When I started with my current supplier they had four different lines of laceweight yarn. One was very expensive and I didn’t care for it, so I didn’t much notice or care when that went away. Then they had the base for Primo Lace (80/20 Merino/Silk), Knitterman’s Lace (100% Merino), and Indulgence Lace (70/30 Baby Alpaca/Cultivated Silk). The Knitterman’s Lace was discontinued last year (along with Knitterman’s Fingering – 100% Superwash Corriedale, if I remember correctly), and they recently announced that they were discontinuing the base for Indulgence Lace.
I put out the word that it was going away and opened the door for several people to buy cones for my inventory in exchange for securing hanks for themselves in the future, in this case $120 for a cone, with 3 hanks for the buyer — the dyed hanks are $40 each, so it is a win/win, since the customer gets their hanks with shipping included, and I get the remaining hanks of a cone for other sales.
I got five cones that way, which arrived this past week, and then another customer asked if the supplier had any more available. So I asked, and this is part of their response:
Hi Ray
We should have stock for a few more weeks.
We have not had much success with lace. Perhaps we don’t have the right products or since it takes longer to complete a lace project, knitter gravitate to other weight yarns—they want more instant gratification.
We do have a “heavy” lace we will be introducing in 6 to 8 weeks; it’s about 2300yds/lb and is a wool/silk product. we will look at other lace constructions as well. [The Indulgence Lace base] was an old product, close to 8 years old. It had just run its course.
So…. they do have a little bit left, but they won’t be restocking it. That’s a shame, as it was my most lovely lace weight yarn. But if anyone else wants to buy a cone for me to set some aside for them, please let me know and I’ll take care of it for you. Each 2 pound cone is $120, and you’ll get the first 3 hanks (~730 yards/100 grams) set aside for you — OR you can claim a future BRS when I dye the rest of the cone.
But let’s have some input on the other issues he mentioned: Is the Primo Lace (80/20 Merino/Silk) not the right product for lace-knitters? Are there better laceweight products that my supplier might want to consider? Or are knitters wanting heavier yarns for faster knitting?
What about this new product coming — the heavier wool/silk product that works out to about 575 yards for a 4-ounce hank. Keep in mind that the Primo Lace is 1000 yards for 100 grams, so this new product would be heavier, but not as heavy as Phydlbitz Sock (430 yards/4 oz.)
Instead of buying more of the Indulgence Lace, do I hold off and see what this new lace product is like?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
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