Prime Publishing LLC

Prime Publishing Hosts Seventh Annual Shawls for Charity Drive

Northbrook, IL – From February 1 to March 31, 2024, AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting proudly partnered with JourneyCare Home Health and Hospice for the seventh annual Shawls for Charity Drive. With the help of our generous readers, we collected approximately 100 handmade knit and crochet shawls for those in need.

JourneyCare is the largest provider of hospice services in Illinois, serving patients and families throughout the greater Chicagoland area and surrounding counties. The shawls are given to patients and sometimes family members who are struggling. People are elated to receive these beautiful handcrafted works made by someone they don’t even know.

“At a time when words are not sufficient…the shawls speak volumes. I am regularly moved by the resultant smiles, laughs, and tears of joy and gratitude,” says Timothy Lankford, MAPS, BCC, JourneyCare Chaplain.

To learn more about JourneyCare, and the impact the donations have on their recipients, read our insightful and inspiring interview with Timothy Lankford, MAPS, BCC, JourneyCare Chaplain.

Though the charity drive has ended, JourneyCare is always accepting shawl donations. You can send a shawl by following the instructions on our charity drive page. 

For free shawl patterns and inspiration, visit AllFreeCrochet.com and AllFreeKnitting.com.

Learn more about JourneyCare here.

Prime Publishing Hosts Sixth Annual Shawls for Charity Drive

Northbrook, IL – AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting proudly partnered with Rush University Medical Center and JourneyCare Hospice during November 2022 for the sixth annual Shawls for Charity Drive. With the help of our generous readers, we collected approximately 200 handmade knit and crochet shawls for those in need.

The shawls were donated to families on JourneyCare’s inpatient hospice unit in Chicago, IL. JourneyCare also partners with local hospitals such as Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL, Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, IL, and more.

“Our patients, families and we greatly appreciate them. At times, there are no appropriate or adequate words one can say…and the prayer shawls speak volumes as evidenced by the smiles, tears, and snuggles,” says Timothy Lankford, MAPS, BCC, JourneyCare Chaplain.

“Hundreds of our patients will be comforted by these lovingly made gifts!,” says Katie Kirby, Volunteer Services Coordinator at JourneyCare.

To learn more about JourneyCare, and the impact the donations have on their recipients, be sure to check out our insightful and inspiring interview with Timothy Lankford, MAPS, BCC, JourneyCare Chaplain.

For free shawl patterns and inspiration, visit AllFreeCrochet.com and AllFreeKnitting.com.

Learn more about JourneyCare here.

Prime Publishing Hosts Annual Shawl Drive for Charity

Northbrook, IL —  AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting are proudly partnering with Rush University Medical Center and JourneyCare during November 2022 for the Shawls for Charity Drive . Together, with the help of our readers, we are collecting homemade knit and crochet shawls for those in need now through November 30, 2022. 

This is our sixth year running this shawl drive on behalf of JourneyCare. The shawls will be donated to families on JourneyCare’s inpatient Chicago hospice unit. JourneyCare partners with local organizations including Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Ill., Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Ill, and more. 

“We received more than 200 shawl donations during our last shawl drive,” says Jenny Bowden, managing editor at Prime Publishing. “I am always blown away by the support, kindness, and compassion of our readers. We can’t wait to see how many donations are received this year!” 

“The prayer shawls are appreciated every day by our patients,” says Timothy Lankford, Chaplain at JourneyCare. 

For free shawl patterns and inspirations, visit AllFreeCrochet.com and AllFreeKnitting.com. 

The Shawls for Charity Drive runs November 1 through November 30, 2022. To learn more about how to donate, visit us here. 

Learn more about JourneyCare here. 

Prime Publishing Celebrates American Heart Month

Northbrook, IL – From February 21-February 28, 2022, Prime Publishing raised money for the American Heart Association through its quarterly Clicks for a Cause program.  

Heart disease is the most common cause of death in the U.S. for both men and women, and February is American Heart Month. In support of American Heart Month, the Clicks for a Cause effort benefited the American Heart Association, which builds public awareness, improves healthy behavior habits, and ensures research is inclusive for heart disease and stroke.

We shared heart-healthy recipes and red DIY projects with our readers to celebrate American Heart Month, such as the Red Knit Cowl pattern, Heart Healthy Chili, and more. 

