Dive into the journey of Pom Pom with co-founders Lydia Gluck and Meghan Fernandes, and learn more about their latest projects – including Garland, a brand-new yarn in collaboration with Hobbii.
In case you haven’t noticed, we at Hobbii have teamed up with the wonderful folks behind Pom Pom—and honestly, we couldn’t be more thrilled to collaborate with them! 🥹✨
Let us introduce you to Pom Pom, a brand you REALLY want to get to know!
Founded in 2012 by the amazing duo Lydia Gluck and Meghan Fernandes, Pom Pom quickly became a beloved name in the crafting community. Known for their beautiful printed magazines and books, Pom Pom has always been about more than just patterns—it's about community, inclusivity, color, and the joy for fibers, patterns, and stitches! 🌈🧶💖
Recently, Pom Pom made the difficult decision to stop publishing their magazine, marking the end of an era but also the beginning of exciting new adventures. And guess what? One of those adventures is with us! Our collaboration with Pom Pom has already resulted in a gorgeous summer collection of 13 knitting and crochet patterns. But that's not all—we’ve also teamed up to create a brand-new yarn called Garland 🧶😍
Want to know why Pom Pom is more than just a magazine? In this Q&A blog post, Lydia and Meghan share their journey, their inspirations, and what’s next for Pom Pom in this new era.
And, of course, we couldn’t resist asking them about the one thing we’re all SO excited about these days—the lovely, brand-new yarn named Garland. Spoiler alert: it’s going to be love at first stitch! 💘
1. Can you share the story of how Pom Pom was founded?
“We founded Pom Pom in 2012 when we were both working at a yarn shop together. We had just finished masters degrees and saw from working in the shop that there wasn’t a publication that spoke to our own lived experiences and tastes. So we decided to make the magazine as a creative project—we had no idea that the magazine and our business would last this long!”
2. What does knitting and crochet mean to you personally?
“Like any passion crochet and knitting are ever present in our daily lives, whether in the form of projects we are working on or dreaming about, or in the way we approach other challenges or projects. Both crafts require patience, and trust in the process, both things which are definitely transferable skills.“
3. What does Pom Pom represent to you?
“We have often joked that Pom Pom is our baby. When we started with our first issue we had no idea how big Pom Pom would be, we grew organically over time, gathering momentum as we went. Pom Pom is a reflection of the care and joy that we put into our crafting, and of the power of collaboration.“
4. What has been the most rewarding part of your journey with Pom Pom so far?
“The most rewarding part of our journey has been our community on many levels. The community who read or sold our magazine over the years has been incredible; it feels like they are personally invested in what we do, and to think of these lovely people around the world making and wearing the designs we’ve published is mind-blowing. Then there’s the community we experienced from within—the staff and collaborators we have worked with for over a decade. Many of these people are our best friends and creative partners. We are so lucky!
On a more concrete level, we’re so proud to have published over 600 patterns in our magazines and books over the years. That is a lot of collaborations with designers, editors, photographers, and makers!”
5. What prompted the decision to move away from printed media?
“Print media will always be our first love, and when we started in 2012, there was a huge renaissance of beautifully printed books and magazines from independent publishers like us. The world and our lives have changed dramatically since then, and we realized it just wasn’t the time for us as a small team to continue the magazine as we had.
The transition has been a rollercoaster! But we’ve been so happy to find new ways of curating patterns for our audience, and don’t worry—we are working on two books in print which will come out in 2025!“
6. What are your hopes for the future of Pom Pom?
“We realized over the years that Pom Pom isn’t just a magazine; our readers helped us recognise that there is a spirit of Pom Pom—fun, color, inclusivity—that we will bring to future projects. We are so looking forward to collaborating with the many talented people in our community in new ways—but also taking a little more time for our own work-life balance in this new Pom Pom era!“
7. What makes Garland special?
“We are so over the moon with how this yarn turned out. Creating our own yarn was a dream that we hadn’t considered could ever come true—luckily the timing was perfect with the wind-down of our magazine and having the time we needed to do it in a way we were happy with. We mentioned before that we’ve published over 600 patterns and we commissioned almost as many yarns as that for those designs. So to say we have a LOT of experience with yarn is an understatement!
We wanted to develop something unique and versatile, so on our wish list was that it be a blend of fibers and also that it could have a bit of a marled effect. When Hobbii came back to us with this blend and construction, we knew it was a match.“
“We love that it’s a mix of cotton and alpaca so it’s warm (but not too warm) and alpaca is a nice alternative for people who love the fuzz of mohair (like us) but can’t tolerate it. It’s super soft and has a gorgeous halo, but also has a lovely stitch definition for cables, lace, and other textures. And, because the cotton fibers do not take the dye, the yarn has an incredible marled effect, as though you were holding two strands of yarn together. All of this combined gives the yarn a beautiful depth, the alpaca has a gorgeous drape, and we are just all-around in love with how it turned out.”
8. How did you decide on the color palette for Garland?
“The color palette has to have been the most fun part of creating the yarn. Color has always played a huge part in our brand; we like to think it’s one of the first things that comes to mind when you think about Pom Pom. Colour is so evocative—it brings up emotions, memories, and atmospheres and we had a fairly clear idea of what we wanted from this palette from the start. We were inspired by desaturated paintings, vintage tiles, and lovingly worn textiles—all things that we felt would bring a modern yet warm mood to the palette.”
9. Can you tell us about the free patterns launching with Garland?
“This collection is so beautiful. We were lucky to be able to work with designers we’ve published before as well as ones who were new to us, and we chose designs we felt were both cozy and elegant—just like our yarn. Each of the designs not only looks beautiful, but showcases the yarn in different ways and with different textures—they really show off its versatility. There’s also a range of difficulty and a range of techniques used. We hope there is something for everyone!”
10. What advice would you give to crafters trying out Garland for the first time?
“We are SO excited for you to try it! It’s our job to make yarns and designs look beautiful in photos, but there is nothing like having this yarn in your hands. We can’t wait for makers to also make their own color combinations—an area where we think this yarn and palette really shines. Neutrals with brights, or brights with brights! We love it all. You may want to order a few balls to swatch various combinations with (we can tell you, it’s so fun), but we’ll also be sharing some of our favorites (spoiler: we have a lot!).“
In love with Pom Pom?
We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Pom Pom and our exciting new collaboration! Ready to dive into some crafting? Check out the links below to explore the Pom Pom x Hobbii summer collection, the stunning Garland yarn, and the new free patterns designed for Garland.
- The Pom Pom x Hobbii Summer Collection 2024
- The Garland Yarn—have a look here!
- The Pom Pom x Hobbii Fall Collection 2024 (with Garland!)
Happy crafting! 🌈🧶✨