46 20 year’s strong! Katie Stephenson, owner of Cygnet Yarns Ltd. talks to Craft Focus about their impressive ranges of quality yarns and bossing 20 years in the knitting world! For those that are new to the scene, tell us a little backstory about Cygnet Yarns. Formed in 2004, Cygnet Yarns initially took on some stocks with the intention of simply selling it off. Throughout this time, we realised that knitting wool was really quite popular, and we added a few shades to the very few ranges we had, then added a couple of new ranges to our collection and the love of hand knitting yarns blossomed. The company has evolved over time – what are the main changes? Cygnet started as family company with two of us and throughout time the company has grown starting with about four ranges in 2004 to now 40 and counting. We’ve added to the Cygnet team including warehouse, customer service and design departments. Talk us through the current themes or designs you’re particularly excited about. Do you have a favourite? We love bright colours and colour combinations that are striking and stand out in the market. I’ve always had soft spot for super chunky yarns: Seriously Chunky is my absolute favourite as a true super chunky as it’s quick knit especially as I’m not a patient knitter. We have ‘gone back to our roots’ and launching a wool mixture super chunky called Folly Garden in celebration of our 20th anniversary. Inspired by my love of gardening this whimsical themed variegated yarn - I’m most excited about. What designs are currently very popular? There’s been a strong trend for printed yarns this year and is set to continue. It’s fun for us as it lets us loose on some wonderful colour combinations like with our Pato Everyday Prints, a popular budget range full of colour. Chenille yarns are also heavily featured, our Jellybaby Chunky ranges are perfect for toy making, Oeko-Tex certified - this textured yarn is a hot product. How often do you launch new ranges? Our approach to new range launches is quite ad hoc, it is nice to offer our customers new shade additions or ranges throughout the year as it keeps the interest of their customers. This year, we’ve had a push on seasonal lines,
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