Learn more about the American Heart Association here and how you can donate.

Learn more about Prime Publishing’s Clicks for a Cause program here. 

h+h americas finalizes partnership with Prime Publishing

Northbrook, Illinois —

• Together we are expanding industry outreach, connecting with our community.
• First international offspring of the world’s leading trade fair “h+h cologne.”
• We are uniting the soft crafts industries In North America.
• More than 100 exhibitors signed up.
 

Excitement is building around the launch of h+h americas, which will take place from June 22-24, 2022, in Rosemont, Illinois. With seven months to go, the organizer reports strong interest among the US and international soft craft manufacturers and already has over 100 contracts. 

Today the organizer announced a new partnership with Prime Publishing LLC, a leading online platform and publisher for the fiber and fabric community with 3 million followers. Prime will use its vast online reach to draw awareness to the h+h americas opportunity, where it will organize networking events and pre-show introduction of top influencers, bloggers & designers to selected sponsors. Prime will also offer an “America’s Best Contest” featuring project designs and the award winners will be announced following h+h americas. 

Says Stuart Hochwert, President of Prime: “We think that h+h americas will provide some great opportunities for buyers and sellers in the soft craft industry. We are committed to assisting this event via five of our sites including FaveCrafts.com; AllFreeSewing.com; FaveQuilts.com; AllFreeKnitting.com & AllFreeCrochet.com that comprise some of Prime’s free crafting, fiber and fabric online resources for consumers in beads, crochet, knitting, and sewing. Our team of editors will be onsite to cover the launch of this event. We are very excited to enter this partnership.”

“Having Prime Publishing as a partner on our side gives us another powerful channel to reach the soft-craft buying community. We are confident this partnership will be valuable in our effort to deliver a high-quality and diverse trade show, design competition, and educational program. We look forward to this co-operation,” says Mette Petersen, President and Managing Director of Chicago-based Koelnmesse Inc.

h+h americas, the sister event of its German namesake, is slated to become the leading U.S. industry event for buyers of home textiles, tapestry, sewing, knitting, crocheting, haberdashery, quilting, needlepoint, and business software and marketing solutions. It will be held in partnership with the Craft Industry Alliance, a membership organization that has served the craft professionals community since 2015.

For more information contact:
Darrin Stern
North American Show Manager
h+h americas
773-326-9925
www.hh-americas.com
www.instagram.com/hhamericas
www.linkedin.com/showcase/hhamericas
www.facebook.com/hhamericas

About Prime Publishing LLC:
Since 2009, a women’s lifestyle content publisher focused on DIY, Craft & Recipe sites, newsletters, magazines, and social media. Fiber (Knit & Crochet) and Fabric (Sewists & Quilters) consumers find project ideas, inspiration, new product information and engaging content on Prime’s sites, seven sewing & quilting newsletters & 9 crochet & knitting newsletters and several social media channels on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube. To request more information about how Prime can promote your brand to Fiber & Fabric consumers send an email to Chris Wright.

About Koelnmesse GmbH:
Koelnmesse is the number 1 trade fair location for numerous industries with some 1,000 employees and representatives worldwide. Cologne, Germany is centrally located in Europe and the Koelnmesse fairgrounds with 400,000 square meters ranks in the top 3 within Germany and top 10 worldwide. Every year, Koelnmesse organizes and conducts more than 80 trade fairs, exhibitions, guest events and special events in Cologne and in the world’s most important markets connecting 54,000 exhibitors from 122 countries with more than 3 million visitors from 200 countries. Koelnmesse has earmarked 700 million Euro towards the expansion of its fairgrounds which should be completed by 2030.

Koelnmesse Picture Material:
https://www.koelnmesse.de/news/bilddatenbank/bilddatenbank.php 

Koelnmesse in Social Media:
www.linkedin.com/company/koelnmesse-gmbh
www.instagram.com/koelnmesse 
www.facebook.com/Koelnmesse
www.twitter.com/Koelnmesse 

Koelnmesse Inc. located in Chicago, IL for the past 19 years is the North American subsidiary and marketing arm of the Koelnmesse Group, one of the world’s leading organizers of international trade shows. Their experienced team of marketing and sales professionals organizes trade shows and events in North America as well as North American Pavilions for US, Canadian and Mexican companies at more than 25 trade shows around the world. 
https://koelnmessenafta.com
https://twitter.com/koelnmesseinc
https://www.linkedin.com/company/koelnmesseinc
https://www.facebook.com/KoelnmesseInc

