One thing I learned in the past year is that meetings called early Monday mornings aren’t ones you want to go to. On Monday, March 11, 2019, we found out that the day before, F+W Media, the parent company of Handwoven’s publisher, Interweave, had declared bankruptcy, Chapter 11 to be specific.
I’m all for new experiences, but feeling as if I was on the brink of losing my job and thinking I might be the editor to shutter Handwoven wasn’t one that I was looking for. Intellectually, I understood the logic of bankruptcy, but the reality on the ground was a feeling of responsibility for a havoc I hadn’t created. My gut reaction was to turn up the music in my headphones and push the uncertainty to the back of the closet, but I couldn’t. It turns out that even in bankruptcy, there was still a job to do and a magazine with contributors and tech editors who needed me to stay the course. That meant turning down the volume, and together with the rest of the Handwoven team, working to put out a magazine that we could be proud of.
The good news about Chapter 11 bankruptcy is its focus on reorganizing what isn’t working into something that does, and for that I am grateful. All of the enthusiast communities under the old corporate umbrella were purchased, including Interweave. In an ironic twist, Linda Ligon, the founder of Handwoven 40 years ago, came back into the picture and joined Anne Merrow and John Bolton as a cofounder of Long Thread Media LLC in order to purchase Handwoven, Spin Off, and PieceWork. Talk about full circle, and coincidentally, circles are the theme of this issue.
I’m excited to begin this new chapter of Handwoven. This is the perfect issue to start with—an issue full of projects based on circles, whether woven into the cloth or formed during construction. Life is funny; you can never tell what’s coming next, but I’m feeling great about Handwoven’s future.
Weave well,
Susan