Jimmy Beans Beanie Bag Project Club
Overall Rating:
What is it?
Jimmy Beans Wool is a small yarn shop with both an online and a brick-and-mortar presence in Reno, Nevada. They have a huge selection of high-end and luxury yarns, needles, kits and more.
The Beanie Bag subscription is the 2018 quarterly subscription for mini skeins each month over a three month period. The 2019 subscriptions are different, so check the notes at the bottom of the review for additional information. There is one continuous project over those three months that makes use of all the mini skeins and is revealed month by month. If you start your subscription in the middle of month two or three, Jimmy Beans ships the prior months immediately so that you can catch up.
The subscription is $30 for a 3 month subscription with no additional shipping. It comes to $10 per month. Jimmy Beans has other subscription boxes available as well, if mini-skeins aren’t your thing.
The Beanie Bag Subscription includes:
- Beanie Bag Project Bag (first box)
- A pattern divided across the three months
- Mini- skeins with enough yarn to complete the project pattern
- Extra goodies
First Box:
Because I started in November, I received October’s and November’s boxes at the same time. For $10 per month, I was concerned with what I’d receive, but was quite pleasantly surprised. The first box contained a branded canvas project, three mini skeins of SW wool, a Jimmy Beans enamel pin and a sample of luxury hand cream.
The yarns are what I consider really solid mid-range wools which all pair nicely together: 220 Super Wash Merino, Malabrigo Rios and Berroco Ultra Wool. The kit included 50 yards of grey and 25 yards of each of the other colors. This was the perfect amount for the pattern.
The pattern was fantastic. The first third arrived with the first box. It included clear instructions and a picture of what your progress should look like. It was neither too simple, nor too difficult. I imagine most people signing up for a yarn club have some basic level of experience, and this pattern takes that into consideration. It has enough interest to keep an old pro engaged, but makes use of simple stitches and repeats. A newer knitter might need to play around a bit, but would still have a high success rate.
Second Box:
The second box arrived with three 25 yard skeins, the second part of the pattern, a nice pocket-sized notebook, another sample of hand cream and a yarn needle. Again, the pattern was incredibly clear and the photo on the back of the card showed a great visual of the progress expected by the end of this portion of the pattern. The new yarns coordinated perfectly with the first three, both texturally and color-wise.
Third Box:
The third box had the final three skeins, pattern a drink coaster, and a link to instructions on how to make a pom pom for the hat.
Pros:
I’ve been calling them mini-skeins, but in truth, they are nicely wound balls, ready to knit from. Each one contains a small receipt in the center which tells which yarn it is.
The yarns chosen coordinated beautifully, both in color and fiber content.
Cons:
Having a small project, like this hat, divided over three months seems like an unnecessary tie-up of needles. This hat could easily be completed in a day or two by an experienced knitter if all the materials arrived at one time.
Also, this particular subscription was discontinued as of the end of 2018.
Other Notes:
For 2019, Jimmy Beans began a new subscription called Jimmy’s Knit Club or Jimmy’s Crochet Club. This subscription is slightly more expensive at $20 per month, but continues the trend of offering a single project over three months, just like the Beanie Bags.
These kits contain somewhat larger projects, which I feel are more easily broken up over three months.
Conclusions:
Price: ★★★★★
Quality: ★★★★☆
Value: ★★★★☆
Jimmy Beans Wool knows how to put together a good subscription kit. These kits are thoughtfully constructed and I liked it well enough to sign up for three months in 2019.