KnitCrate memberships will be increasing starting 4/1! KnitCrate Club (now called Quick-to-Stitch Knit & Crochet Club) will now start at $29.99 per month (from $24.99), Sock Crate Club (now called Sock Knit & Crochet Club) will now start at $24.99 per month (from $19.99), and Malabrigo Quarterly Club will be $49.99 per quarter (from $45). Mrs. Crosby Travels the World Club is still $69.99 per quarter.
Plus, KnitCrate Quick-to-Stitch Knit & Crochet Club and Sock Knit & Crochet Club subscriptions will now have Anything Goes (surprise yarn of the month) as their main offerings.
Lastly, the yarns intended as April 2021 offering will be moved up to March 2021 since there were delays with the “Romance” themed yarns slated for March.
Here’s the full announcement:
To our KnitCrate Family,
There is no easy way to say that we are going through a tough time at KnitCrate. This past year has been challenging for small businesses navigating the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, KnitCrate included. We have been doing what we can to weather the storm, communicate with you each step of the way, and find solutions to the vast issues that continue to arise month to month. It has not been easy.
In the last three months in particular, we have been hit the hardest. As you know, we have had a tumultuous start to the year. These issues have ranged from erratic shipping delays causing insufficient inventory to tighter budgets and restrictions on personnel during the height of the pandemic in Miami (a hot spot with cases rising daily). We have worked to mitigate and absorb the impact of these issues as best we could. However, we know that these unusual circumstances have caused a less-than-favorable experience for you, our customers and community. It pains us to have to write this and admit that these issues have also caused significant damage to our business.
Our partner mills are overseas in Italy and Peru. At the beginning of the year, both countries implemented restrictions and closed borders to combat the spread of COVID-19. As a result, our partner mills have been consistently delayed in production, severely interrupting our ability to ship out our yarns on time, and in turn drastically hurting our sales. With each passing week, we’ve remained hopeful that the yarns would be completed and shipped as contracted. Unfortunately, we are now in March and have yet to receive the inventory that we have been missing since January to fulfill the affected remaining orders that we have had on hold.
We are now at an urgent and critical point. For KnitCrate to get through to the other side, we have to take steps and implement changes that will allow us to remain open. We fully understand that the actions we are taking may be difficult and out of the realm of how we normally do things, but they are necessary for KnitCrate to live on. We’re optimistic that by putting KnitCrate and the team on this path for a while, we will come out on the other side and have a more solid foundation moving forward.
First, beginning April 1st, we will be increasing the pricing for most of our subscriptions. Please check the new prices below. These increases will include a shipping and handling fee for the processing of your order. This is to cover for the rising costs of everything from wool to labor to shipping rates that we have been able to absorb since we took over the business back in 2017. When we changed our rates last year, we hoped we would be able to continue absorbing any overages that the increase did not cover, but everything has continued to climb.
Next, we are going back to basics and streamlining the menu of options. This involves going back to the surprise of the month (Anything Goes) subscription as our main KnitCrate and Sock Crate offerings, where the colorways you are receiving are a surprise. Along with that change, everyone will be supporting the environment with eco-friendly packaging in a compostable mailer. As of April 1st, every member will start to receive the Anything Goes option with the soft mailer, and we will be bringing back the fully printed Inspirations magazine for all club memberships. To bring these changes full circle, and in preparation for the launch of new kits we have planned for later this year, we have changed the name of the KnitCrate and Sock Crate memberships to the Quick-to-Stitch Knit & Crochet Club and the Sock Knit & Crochet Club, respectively. For those who enjoy a peek at what is arriving each month, we will continue our early previews and full crate reveals. Member perks like your points and discounts will stay the same, too.
