Breaking: F+W Media to Acquire Interweave Parent Company

I just saw on Twitter news first reported by Publishers Weekly and confirmed via a press release from F+W Media that the company, which publishes craft titles under imprints such as North Light Books, Krause Books and Memory Makers Books, has acquired craft publisher Interweave Press’ parent company, Aspire Media LLC.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though F+W CEO Daivd Nussbaum said the deal will add 30 percent to the company’s revenue.

Interweave was founded in 1975 in Loveland, Colo., and was acquired by Aspire Media in 2005. That company is backed by private equity firms Frontenac Company and Catalyst Investors. Clay Hall has served as CEO since that time, and he and CFO Troy Wells will leave the company after the sale.

Interweave owns and operates 15 consumer art and craft magazines and has more than 30 special newsstand publications, has published 350 craft books, hosts 33 websites and 10 online communities, has 10 e-commerce stores, puts on 11 consumer events and also produces video workshops and three craft television programs that air on public television, according to the press release.

F+W Media itself has 20 ecommerce sites geared to different craft genres, and says its customer database will become the biggest in the industry with the acquisition. In addition to craft titles the company publishes a wide array of do-it-yourself titles, including imprints such as Adams Media and Writers’ Digest Books.

No one knows yet what this will mean for Interweave, any of the staff other than those at the top, or the publications or events put on by the company. The press release does indicate increased production of digital products in the near future: “Immediate plans for the Company include: an increased number of digital magazine/content launches through the popular Interweave digital newsstand; an expansion of the e-commerce, ebook, and digital pattern business; and an expansion of the live and online education and event business.”

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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