Last updated on January 8th, 2023 at 10:02 am
January & Wood Yarn Sample Cards and Yarn and Thread Pictures and Descriptions
January & Wood Company, Inc. operated a mill in Maysville, Kentucky from 1851 through 2004; the company remained in the same family for its entire 150+ year history!
Maysville 3-Ply Rug Filler Sample, Around 1955
There’s two sample cards with 3-ply rug filler yarn on each card and the two cards were stapled together at the top, so as to make it a sample card with a front and a back. There’s no specific manufacturer or seller’s name or other info on either of these cards; just a mention that “Maysville 3-ply Filler is manufactured in white and twenty-one beautiful colors. Put up one-half pound skeins, 10 skeins to package.” The cards don’t specifically state what material this 3-ply rug filler is made of but it feels like a soft wool or cotton blend to me. This yarn is quite thick, easily 3 to 4 times the thickness of Aunt Lydia’s Rug Yarn. The first card below contains samples of white, ecru, tan, peach, colonial green, aqua green, myrtle green, lavender, rust, reddish brown, and dark brown 3-ply rug yarn.
The second card (“back” of stapled cards) contains samples of Maysville 3-ply Rug Filler in lemon yellow, gold, burnt orange, colonial blue, royal blue, dusty rose, old rose, red, wine, slate gray, and black.
Home-Craft Maysville Soft Spun Yarn Color Sample Card, Approximately 1955
Unlike the 3-ply rug filler sample above, this card doesn’t list the January & Wood Company name but instead lists one of their trademark names, Home-Craft, and the yarn type is listed as “Maysville Soft Spun”. This 25% cotton/75% rayon yarn is identical in every way to vintage Aunt Lydia’s Heavy Rug Yarn (vintage, not the cheap icky 100% polyester Aunt Lydias of the 80s-90s onward) including feel, material, twist, size/thickness, colors, etcetera. The samples include (top row) colonial green, aqua green, dark green, red brown, dark brown, dusty rose, old rose, red, wine, and black yarn samples; the bottom row has ivory, white, ecru, tan, peach, lemon yellow, maize, lavender, slate gray, colonial blue, and royal blue.
Kentucky Lusterspun Yarn sample card from January & Wood Company, Maysville, Kentucky, approximately 1955.
This sample card lists the yarn brand name as “Kentucky Lusterspun Yarn” but I’ve not found a trademark registration for Lusterspun (yet). Per some advertisements, it appears that Lusterspun Yarn was a rayon and/or rayon mix yarn (I’m not sure from feeling the samples; feels like a mix to me). The top row colors are black, wine, red, pink, dusty rose, dark brown, cocoa brown, emerald green and colonial green. The bottom row colors are ivory, ecru, tan, peach, yellow, gold, orchid . slate gray, colonial blue, royal blue.
Kentucky All Purpose Yarn
Maysville Carpet Warp
January & Wood Co. Home-Ties
January & Wood Co. Macramé Cord (post 1963)
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