Vickie Howell is Crowdfunding for a Knitting Show

In case you haven’t already heard about this one, Vickie Howell, once host of “Knitty Gritty” and all around champion of the fiber arts in any medium she can think of, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a web series called “The Knit Show with Vickie Howell.”

The series will be the first studio-produced, community-funded episodic knitting program that will be available worldwide through YouTube.

Howell says she receives messages daily from people who miss DIY crafty TV, and she has been working behind-the-scenes for years trying to figure out how to make it work. But networks aren’t that interested in shows that aren’t reality TV or big budget scripted shows of the type that win awards.

“There isn’t currently a place at the table for niche, how-to programming. The cool thing is, though, we can make our own table,” she said in the launch video.

The Kickstarter is seeking to raise $75,000 — and raised more than $10,000 the first day — to produce the first season, though the documentation doesn’t suggest how many episodes that might be. It does say they will be about 30 minutes long and include guests, knitting tutorials, patterns to download and features on the wider knitting world.

Funding levels start at $1 and go all the way up to $5,000 and more. Rewards include free patterns, tote bags, mentions in the show, even on-location shoots for yarn shops or other folk in the industry.

It’s a big ask but I hope that it works out because this is something we as knitters could really use. Shows are great for building community around and a fun way to learn new skills, too.

What do you think? Have you contributed or will you? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo via Kickstarter.]

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Now that all the Joann stores have closed, a mysterious message has appeared on the company’s website:

For generations, Joann has been honored to be part of your creativity: your quilts, costumes, school projects, and handmade moments of love. It has been our joy to serve markers and dreamers across the country.
We’re stitching up something new behind the scenes and we can’t wait to share what’s next.
Stay tuned for exciting news about the future of Joann.

To quickly recap, Joann filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time in less than a year. In February, in the hope of making the company more attractive to potential buyers, it petitioned the court for permission to close about 500 of its 800 stores. The company was put up for auction, with Gordon Brothers set to buy the company, sell its assets and close all the stores if no other buyer materialized.

In the end the winning bidder was GA Group, but the result was the same: all stores were to be closed by the end of May if not sooner.

Once store closure sales started the company quickly stopped selling on its website, and now all that remains is this jpeg image hinting at new ventures.

I’m sure there will be a tone of speculation in the coming days and weeks (or as long as it takes for them to announce the meaning of the message) as to what sorts of plans Joann could be cooking up.

My theory based on nothing but my gut is that they will transition to an online only storefront, probably with much reduced inventory, sort of like Herrschners (which had previously announced that it will be carrying Big Twist yarn, the beloved private label yarn brand sold at Joann). I also think they will use whatever retail sales they do to support CreativeBug, the digital learning platform that Joann purchased in 2017. That could mean producing kits for projects that already have classes, or developing classes based on products they want to sell, or both.

As of this writing the CreativeBug website seems to still be functional and there’s a full slate of new classes planned for June. I’ve got my eye on both the Joann website and the Joann restructuring website and will let you know as soon as I see changes.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your speculation as to what the next chapter might be for Joann.

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