#madeline tosh

[tllgrrl]

I sometimes treat myself to something fun for my birthday. This year my car got some long overdue maintenance work, and I will be replacing tires next week. So this year, this yarn is my Fun gift to myself. (This, and a black t-shirt with the “Now I am become Death…” quote done in pink Barbie font.)

This is hand dyed 100% Merino wool yarn from a small batch dyer, and the minute I saw this colorway—inspired by, of course, BARBIE, and called “Ken-ergy”—it made me laugh.

I have two skeins, my plan is for another Framework Bralette, and it will be the brightest thing in my whole wardrobe. Eh-ver. This will be perfect to wear the time of year when it’s cold and sundown is at 4pm and I’m wearing all black everything…except this.

Just thought I’d share some bright on this cloudy rainy Monday here in the Desert.

That quote, BTW, is the inside of the label, and it’s true. As I’m knitting, each stitch ends up next to another color and they absolutely sing.

[himikochan]

okay apparently "Dream In Color" is ALSO owned by the same people?

I'm just going down a rabbit hole now, I guess?

I wanna start this off by saying, I don't think they're like... an evil company or anything. BUT I do think it's weird I was able to go on a hunt for how many smaller companies they own: if a former independent storefront (or storefront representing themselves as independent) is owned by a bigger company... I feel like that should be transparent to the consumer.

This is a post chronicling the connection of these different companies as well as what we kind of know about Jimmy Beans Wool.

Who is "Jimmy Beans Wool"?

so "'Jimmy' is me, Laura Zander, and together with my husband Doug, we opened Jimmy Beans Wool in 2002!"

"We're Jimmy Beans Wool and we're Reno, Nevada's Local Yarn Shop! Launched in 2002 by Laura and Doug Zander, JBW started with some coffee and a bit of yarn in Truckee, California. It's now grown into 3 businesses, a fun team of 35+ people, 20,000 square foot warehouse, and more!!"

Poking around their website, they sell yarn, crafting accessories, classes, and host fiber arts related events both online and in their physical store. According to this reddit post from about a month ago, which I cannot verify besides saying that as of January 15th 2025 they do not have Juniper Moon Farms yarn, their yarn selection has decreased since a website update in the recent past.

A point in favor of the company, their website links to both an "inclusivity" and "Diversity" statement on their Instagram account. The older one is from February 2019 (backtracking dates on instagram is hard because it goes by weeks) but my best estimate is that it was in response to the shooting of Laquan McDonald. I have attached a link to the Inclusivity statement here and the Diversity statement here. The Diversity statement backtracks to about late June/Early July 2019 when Jeffrey Epstein was arrested, 2020 election shenanigans brewing, and the sentencing of the guy who killed people in Charlottesville- unclear which of these events seems to have prompted them to make another statement emphasizing their stance.

Both statements pledge a commitment to "doing better" and preach the importance of uplifting BIPOC and other underrepresented groups and the comments section of the older post are WILD with people very angry that Jimmy Beans Wool is "Woke" now. While neither post makes measurable commitments (i.e. we will make sure X% of our patterns are from bipoc designers, or we will donate X amount to 'insert relevant charity here'), it's worth saying they did these before the George Floyd Protests (starting May 2020) when most companies started to make these kinds of statements. So they get a small kudos for that.

Other Yarn Companies They Own: Sorted By How Clearly They Own Them

"The Maddytosh Group currently distributes Madelinetosh, Jamieson’s of Shetland and Dream in Color. . . . In 2023, Madelinetosh and Shibui Knits agreed to allow Madelinetosh to relaunch Shibui yarns and patterns as Tosh products. " from Jimmy Beans Wool January 8, 2024 press release.

"In the fall of 2019, MadTosh joined the Jimmy Beans Wool family led by visionaries Laura and Doug Zander, longtime superfans of the brand." From the MadelineTosh website.

"Hello from Laura Zander! Laura, owner of Maddytosh Group, is thrilled to have worked with Veronica and Nancy closely as they passed the beautifully colored reigns of Dream in Color over to her." From the Dream In Color website

The website for "Simply Shetland" which is the US distributor of "Jamieson's of Shetland" makes no reference to their ownership by Jimmy Beans Wool, and Jimmy Beans Wool doesn't mention they own "Simply Shetland", they merely say they distribute "Jamieson's of Shetland". However, the Simply Shetland Instagram post on their team from around December 2022 lists "Laura is our fearless leader and relentless advocate for yarn folks (like you 💓)." Interestingly, only the brand director Gudrun Johnston is tagged on the post. Laura's own instagram only mentions her connection to "Jimmy Beans Wool & Mad|Tosh" in her bio.

