Knitting

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Sock Sales to Benefit Red Cross

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hurricane socksChrissy Gardiner designed and knit her Hurricane Socks after the devastating hurricanes in the summer and fall of 2008. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the pattern went to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Since the storm called Sandy caused such great damage on the East Coast, Gardiner is ramping up her fundraising efforts again, and has pledged to donate the full $6 pattern cost to disaster relief efforts when people buy the pattern through Ravelry (that’s the link above) from now through the end of November. (Ignore that part on the page about helping earthquake victims; I’m sure it just wasn’t properly updated.)

The pattern is worked top down and involves stranded knitting to make the white hurricane motifs on a blue background. The pattern isn’t so literal as to be creepy, and it is an easy way to support a good cause and get a cool knitting pattern to boot.

You can learn more about the pattern on Gardiner’s website, but remember to buy through Ravelry for the donation to count.

[Photo by Chrissy Gardiner.]

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Golden Peak Media Acquires CreativeBug

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.