FaveCrafts Sees Continued Growth with Online Crafting Classes

Northbrook, IL – Prime Publishing used to host in-person classes, seminars, events and how-to opportunities. Their four in-house cooking and crafting studios were used every day.  Their large conference spaces were booked months in advance. Local hotels enjoyed the constant stream of visitors. Of course, the pandemic stopped all of these in-person activities. So, in just eight months, their FaveCrafts brand pivoted and has held more than 30 online crafting classes and hosted more than 15,000 attendees looking to expand their crafting knowledge. 

The focus has been on knit and crochet classes, and topics have included everything from beginner Learn to Knit and Learn to Crochet classes, plus more advanced topics such as Continental Knitting, Tunisian Crochet, Entrelac Knitting, and more. We have welcomed a number of talented instructors into our virtual crafting studio including Marly Bird from MarlyBird.com, Marie Segares from Underground Crafter, and Tamara Kelly from Moogly Blog. 

Beginner classes are sponsored by I Like Crochet and I Like Knitting, and are available to consumers for free. The advanced classes are $19.99/each, or attendees can choose to buy a bundle ticket option (three classes for $29.99) and save 50%. Our free, one-hour classes provide a great opportunity for both beginners and experienced knitters and crocheters to learn a new hobby from industry experts from the comfort of their own home. Viewer questions are answered in real time, and attendees receive expert advice for troubleshooting common problems. 

Recordings of our free classes are made available for those that were not able to attend in real time. This also provides attendees the opportunity to re-watch the class on their own time and practice their skills. Visit the AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting YouTube channels and watch them today! 

To date, one of the most successful paid classes has been Fixing Common Mistakes in Knitting. Due to popular demand, we will be offering this class again in August. Learn more about our upcoming classes at FaveCrafts.com, and visit Eventbrite to sign up. Seats are limited, so reserve your spot today!

Prime Publishing Hosts Fifth Annual Prayer Shawls for Charity Drive

Northbrook, IL —  AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting proudly partnered with Rush University Medical Center and JourneyCare during November 2019 for our fifth annual Prayer Shawls for Charity Drive. Together, with the help of our readers, 223 homemade knit and crochet prayer shawls were collected.

The shawls will be donated to families on JourneyCare’s inpatient Chicago hospice unit. “They are a huge comfort for families,” says Deb Donnelly, Licensed Clinical Social Worker at JourneyCare. Those that receive the blankets are “deeply appreciate,” she continues.

This year, hundreds of knitters and crocheters from around the country sent in shawls to donate along with personal notes for the patients receiving the shawls.

“It’s always so wonderful to give back,” says Jenny Bowden, Editorial Manager at Prime Publishing. Seeing all of these homemade donations flood into our office never gets old, and it’s so heartwarming to unbox the shawls and read the touching messages that were sent along with them. Our readers are incredibly compassionate and giving, and to know each shawl is going to such a deserving person in need… there’s really nothing better.” 

The charity drive, in its fifth consecutive year, collected 223 completed knit and crochet shawls that will be shared with local hospice patients. For more information on the Prayer Shawls at Rush initiative, and to learn how you can make a difference, please check out Rush’s Facebook page here.

Prepare for Winter Weather with Our Free Patterns

NORTHBROOK, Ill. — Survive Winter Storm Harper and make progress on your New Year’s resolutions at the same time with the help of AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting’s free pattern library.

Winter Storm Harper is expected to bring a lot of snow to a large area of the country through the weekend, and the Midwest is gearing up for it. Winter storm watches and warnings and winter weather advisories have been posted by the National Weather Service from South Dakota eastward through the southern Great Lakes and into the Northeast. Cities included in the winter storm watches or warnings include Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston, Hartford, Providence, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland and Des Moines.

Winter weather advisories and warnings are also posted throughout the Mountain West, which will feel the effects of Harper on Thursday.

