Search is on from Britain’s Next Top Knitwear Designer

British knitting company LoveKnitting is one of the sponsors behind a knitting competition looking for new design talent. Would-be designers are asked to design a garment for men or women and send the pattern, along with at least two pictures, to the company by April 30.

Patterns will be judged by a team of six experts, including designer Debbie Bliss and Kate Carter, editor of Life & Style at the Guardian.

The winner will receive £1,000, mentoring from Debbie Bliss, an internship with designer Emilio de la Morena and the pattern will be sold by LoveKnitting as a downloadable leaflet, with all pattern sales proceeds going to the designer.

Only one entry per person will be accepted, and participants must be 16 or older and residents of the UK.

[Photo via LoveKnitting.]

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Throughout the saga of the closing of Joann, I’ve been wondering what would happen to CreativeBug, the subscription-based online craft learning platform that Joann acquired in 2017.

Golden Peak Media has announced its acquisition of the company in a media release.

Golden Peak is “one of the largest media and education companies serving art and craft enthusiasts in the United States,” according the release, and includes in its portfolio brands like Interweave, Sew Daily, and nine print magazines including Love of Quilting and Interweave Knits. They have daily newsletters, magazines, digital patterns, on-demand classes and host live events.

David Saabye, CEO of Golden Peak, calls the purchase a “very natural fit” supporting crafters in their lifelong learning journeys.

CreativeBug general manager Liana Allday will stay on and the company will retain its headquarters in Berkeley, Calif.

Abby Glassenberg of the Craft Industry Alliance collected reactions from some CreativeBug instructors and others with a history at the company, and heard lots of optimism about the news. Ursula Morgan, who was CEO of CreativeBug when the company was acquired by Joann, said Golden Peak is a “perfect home” for CreativeBug as they’re getting an owner that “deeply understands the craft consumer.”

I, too, am relieved to see that this platform will be able to continue. I’ve been a subscriber for years and I love that it has solid instruction in a wide range of crafts (including knitting, of course!) and is always adding new content to keep the platform interesting. It’s also a great service that CreativeBug is available to many for free through their local libraries, so be sure to check on that where you live if you don’t already subscribe.

This feels like the last piece of the puzzle in the story of Joann that’s going on all year, along with the announcement that Michaels had purchased Joann’s intellectual property so its private label brands can live on, but of course I’ll keep watching to see if there’s more to come.

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