Joann’s Fabrics and Crafts is Broken and Here’s How to Fix It

If you've ever wondered why Joann Fabric and Crafts corporate office seems to make purposefully terrible business decisions, let me assure you – it's not in your head. The truth is, the upper management at Joann’s has a long history of being completely out-of-touch with their stores and customers. This finally led to the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2024.

Joann Fabrics made 210.9 million to 212.9 million in profit dollars and added 9 million new customers by the end of the 2020 fiscal year.  A lot of this is due to 2020 lock downs when people were turning to old and new hobbies to pass the time. If Joann's corporate was smart and paid attention to what their customers want and need, Joann’s would still be riding this customer wave, but they didn’t.

Going from being profitable to bankruptcy in four short years takes a lot of talent in upper management to screw up a company that much. Corporate tries to explain it away by saying customers are skipping discretionary spending, but that’s only a tiny piece of the puzzle. Do you know what people do in tough times? Make, repair, or upcycle things instead of buying a new one.  There is a reason visible mending is a popular trend right now! It sure would be nice to buy a cute iron on patch at Joann’s to fix my favorite pair of jeans but I can’t. Those shelves at my store are practically bare and have been for a long time.

I took these photos of my local Joann Fabrics store in February 2024. Please share this article with your friends!

Easy Beginner Women's Hat and Mittens Crochet Patterns

I am always on the lookout for unique and stylish winter accessories. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the perfect winter hat in stores. That's when I turned to Pinterest, where I stumbled upon the ideal beanie - but as a crochet pattern, not for sale. With the help of my talented mother-in-law, I rediscovered the art of crocheting, which I had learned as a child from my grandmother.

I spent countless hours perfecting my skills, starting with simple wash and dust cloths and gradually working my way up to a scarf made from practice yarn. Finally, I felt confident enough to tackle the hat pattern that started the relearning process, so I splurged on some luxurious alpaca blend yarn (you can buy alpaca blend yarn similar to the type I used here ) and followed Crochet Dreamz's DIY Crochet Hat pattern the Jenna Beanie. To add a touch of fun, I topped it off with a leopard print pom pom (you can buy similar faux fur pom poms like I used here.) (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)

 

But then, as fate would have it, I finished the hat just in time for Spring. So it sat untouched until this December, when I finally had the chance to wear a winter hat. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait! The chunky alpaca yarn keeps me toasty warm, and the softness of the fibers is the most luxurious I've ever felt (and I have many, many knit and crochet gifts that I love and use.) 

 

This is the warmest winter hat I own 

Some may argue that I should have used 100% alpaca fiber yarn for this project, but as someone who is forgetful when it comes to chucking all of the laundry from the hamper and into the washer and dryer, I prefer blends that will survive a machine wash. 

 

With one skein of yarn left over, I was in search of a one skein project that I could work on while traveling. That's when I discovered Make and Do Crew's 3-Hour Crochet Mittens pattern. I've always struggled to find gloves that fit my small hands, so I was excited to try my hand at crocheting my own. Though the pattern proved to be a little more challenging than I anticipated, I still managed to complete a cozy pair of custom size mittens (which took me longer than three hours, because I crochet slow.) 

 

I am smitten with my chunky crochet mittens! 

I also learned through this project that the best way for me to actually finish a crochet project is to be either be trapped in an airport or in a metal tube hurtling through the sky. Good to know. 

 

 

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DIY Crochet Pumpkins with Recycled Yarn

I recently inherited some yarn which included a few work in progress knitting projects without the patterns or were not far enough along to know what the creator intended them to become.

Which is fine because I don't know how to knit. 

One of the projects was a panel with orange and green yarn stripes (maybe a sweater or some sort of tote bag?) that made me think of Fall and Halloween pumpkins. Why not try to reclaim the yarn and use it to crochet a simple beginner pumpkin decoration?  

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Since the project wasn't finished, it was easy to pull the stitches out and wind the yarn from each stripe into a ball as I worked. I joined the small yarn ball sections together with a magic knot until I had one ball of orange and ball of green reclaimed yarn.