. Jenny joined CYC in 2010 as Director of Discover Classes to implement knit and crochet classes in all Michaels stores. She became Assistant Executive Director of CYC in 2014 and was promoted to Executive Director in 2016. Prior to joining the Craft Yarn Council, Jenny worked for six years at Michaels Stores corporate office in inventory management for yarn.

Mary Colucci Short Bio:

Mary Colucci is the past Executive Director of the Craft Yarn Council (CYC), a nonprofit trade association that represents major yarn resources, needle/hook manufacturers, publishers, and consultants to the yarn industry and is Executive Director of the Warm Up America! Foundation, one of the industry’s leading charities. She has served on the Board of the Crochet Guild of America and currently serves as Secretary for the Center for Knit and Crochet, an online museum and social networking environment to preserve and promote the art, craft and scholarship of knitting, crochet and related arts. (Due to technical difficulties, we didn’t hear from Mary very much, link below of her earlier visit.)

The Craft Yarn Council website has a lot of helpful information for knitters and crocheters, about sizes, gauges, yarn weights, etc. They also support a charity, Warm-Up America, which collects afghans and squares to assemble more afghans, then distributes the finished blankets to those in need. In fact, if you are headed to Stitches Texas, the Craft Yarn Council will be supporting Warm-Up America, so look for them in Dallas/Ft Worth in just a couple of weeks!

This is 6th Annual I Love Yarn Day, happening Saturday, October 15th, which continues the theme of #StitchItForward sharing with others the craft you love. Michael’s and Joann’s stores are having sales and demonstrations, there are free patterns at the website to share with new knitters and crocheters. There will be an online scavenger hunt, too. For I Love Yarn Day 2016, the Craft Yarn Council folks fell in love with the idea of the #SuperScarf. (If you remember the oversized scarf that Lenny Kravitz wore, bulky, long with fringe, that’s kind of the idea!) So many ideas have been contributed by various participating yarn companies to create a Larger-Than-Life, Super Snuggly, Fringed and Fun Scarf. Videos, patterns, yarns, social media posts and live events are all ready to go to share the excitement and inspiration. In fact, there is a super scarf that’s being passed among four bloggers to show how fun this item can be in our wardrobe. Those bloggers are Vickie Howell, Tamara Kelly, Maria Segares, Kathryn Vercillo, Jessie Rayot, Brittany (of B Hooked Crochet), Andrea Sanchez. There is more information about the I Love Yarn Day fun to be found at the webpage for the Super Scarf, www.ILoveYarnDay.com, also a page in Facebook, and Instagram.

We can follow all that’s new with Craft Yarn Council through their website: www.CraftYarnCouncil.com, they also have a Facebook page, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. They also have a YouTube Channel. Here is the link to listen to Mary’s first visit to Yarn Thing from April 2015.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the big event Mary and Jenny are talking about?

So here’s the thing… they’re chatting all about the upcoming I Love Yarn Day, which is happening on October 15th! It’s their 6th annual celebration, and this year the theme is #StitchItForward, all about sharing the love of yarn crafts with others.

What is the #StitchItForward theme all about?

Honestly… it’s such a heartwarming idea! The whole point is to pass on the amazing craft of knitting and crochet to the next generation, or really, just anyone you want to share it with. It’s all about spreading the joy and skills that we love so much.

What’s this “Super Scarf” they keep mentioning?

Yes! The Super Scarf is this fun project for I Love Yarn Day 2016. Think big, bulky, long scarves with fringe – kind of like that one Lenny Kravitz wore! Lots of yarn companies have contributed ideas and patterns to make these super snuggly accessories.

Besides I Love Yarn Day, what else does the Craft Yarn Council do?

Well, they’re a super helpful resource for us crafters! They have tons of info on their website about things like yarn weights, gauges, and sizing. Plus, they also support a charity called Warm-Up America, which makes blankets for people in need.

How can I find out more about the Craft Yarn Council and their events?

Oh, it’s easy peasy! You can totally check out their website at www.CraftYarnCouncil.com. They’re also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, so you can follow them there to see what they’re up to and get all the deets on events like I Love Yarn Day!