And last but certainly not least, we have officially been forced to give up hope on receiving the final balance of our Haze yarn from January. This also affected the Romance yarn that was originally scheduled for February but moved to March due to the major delays one of our partner mills was experiencing. The best solution we were able to find for your March Crates was to move up the yarn we had slated for April 2021 to replace the Romance yarn. This yarn, which is being produced by one of our other partner mills in Peru, is ready and we are working to get it on its way to our warehouse. As soon as it arrives, those March Crates will be packed and shipped according to the color vibe you chose. Our partner mill in Peru is back on track and was able to get the April yarn done earlier than anticipated. This is an indication of good things to come, as they continue to report they are working ahead of schedule for May and future yarns. We had to pause the April 15th sneak peek to give us time to sort things out, but now we can show you what you will be receiving as your March Membership Crate. Please click here to check that out.
If you have a pending shop order on hold for the Romance or Haze yarn, we cannot begin to express how terrible we feel to have to cancel that portion of your order. The same applies if you have a pending crate on hold from January with the Haze yarn. You will be receiving a separate email within 5-7 business days with a full credit for that order. As explained above, this does not apply to your March subscription, since those subscriptions are being sent out as soon as the new yarn arrives. Our warehouse team is working overtime to fulfill all outstanding orders while contacting anyone that has an order on hold. We appreciate your patience while we sort through all of those orders.
We understand the gravity of the changes we are making to our service and want you to know we do not take any of this lightly. These are not changes we would be making under any other circumstances. However, right now, we are fighting to stay afloat during a pivotal moment in history that has devoured the dreams of countless small business owners around the world. Once we can get our heads above water and the rest of the world starts to return to some sense of normalcy, we hope to get back to being the KnitCrate you know and love.
For our members who came across these changes on the website before we had a chance to send out this announcement, we apologize. We started working on the changes to the site yesterday and through today, and we needed to make the site live so that we can test the various changes. We wanted to make sure everything was free of errors prior to making the announcements to our community.
We appreciate each and every one of you for sticking with us through this. Your kind words of support and feedback have kept us pushing forward each day.
Thank you for your continued support,
Rob & the KnitCrate Team
About KnitCrate:
KNITCRATE is a subscription box service and online store for fiber artists around the world. Subscribers receive a package of premium yarn, two project patterns – one for beginners and one for intermediate/advanced knitters, a full size sweet/soothing extra, plus a fun extra!
Here are the plans:
KnitCrate Quick-to-Stitch Knit & Crochet Club (starts $29.99)
A monthly subscription featuring 2 skeins of KnitCrate’s in-house premium yarn brands & 2 exclusive patterns (1 knit and 1 crochet). The yarn will vary month to month and will feature different weights and colorways. This crate will always come with a fun or soothing extra item as a gift for subscribing. This is our most cost-effective option as you will receive 2 full premium skeins and exclusive patterns designed for KnitCrate by independent designers.
Sock Knit & Crochet Club (starts $24.99)
A monthly subscription featuring 1 premium fingering weight yarn from KnitCrate’s in-house brands, 2 exclusive sock patterns (1 knit and 1 crochet)! The yarn inside will always be specifically for one pair of socks and will feature different bases and colors. This crate will always come with a fun extra as a gift for subscribing. If you are looking for a cost-effective subscription for fun socks every month, this is the one for you!
Malabrigo ($49 per quarter – currently OOS)
This crate is released 4 times per year in February, May, August, and November. This crate includes yarn created by Malabrigo, one of our favorite indie brands from Uruguay. Their yarns make appearances in yarn stores across the country but you’ll get access to exclusive colorways and bases with this crate. The quantity of yarn that you’ll receive can vary depending on the yarn content each quarter. You’ll always receive 1 Knit pattern, 1 Crochet pattern, as well as a fun or soothing extra.
Mrs. Crosby Travels Partner Crate ($69.99 per quarter – currently OOS)
This crate is released 4 times per year in January, April, July, and October. This crate features yarn from the one and only Mrs. Crosby. Travel the world through your yarn each quarter. The quantity of yarn that you’ll receive can vary depending on the yarn content each quarter. You’ll always receive 1 Knit pattern, 1 Crochet pattern, as well as a fun or soothing extra.
Are you getting KnitCrate?
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