We have a select group of knitters who enjoy the high-fashion offerings and cutting-edge designs, but more of our group are advanced beginner to intermediate knitters who are looking for classic, traditional styles. Felting remains strong and knitting for babies and children continues as one of our most popular project areas. Sock knitting has also really taken off for us with our addition of lots more sock yarns in the past year, including Soxx Appeal.  

Knitting projects continue to be much more popular for us than crochet projects even though we've added and expanded in the past a Crochet Goodies projects department and a Crochet Books category. Even knitting projects with a little crocheting (such as a crocheted trim added on) don't sell as well for us.

Any hot color knitters can't get enough of?
Right now it's a mix: summer brights AND spring pastels. Knitters are going for the very bold, brilliant hues or the softer, feminine shades. It's a real contrast. And of course, the classic neutrals – black, white, ecru, beige, tan – continue to be popular with the American market, especially for added versatility, although navy has never been as popular as the other neutrals. Reds, pinks and purples stay strong in American sales too, while yellow and orange remain less popular with Americans (they sell better with European customers).

What is the most challenging part of your business?
Being an online company for the most part, we're constantly challenged by technical issues. If a communications network goes down in California, we could be off-line for several hours. We have back-up systems galore, but there's always some new and different technical problem to solve.

Since you do a lot of business via the internet, how do you provide that "personal touch" to your customers?
Our theme is "Fabulous fashions. Fast. And friendly." So we're promising exceptional customer service, and we do everything we can to fulfill that promise. Virtually everyone on our staff is a customer service rep in addition to their regular job duties. We connect with our customers by emails, phone calls and drop-in visits, handling our fair share of technical tips and advice for customers with problems or special needs. We spend a lot of time on the telephone helping customers find the dye lots they want, giving advice about patterns and talking them through problems they encounter. Jan has gone so far as to:

I know that you also host the yarn information site Yarndex. How did that site come about?
We had a lot of shade cards from vendors throughout the world, and we were spending a fair amount of time looking up information for customer questions about discontinued yarns with no central location available online for quick searches. Therefore, we saw a need for detailed information about yarns – not only the ones that are currently in production but discontinued yarns as well.  In particular, older patterns were difficult for customers to use unless they knew the particular yarn and its qualities, so Yarndex was born from a need we perceived that no one else was fulfilling. Today we've got over 4000 yarns online, and we're adding new ones every day. We're very proud to be able to offer this free service to designers, writers and knitters throughout the world, and we get our share of thank yous for this online yarn library/resource.

Any other big projects in the wings for your company?
Yes. But we can't talk about them until they're ready to launch. It's been a very busy time for us with the launch of new sites like YarnMerchant, the online service that helps local yarns shops offer their customers a wider spectrum of yarns, and our in-house brand Caledon Hills launched in this Tuesday's newsletter. We're also enjoying the success of our Impressionist Collection where a number of yarn gurus have developed their colorway interpretations of select Impressionist paintings, and we have them for sale exclusively on Yarnmarket in their most popular fibers.

Can you share a useful knitting or crochet tip with our readers?
Yes. Don't be afraid to try something new and get out of your comfort zone. If it doesn't work, rip it out. Be daring! Be courageous! You'll be proud of your accomplishment and research shows that challenging yourself is good for your mental and physical health.

What is your favorite Knit One, Crochet Too yarn?
We each have our particular favorites. Jan is particularly fond of Ty-Dy because it's auto-striping and very soft and comes in larger balls so there are fewer tie-ins for garments. She also likes what Knit One, Crochet Too has been doing with the kits the past year or so by getting away from just the traditional scarf/wrap/bag kits and expanding to include bath mitts and the unusual felted scarf designed by Nicky Epstein. Several of our sock lovers are very fond of Soxx Appeal too, and Alex loves the look and feel of Ambrosia.