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How Marketing Shapes What We Buy (and Why It Shouldn’t)
In this blog post, I explore how easily fiber‑arts consumers are nudged into buying tools and materials that don’t necessarily improve our craft. From scarcity language to influencer hype, the marketing around “designer” hooks, needles, and boutique yarns often shapes our spending more than actual performance of the items. This post examines what truly matters…
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A question of value
While browsing social media over the weekend, I came across an ad for a Coach handbag. It piqued my interest because it looked very much like a crocheted bag. I became curious about the price of it, due to recent conversations around the VALUE of handmade items, specifically crocheted ones. The bag, pictured here, is…
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Anti-AI purists
I once again stumbled into a hotbed of controversy on a Reddit thread that seems to encourage this kind of thing (r/BitchEatingCrafters). Today’s issue seemed to be the use of AI in crafting and art. While I can relate to the irritation around people trying to sell AI-generated patterns (awful, we can all agree), and…
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Remembering Joann (and feeling nostalgic)
Last week I found myself wandering aimlessly in a local Michaels store. It is the store in my area that has a pretty decent fabric inventory and sewing support, but I found myself uninspired, unmotivated, and frankly – unhappy. A couple days later I was feeling some sort of “inspiration” (urge?) to craft-shop and thought…
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The end goals
UPDATE: a correction and a couple additions. Lopi/Istex yarns are distributed by Berroco in North America, which is owned by Premier Needle Arts (part of Blue Point Capital Partners), however; the yarn is NOT owned by Private Equity. From the ‘About Us‘ page on the Istex site: Ístex was established to carry on the Icelandic…
Stitch ‘n Dish: a blog on fabric, yarn, and life
