Exciting Changes to Pom Pom Quarterly
We're heading into summer and the preparations for our 10th anniversary issue are well underway! Reaching our 10th birthday feels like a huge milestone for an indie knitting mag that started out as a kitchen table project. In our ten years in business we have stayed the same in many ways: we have always loved bright and colourful knits, and celebrated the joys of fibre, making, writing, and delicious food. These quintessentially Pom Pom things are very unlikely to change. However, as we approach our ten-year mark, now seems a prudent time to pause, take stock, and assess the needs of Pom Pom and our readers in 2022.
Pom Pom 2.0
One very exciting change is that our flagship magazine is getting bigger! From Issue 41, Pom Pom Quarterly will be printed in a larger format to better show off each issue’s patterns and photography, and to better help you choose which project to cast on first. With larger pages comes an improved layout, which will make our pattern instructions easier to read – something you’ve told us we could work on. We’re also increasing our page count to bring you more of the articles and tutorials that are so essential to what we do.
Along with the size of the magazine, our price will be getting a little bigger too; starting with Issue 41, print copies of the magazine will cost £17.50. We are so proud of the work we have done as a team and alongside our incredible collaborators and contributors, and in order to continue to produce the magazine you love, we know that Pom Pom Quarterly simply has to cost a little more. When you pay for your copy of the magazine, you are contributing to the livelihoods of 11 permanent staff, as well as technical editors, graphic designers, copy and sensitivity editors, writers, knitwear designers, illustrators, photographers, models, makeup artists, recipe developers, and more! Thank you for allowing us to offer a living wage to all the people who work so hard to make each issue of Pom Pom shine.
Price accessibility is extremely important to us and we have maintained a low cover price for the amount of content within our pages for many years. In addition to paying a living wage to staff, the price increase also reflects the inflation we’ve seen and absorbed over the years. Nearly all our business costs have gone up since we last increased our cover price in 2018; the cost of rent, shipping, printing, and the price of paper have risen significantly and continue to rise. You’ll also see a small increase in our postage rates. This is in line with the increase in prices we pay for the postal services to get copies of Pom Pom safely from our headquarters in London and Austin to your door. While our cover price has increased, we’ll be offering the same generous subscriber discount: the cost of a subscription works out at four issues for the price of three each year (so 25% cheaper than if you bought all four magazines separately)!
Issue 41: Our 10th Anniversary Issue
We're marking this very special occasion with a bumper issue which includes 13 patterns by designers who we knew would perfectly capture the heart and soul of Pom Pom! Our anniversary issue features designs from Isa Catepillán, Sari Nordlund, Marie Régnier, Inyoung Kim, Gina Fama Röckenwagner, Dawn Henderson, Amalia Sieber, Xandy Peters, Sylvia Watts-Cherry, Kiyomi Burgin, Sachiko Burgin, James N Watts, and Ainur Berkimbayeva. You'll find their patterns a versatile mix of pieces for warmer and cooler climes, and we’ve gone all out with a flip double cover!
Look forward to a collection of joyous knitting and crochet, along with a crafter’s guide to London, an article on cultural appropriation and the practice of Sashiko, and a recipe for the most beautiful madeleines we’ve ever seen. We can’t wait to share the previews with you on 27th April, but you can guarantee your copy of Issue 41 now by treating yourself to a whole year of Pom Pom!
Psst, did you catch the sneak peek at the top of this post?
All that’s left for us to say is a huge thank you for all your support over the last decade. Here’s to the next one!
Love, Pom Pom x
