Announcing Threadstack! A Creative Community.
A section of Create Me Free celebrating crochet, knitting, embroidery, weaving, sewing, etc. on Substack
I have always thrived in creative communities of people who do magical things with yarn and thread. And there are a lot of these people here on Substack. However, they’re all dispersed into their own corners. And I want to invite us all to come together. So, I’m creating THREADSTACK!
Threadstack is a new section of Create Me Free. Note that you can always choose to subscribe ONLY to this section and not to all of the writing I send out. Learn more.
DIRECTORY OF THREAD/YARN LOVERS
Threadstack begins with me compiling a directory of those people who are in this niche of the community and want to be included. That way we can all find one another’s newsletters and get connected.
Who can join this directory?
You are invited to have a listing in this directory if:
You have a Substack newsletter that regularly mentions one or all of these crafts: crochet, knitting, embroidery, weaving, sewing, etc.
This doesn’t have to be the only thing that you write about on your newsletter. However, it should be something that you mention regularly.
Want to join the directory?
What if I don’t fit the directory criteria?
The goal of the THREADSTACK directory is to help people find the newsletters about these topics. However, the THREADSTACK community is larger than that, and you can be a part of it even if you aren’t listed in the directory.
A COMMUNITY OF YARN/THREAD LOVERS
Anyone who is interested in being connected to THREADSTACK simply needs to subscribe to Create Me Free. You can choose to opt into only that section if you aren’t interested in other writing here. Just by subscribing, you become part of the community and will receive updates.
What THREADSTACK Offers …
In addition to the THREADSTACK DIRECTORY, there’s the opportunity to share your relevant links for a weekly roundup. You do not have to be part of the directory to share a link.
What Else to Expect …
I have some ideas for what THREADSTACK might begin to offer in the weeks and months to come. None of this is set in stone because it’s really important to let ideas marinate and grow slowly. But some of the things that might be coming in addition to the directory:
My own writing relevant to the topic. I have an expertise in crochet as therapy, which I write about regularly but I also write more broadly about the craft. I know how to knit, although I rarely do, and I enjoy weaving, although it’s been a bit since I did it. So my craft therapy posts will remain in their own category here on Create Me Free but THREADSTACK will have messages from me with my thoughts and inspirations and projects.
Interviews and Guest Posts. You know that I love collaborating with others, and this really is meant to be a place for people to share their unique experiences. So, I’m expecting to have interviews and guest posts with others about their yarn and thread adventures, ideas, projects.
A Virtual THREADSTACK Tour. You may know that I love virtual tours for my books. They are an awesome way to bring communities of people together around a single topic. It is very likely that later this year I’ll host a virtual tour of THREADSTACKERS.
Small online gatherings? Perhaps private chat threads for the people in the THREADSTACK community. Perhaps a monthly online gathering to craft together? Ideas in the works.
Webinars/Workshops. I have regularly thought about doing something like this with the 100 creative crochet exercises in my Hook to Heal book. Or a variation that allows for other crafts to utilize similar exercises. We’ll see.
Tutorials? Maybe we want to have written/audio/video tutorials in different crafts, created not just by me but by other THREADSTACKERS.
Additional Resources. Emails with books and films and classes that are great resources for the yarn/thread community. Or a calendar of upcoming related events. Or … Again, we’ll see?
How You Can Help
Share this post widely so that people know about THREADSTACK. Share it in Notes, on external social media, as an announcement to your own readers, etc.
Directly share it to anyone that you know who has a related newsletter and/or let me know who those folks are!
Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments for how you’d like to see this grow and develop.
Subscribe so that you can stay in the loop.
Housekeeping:
As this develops, I’ll make decisions about what gets paywalled and requires a subscription. (Note that as of May 2024, everything in my archives is paywalled after one week, so older posts in this section will fall into that category.)
For example, emails may remain free but gatherings could be only for paid subscribers and workshops would have their own separate fee. That’s just an example; this is all still in development.
I try to make it possible for everyone to access my writing at a price that works for them by offering a SLIDING SCALE Pay What You Can Option that starts at just $10 per year.
I am really loving this idea! While I don't post about my own knitting journeys, I would love a place to find other creative folks in the thread community.
A therapist here who writes about all things yarn! Absolutely love this idea!