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.
If you missed hearing this fun episode LIVE it is available as an archived episode where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/09/06/craft-yarn-councils-mary-colucci-and-jenny-bessonette or with your favorite podcast catcher.
Stitch it forward?! I love it. What a fantastic concept to pass these (once dying) arts on to the next generation!
I’m looking forward to making my very own Super scarf!
I love the Stitch It Forward concept. Let’s keep sharing the love of our crafts.
The Super Scarf looks REALLY warm!! I’m going to try and ward off winter and make one in the hopes I won’t need it.
I am looking forward to making a Super Scarf this Fall. I will have to check out all the examples on the Craft Yarn Council website. So sorry to hear about your fall down the stairs Marly! I hope you heal quickly.
Looking forward to I Love Yarn Day and am a big fan of stitch it forward!
Stitch it forward is a great idea and can be done with a Super Scarf!
I’m not sure I would wear a Super Scarf in Central Texas, so maybe I should just stitch it forward. I loved how you and Tammi just kept trying things to find the guests. Technology can be frustrating at times. I didn’t know Yarn Day was a thing.
The first thing that came to my mind when you said super scarf wasn’t Lenny Kravitz but Dr. Who. His scarf wasn’t super wide, but it was super long. Enjoyed hearing what’s coming up for I Love Yarn Day. Marly and Tammy, you handled the technical difficulties with grace.
How great to hear about the super scarf project! I can only imagine how many of these people will make for gifts this season. I’m so glad to be in the know now about this new trend AND i’m thrilled to look into the scavenger hunt. What a fun plan!!!
I hope it is not going to be a bad winter, even thought I am going to knit my super scarf =)
STITCH IT FORWARD IS MY PLAN. SO MANY PATTERNS TO CHOSE FOR THE SUPER SCARF. THANKS. REALLY ENJOYED THIS PODCAST.
I’m so glad to hear that super scarfs are going to be in this winter because I just got done knitting a cowl that is about three times longer than I am tall.
A super scarf would keep me super warm up here in frigid MN. I’m hoping to stitch it forward soon.
I’ve made a super (infinity) scarf for myself, now to stitch it forward!
I’m not sure that I am tall enough to carry off a Super Scarf, and it doesn’t get cold enough in Tennessee to wear it. But I am all about “stitch it forward” and love to teach anyone who’s interested!
A Super Scarf seems like such a fun item to wear!
I love crochet and I enjoy knitting. So a super scarf would be fun. I would have a ball “stitching it forward” by sharing how to stitch a super scarf!
It must be the year of the Super Scarf!
Since hearing the podcast I have noticed several super scarfs in Ravelry. I can’t wait to make one. Thanks for a great podcast.
I am 6’1″ so a superscarf sound perfect. 🙂
Thanks for another great episode. I enjoyed hearing about stithc it forward and the super scarves. I think I could get on this trend, but not as big as the Lenny Kravitz one! 🙂 Happy I love yarn day to everyone!