Forecasters are urging residents to take precautions, including wearing layers and a hat and gloves. For those of you that might want to make your own hat or gloves, check out the free pattern library at AllFreeCrochet.com and AllFreeKnitting.com. Whether you’re looking to stay warm, learn a new skill, or improve your health, these free knit and crochet patterns can help! Recent studies have found people who participate in arts and crafts such as knitting and crochet “feel happier, calmer, and more energetic the next day.” The healing benefits range from simply calming you down and easing your stress to potentially relieving depression and reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists now believe that “crafts, such as crocheting, can help stimulate that dopamine release to allow us to feel happier and better about ourselves.”

Visit AllFreeKnitting and AllFreeCrochet to find a variety of free pattern inspiration from expert designers and top yarn companies including Kristi Simpson, Heidi Gustad, Red Heart Yarn, and more. Patterns feature high resolution color photographs and step-by-step instructions; some include helpful video tutorials so you can follow along as you go.

AllFreeKnitting and AllFreeCrochet’s free pattern library includes:

Beginner’s Crochet Scarf – video tutorial!

100 Free Crochet Patterns for Winter: Hats, Scarves, Blankets, and More

Winter Wonderland: 17 Winter Patterns to Crochet – free eBook!

Winter Cable Knit Beanie – video tutorial!

13 Knit Hat Patterns for the Winter

Knit Super Scarves: 12 Free Patterns

PLUS: Health Benefits of Knitting and Health Benefits of Crochet

Prepare for Winter Weather with Our Free Patterns

NORTHBROOK, Ill. — Survive Winter Storm Harper and make progress on your New Year’s resolutions at the same time with the help of AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting’s free pattern library.

Winter Storm Harper is expected to bring a lot of snow to a large area of the country through the weekend, and the Midwest is gearing up for it. Winter storm watches and warnings and winter weather advisories have been posted by the National Weather Service from South Dakota eastward through the southern Great Lakes and into the Northeast. Cities included in the winter storm watches or warnings include Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston, Hartford, Providence, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland and Des Moines.

Winter weather advisories and warnings are also posted throughout the Mountain West, which will feel the effects of Harper on Thursday.

Forecasters are urging residents to take precautions, including wearing layers and a hat and gloves. For those of you that might want to make your own hat or gloves, check out the free pattern library at AllFreeCrochet.com and AllFreeKnitting.com. Whether you’re looking to stay warm, learn a new skill, or improve your health, these free knit and crochet patterns can help! Recent studies have found people who participate in arts and crafts such as knitting and crochet “feel happier, calmer, and more energetic the next day.” The healing benefits range from simply calming you down and easing your stress to potentially relieving depression and reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists now believe that “crafts, such as crocheting, can help stimulate that dopamine release to allow us to feel happier and better about ourselves.”

Visit AllFreeKnitting and AllFreeCrochet to find a variety of free pattern inspiration from expert designers and top yarn companies including Kristi Simpson, Heidi Gustad, Red Heart Yarn, and more. Patterns feature high resolution color photographs and step-by-step instructions; some include helpful video tutorials so you can follow along as you go.

AllFreeKnitting and AllFreeCrochet’s free pattern library includes:

Beginner’s Crochet Scarf – video tutorial!

100 Free Crochet Patterns for Winter: Hats, Scarves, Blankets, and More

Winter Wonderland: 17 Winter Patterns to Crochet – free eBook!

Winter Cable Knit Beanie – video tutorial!

13 Knit Hat Patterns for the Winter

Knit Super Scarves: 12 Free Patterns

PLUS: Health Benefits of Knitting and Health Benefits of Crochet

Prime Publishing Hosts Fourth Annual Prayer Shawls for Charity Drive

Northbrook, IL — AllFreeCrochet and AllFreeKnitting proudly partnered with Rush University Medical Center’s Prayer Shawls at Rush initiative during the months of October and November 2018 for our fourth annual Prayer Shawls for Charity Drive.

 “There’s more to the prayer shawl than meets the eye – besides just keeping you warm, prayer shawls provide comfort during challenging times. For a patient receiving a shawl, knowing that someone out there took the time to hand make the garment means so much. Knowing that there are others out there invested in what they’re going through, it makes a difference,” said editor Julia Wiatr.

This year, hundreds of knitters and crocheters from around the world sent in shawls to donate to this charity along with personal notes to the patient who received the shawl.

The charity drive, in its fourth year, collected 503 completed knit and crochet shawls that will be shared with local hospice patients. For more information on Rush’s Prayer Shawls at Rush initiative, and to learn how you can make a difference, please check out Rush’s page here.