Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Hanging Christmas stockings is a long-standing tradition that is enjoyed by many families around the world during the holiday season. The origins of this tradition can be traced back to the story of Saint Nicholas, a kind bishop who lived in the 4th century. According to legend, Saint Nicholas was known for secretly leaving gifts for poor children in their stockings or shoes.

As the story spread, the tradition of leaving gifts in stockings evolved into the practice of hanging them by the fireplace on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus to fill with small gifts and sweets for children. Today, the tradition continues, and many families hang stockings for all members of the household, including adults and pets, as a way to add a festive touch to their home decor.

“Knit Christmas Stockings, 2nd Edition: 19 Patterns for Stockings & Ornaments” by Gwen W. Steege offers 19 simple and fun patterns to help you create your own unique Christmas stockings. With this guide, even first-time knitters can make beautiful stockings for everyone on their list. The book includes a variety of styles and designs, from wacky to whimsical, classic to daintily darling, to suit every taste. It also includes ideas for using smaller skeins and project leftovers to make mini stockings for pets or tree ornaments. With this guide, you can knit yourself a merry little Christmas and make a cherished family tradition.

Next Pattern:

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.

Next Pattern:

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