"Dear readers,
We regret to inform you that LKC will be closing after the Winter 2012 issue. We had hoped that it would take off and that more submissions would be received. However, we have had the same few people submit every quarter. There are very few designers out there and unfortunately the magazine cannot sustain itself. The designers, columnists and the staff work almost free for each issue.
We had hoped that the sales of the magazine issues would help to pay fees and eventually increase the compensation to the designers, however, sales have not increased.
The next issue will be released at the end of this October. The last issue will be at the end of January.
Thank you for your support during our second try at the magazine" - Isela Phelps
Do you think you could help and pass the word?
I'd love to help hostthe site for back issues to remain avalable but not sure how.
I'd love to rally everyone and see what can be done but I know it needs a consistent audience to keep running an actual magazine. Let me know if you'd be interested in the issues still being available somehow. I've offered my help but we shall see.
Comment with your thoughts!
Happy Looming!!
Kristen
This is so sad. There are always great projects & article in the magazine. I bought all the past issues earlier this year & buy each new issue as it comes out.
ReplyDeleteCarolLilyDot
So sad -
ReplyDeleteLOL! Regarding the designers though, I actually think there are a lot out there! But I know in my case it's more that I don't feel confident writing patterns, or really bother, (or am afraid of public pattern mistake scrutiny!) - when it comes to writing patterns. 2 others I know here don't want to put out some hot thing they have come up with out on the web, as they are selling a lot of them. keeping the riches close. Fear of the market suddenly being saturated with knock-offs. (Loomers think globally, I think! lol!)
.....Still, with what I see on web/blogs, there is a lot of intriguing already "Done" projects to be shared, out there, but they are scattered, not all in one place, or in a melange of all kinds of stuff - not just looming, so one hunts and clics and surfs -.
..... Aside from personal subs, I have found CraftGossip, (multicraft online newsletter) intriguing - as along with personal articles and sections, they showcase @ 20/+ average members (freely) with public blogs who have signed up, with an intro, photo, and a link to finished projects & tutes, which adds a lot of varied content, yet would save a lot of work from the few carrying the load. This comes in my email about once a week, sometimes more. It's like opening a treasure chest, and I look forward to scrolling and perusing. Lots of energy there.
.....I know this doesn't address all the issues, and it does cost money for the domain, and web coders! but I sincerely believe that there are tons of loom maniacs out there, and design/Tute loom bloggers with finished LOOM projects galore, that would benefit being specifically being contactable all from one place, along with the great how-to articles and references we have seen in LKC. Jen (I never know what to do with this "chosse profile thing!" lol!
Even though I have printed out most of the patterns, or ones I was interested in, I think it is a wealth of great patterns and the tutorials and stitch help is wonderful. I am not a designer or pattern writer. I tried once and it failed at the test knitters level. They never tried it even. I found it horrible trying to put the pattern into words and how to present it. I am not that good on the computer to set up things like that. Brenda Myers in Georgia is great at condensing it to minimal pages. I haven't done any of the recent ones since I am overwhelmed with to many projects going at the present. I have no idea how to store or set up a page either to house information. I guess it takes a great computer savvy mind and some resources here to save these. I would contribute if that would help someone store these patterns.
ReplyDeleteJeannette
This is sad! However, I think more loom knitters might have contributed if a more aggressive submission campaign had been used. I do understand that the LKC Submission Guidelines & Schedules are in the e-zine, but people get caught up in life and forget which is why I rarely submitted anything. Also, I'm not sure if I've ever seen a call for pattern submissions in any of the Yahoo loom knitting groups. They may have used FB to make such announcements, but I (along with many others) are not on FB.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I do know from the personal experience of finding teachers for Yahoo's LoomClass is that people don't beat the door down to teach those classes - most won't even respond to announcements, so we either contact designers and express our interest or end up teaching many of the classes ourselves.
Another thing I've noticed is that there is a constant turnover in loom knitters so you really have to work to reach as many as possible. This means scouting the Internet, hitting the knitting groups, posting announcements and contacting people in order to reach as many as possible.