Pom Pom Publishing

If you miss our magazine as much as we do, read on! We have decided to take our love of craft to Substack. One of the wonderful things about Pom Pom Quarterly was that it was created with so much freedom. We were able to curate and publish the things we truly loved, and that we thought our readers would love too. We could commission thoughtful writing, take a chance on emerging designers, and only use the yarns that we thought best suited a design. In an age of a lot of ‘free’ content (often meaning content that involves an element of being advertised to, your data being stolen, and/or an algorithm choosing what you see), we see Substack as a space to continue what Pom Pom built, and most importantly, continue that creative freedom. So what can you expect from us in this new iteration? A lot of what readers came to expect from the magazine, all in our distinctive colourful, exuberant, and cross-craftual style, including: - Knitting, crochet, and sewing patterns - Tutorials (in video and illustration form) - Interviews, reviews, works in progress, and deep-dives on things we love that relate to making. But ALSO we want to be more present with you as makers, and Substack feels like a great place to be less polished and show more behind the scenes and more intimate musings. We also love that there is an in-built chat function so we will be able to talk and share as a community! We chose the name Out of Hand to describe this new project because in this digital era (which, yes, we know we are embracing to a certain extent by having a Substack at all), working with our hands is a life force for us, and because the name works as an umbrella for all the types of work by hand that we will explore. The fact that the name also reflects our slightly chaotic brains/approach to creativity and colour is just a bonus. Much like when we first started our print quarterly nearly 15 years ago, this is an experiment of sorts. We want to continue to build the community we had with our print publications, to share and be shared with. We hope you’ll come along with us! xxx Meghan & Lydia

₊✩‧₊ giveaway ₊✩‧₊ Our new book Crochet How launches so soon! We know you have a bestie you’ve been dying to induct into the crochet club - or is that bestie you?? Either way, tag a pal who you want to stitch with, and we’ll choose three pairs of you to send copies of our book to (one for each of you!). Be sure you’re both following us and feel free to enter as many times as you like - we’re taking over the world one granny square at a time! Giveaway closes next Friday the 28th 🗓️ #giveaway #crochet #learntocrochet #CrochetHow #howtocrochet

If you’re in the U.S., you can now hop, skip, jump on over to your fave LYS or local bookshop to pick up your copy of the new and improved #KnitHow! This book is the glow up of our beloved beginner book, first released in 2018 after three years of working on it. It has gone on to welcome tens of thousands new knitters into the fold and we have been so grateful to be a part of so many knitters’ journeys. Who doesn’t remember who first taught them to knit?? We’ve added patterns, taken new photos, drawn updated tutorials and somehow made a perfect thing even better (if we do say so ourselves). To celebrate the birth of a new book, and new knitters (!) we’d love it if you shared who taught you or how you first learned to knit. Nothing could be more heartwarming on a cold day in January! #knit #learntoknit #KnitHowBook

We tried to write a caption for this and decided these ridiculously cute photos speak for themselves!! @pickyfemme ’s pattern for #ScrappyCheckers in baby to adult sizes drops Monday! You can pre-order at a discount and have it appear in your inbox as soon as it’s live. Or if you’re a paid Substack subscriber, you’ll get the pattern as part of your subscription! Needles at the ready, it’s almost time to get scrappy! 📸 @allymmcleod @ashkurat 🧶 @manosdeluruguayyarns

The ✨gorgeous✨ #ScrappyCheckers pullover by @pickyfemme is coming very (very!) soon! Pre-order is now live for the pattern - purchase before Monday for the discounted price. And this time, you have the choice of getting the adult + kid patterns together or separately, depending on who you plan to knit for. This project is designed for worsted-weight scraps. In developing this pattern, Erin wanted to create something graphic and bold — but with the flexibility to play with colour and pattern without having to memorise complex colour repeats. A simple 4-stitch, 4-round repeat can be altered in infinite ways to set different moods for your garment. You can change the contrast or main body colours to create gingham or arrange stripes of checkers — the possibilities are endless! While the sample uses one brand and base (the stunning @manosdeluruguayyarns Ideal), it works equally well with any worsted yarns of similar weight and yardage. For the sample garments, a single background colour is used consistently throughout, allowing the contrasting checker colours to be the focus. For more details on calculating yarn amounts for each colour, see the pattern listings on our website!

“In a world that sometimes feels like it’s trying to turn craft itself into something quite boring... let’s not go there quietly.” Read our newest post at pompommag.substack.com

Can you believe how gorgeous these @manosdeluruguay Ideal colours look in @pickyfemme ’s #ScrappyCheckers swatches?! The ✨squish✨ (technical term) of this yarn is even more incredible in person. Scrappy Checkers is coming soooooon - 18 May to be exact - and in the meantime we are reminiscing about how lucky we are to have seen these yarns produced in person ourselves. April marks three years for Lydia and two years for Meghan since travelling to Uruguay with @fairmountfibers and @manosdeluruguayyarns to experience their incredible mills, fair trade co-operatives, and see their talented artisans at work. There is so much we could say about how worthwhile this trip is (and we have!) but if it’s something you’re able consider, take a look at their itinerary at the link in our profile. We adore the people at Fairmount and Manos who run this, and are certain you would love the trip and camaraderie as well (think yarn dyeing, horseriding, art, amazing food, and more). 📸 @allymmcleod @ashkurat

Here it is! Our second stand-alone quilt pattern, the #15PatchQuilt, is out today ⚡️🪡⚡️ Featuring 30 pages of instruction, illustrations, and stunning photography by the ever amazing @the.edit_by.salsabil , all shot at beautiful @keswickmill . This quilt is another play on a classic nine patch; the check pattern is created by adding in ‘half nine patch’ blocks alongside the nine patch ones in alternate columns. The name came about because the additional half block uses 6 patches, and added together with the 9 that makes 15 patches! And if you’re new to quilting, never fear! Our ‘How to Make a Quilt’ zine is free when you buy this pattern and has absolutely everything you need to know. Link to the pattern in our bio 👆 or if you’re a paid subscriber to our Substack this pattern is included in your subscription ✨ For this quilt sample we used @merchantandmills Linen 185 in French Clay, Calamine, Cinnamon Dust, and Oxblood.

Lydia has been working on another #Kissing9Patch quilt, and in our first proper Substack essay she muses on making a new version of something that felt so completely finished in its first form. She discusses re-choosing colours, and all the feelings of perfectionism that can sometimes get in the way of finishing. Head over to our Substack to read (and see!) more.

Our second stand-alone quilt pattern, the 15 Patch Quilt, will be released very soon (23rd April!), so watch this space 👀 And don’t forget if you’re a paid subscriber to our Substack this pattern is included in your subscription ✨ Fabric: @merchantandmills 185 Linen 📸: @the_edit_by_salsabil #15PatchQuilt

Want to know more about joining us on Substack? Head over to our post where we break it all down for you! Nearly 2,000 of you have already signed up - this means the world to us. So that it’s not all business, we’ve also released a free post today too! Head on over to pompommag.substack.com

Spring might not seem like the most natural time to learn to knit, but we think it’s perfect. Not only is it true that knitting is a year-round craft, but because there’s so much blooming around us, we think it’s a great opportunity to start something fresh. Our learn-to-knit book #KnitHow has plenty of knits that will help you along your journey to knithood, as well as being wearable in the spring. We are particularly thinking of the #KristineBandana and the #RachelSocks. Socks are thought of as wintery, but we think pairing them with sandals or birks makes them very springy indeed. And who doesn’t need a little scarf for the cooler mornings and evenings this time of year!?