"[Jimmy Beans Wool] also launched Yarn Citizen, a sustainable brand that produces yarns from luxury and upcycled fibers at affordable prices." from a Voyage Dallas interview with Laura Zander. Curiously, the Yarn Citizen website merely says "Laura was touring fair trade mills across the region and admiring the female artisans as they sifted through mounds of recently sheared fiber." and doesn't mention their connection to the Jimmy Beans Wool group. Yarn Citizen is, however, a featured brand (it's on the upper right corner) on their website along with della Q and MadelineTosh which they openly own.

Bizarrely, the Shibui Knits website has changed their front banner and most of the links from the drop down menu to being MadelineTosh branded... but the "About" page still lists all the information of the former crew, doesn't mention Laura or Jimmy Beans Wool, and has a bunch of broken links. It appears that no yarns are being sold as "Shibui Knits" anymore, and they're all sold as MadelineTosh lines, as stated in the link earlier on this topic.

What did we learn?

Again, I don't really have a beef with this retailer, but it's kind of shocking that the "family" of yarn products isn't more widely advertised. I feel like the main reason I go to my local yarn store is to have access to yarns that can't really be produced on this kind of large scale: and to be fair, I'm also not of the mind that every skein of yarn at the store needs to be a precious hand dyed hanks.

But when I do pay a little bit more for yarn from an independent dyer, it's because I want to support a community of artists- even if they're not local to me. I realize that MadelineTosh and Dream In Color are still hand dyed yarns, but if I'm paying NEARLY $40 for a special project.... I kind of want that $40 to go to a smaller company where that means something.

Post Script

I forgot the Wayback Machine exists so:

-As of this screen capture on November 7, 2024, it looked like they used to carry about 130 brands. Currently, it looks like they carry about 42 yarn brands. Interestingly, their "featured" brands are all their own BESIDES "Urth Yarns" which is owned by Emre Koc according to this 2023 article in Women Create.

-On this screen capture from September 26, 2024, ("we recently launched . . . Yarn Citizen") Laura mentions that they do own Yarn Citizen, which I don't think they explicitly do on the current website besides being a featured brand.

at the risk of sounding like a bingus I'm disappointed to learn that madelinetosh yarns is owned by a fairly large company (it's under the umbrella of Jimmy Beans Wool): neither company seems like they're particularly nefarious but like... I ponied up more money for their yarn because I thought they were like.... a small business...

[knitpurlgoal]

My first FO of 2025 - a hat for Bunny that will hopefully stand up to a Midwest February. Yarn is a mystery blue from knitpicks? probably? and "Edison Bulb" from Madeline Tosh (mohair/silk)

[jillyknits]

Today was a perfect day to work on the Hibernal Socks by Summer Lee. I am using Madeline Tosh Twist Light in colorway Horn. I hope to get to the heel turn before setting the needles down tonight. This is a wonderful, relaxing knit. What are you working on?

#knitting#knitters of tumblr#cable knit#knitblr#yarn#yarnblr#yarn crafts#knit socks#socks

[lillysworkshop]

New yarn what will it be!

Visited TWO LYS's today and treated myself to this lovely soft mohair/silk blend from the leftovers bin. It's a Japanese yarn, from Madeline Tosh in the color Cove, which makes sense because it's a great verigated blue green. The core silk is a lighter kind of baby blue and the mohair is a fluffy kiss of a more teal shade. Makes me think of the surface of a lake where the water seems deep, glassy blue and the light is catching on the surface.

I've got some teeny tiny seed beads in an irridescent purpley blue that I think I'll try with it; probably going to make a shawl or a beaded scarf maybe.

Or it will sit in my stash for ten years who knows! :)

[motorharp]

I realized some time after making the pom pom that when the instructions said “measure out 50 yards and double it”, it meant fold the yarn in half so you have a double strand of 25 yards, not measure 50 yards, then do that again for a total of 100. 🤦🏻‍♀️

It was impossible to thread that much yarn through the cardboard circles and I had quite a bit left over. So I didn’t have to agonize over which yarn to add in to make it a full 100 yards after all.

I estimate this hat could be made with just one skein of Madeline Tosh DK and nothing else.

[urbabeski-blog]

Today was a perfect day to work on the Hibernal Socks by Summer Lee. I am using Madeline Tosh Twist Light in colorway Horn. I hope to get to the heel turn before setting the needles down tonight. This is a wonderful, relaxing knit. What are you working on?

[compo67]

Work in progress. Madeline Tosh. Antique Moonstone. US Size 7 needles.

[a-bit-knitty-gritty]

Next up on the needles: something super easy, the Mara Shawl (available as a free pattern from Madeline Tosh, as seen in their sample photo above). I've got two balls of gorgeous blood red kettle dyed yarn in fingering weight, and I was craving making as big a shawl as possible with it, but needed a little break from lace. I made this shawl a few years back in a grey kettle dyed yarn and remembered being very pleased with it.

I've also started a hat with some colorwork (Relaxed by Melanie Rice), which I'll post pics of once I'm out of the initial ribbed section, which isn't terribly exciting but will be cozy to wear.

What projects are you working on that your excited about?

[gaviicreates]

WIP Wednesday - 2023 May 31

I'm back, but no promises about better than ever. I can't live up to that pressure. :D But what I can do is give a quick update on my current WIP status.

WIP Count: 4 1, crochet 2 knit, 1 Tunisian crochet

I have one more crochet project on hiatus, as it's a bit in limbo awaiting my decision for if I plan to continue it, so for now my count remains just 4.

I have been eager to play with some summer yarns - those light cottons and silky smooth bamboos, as it's approaching the hottest months of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere. Except I keep getting these lovely merino wools that have me whipping out the winter ideas.

I've been working with this absolutely GORGEOUS yarn from Arcane Fibre Works out of Canada, in a limited colorway called "Calm Waters." It's these soft yellows and green-blues that I scooped up once I found out the listing was in its last couple skeins.

Since its 80/20 Merino and Nylon in a lightweight fingering, I figure I can get away with it as a summer knit. And yes, you read that right! I am a crocheter choosing the new craft for working up this beautiful yarn. I experimented a little, but there's just truly something special about how these hand-dyeds take to knitting.

I am working on a shawl called the Mara Shawl by Madeline Tosh, available on Ravelry here. This is a FREE pattern, and it's lovely for showing off a lovely colorway. For the first part it's all garter, and I am new enough to knit, that this has been a joy watching the striping take effect.

For the WIP, this is just a phone pic of the progress, so the quality is low, but- it's starting to be a pretty decently sized triangle at the moment.

Since I have two hanks, I do hope she ends up a nice big size so I can fully wrap the shawl around my shoulders when complete. I am tempted to order one more hank just to be safe... and maybe have another credit card mishap.....

[kitty-bandit]

Forgot to post this earlier on the week.

After many froggings and reknittings, I finally finished my most recent sweater. The sleeves were a pain in my ass and I basically rewrote the sleeve instructions. But now it fits pretty well and it’s so nice and warm!

Prairie Cats Pullover by Sol Le Roux

Knit in Madeline Tosh DK

[steelplatedhearts]

I’m not really a swiftie except by in-law rules and I do not in any way need More Yarn but! the swiftie album themed yarn bundles that Madeline Tosh put together are tempting

[malomaximus]

Damn you, Madeline Tosh

>:C

[mirith]

It's Madeline Tosh merino light! Forgetting the colorway though.

Here it is unblocked! Brim totally unfolded which looks funny, and brim folded up, as intended.

It grew a little (superwash) but not much after being blocked. My partner has a large head and likes a somewhat loose fit. So he was happy it got even larger!

I hate knitting ribbing. I did not know this hat pattern required five entire inches (12.75 cm!!!)!!!!!! of ribbing before the cable section.

Only took me a few days to finish the ribbing, but it took much of my sanity.

I do like the cable section though. This chart is very clever! I haven't knit cables in a while and can't say I missed it much. The results are hard to argue with though.

Hat is for my partner. He's got a large head too, so I'm having to knit extra cables and extra ribbing just for him. Hmmph.

[nightcloudsz]

9 days

write one page of essay

do madeline tosh order

make dinner

math quiz x2

write professor about feedback

write one page of essay do - continuining the problem part of the essay

custom epp order

write one page of essay

do junkyarn order

[motorharp]

So I finished the knitting part of my hat. But apparently the remaining yarn is 50 yards short of how much is needed to make the “pon pom”.

Do I make a less dense pom pom, or get one of those faux fur ones? Or dig into my stash that’s under a ton of other crap which I don’t want to do and add in another dk yarn?

The yarn is Madeline Tosh DK, and I had another skein in a darker blue, but actually threw it out because there were so many breaks and missing dye spots in it. 😑