Introducing Sproutling

The 5th Playful Woolly Toppers pattern has been published today! Meet Sproutling.

This design has a bit of history... it was originally designed to be part of the Bambeanies collection, so it's been sitting around here for two years, patiently waiting. There was something about the way the pattern was originally worked that niggled me, and one of my testers had a bit of trouble working through the joining that occurs at the top of the Hat. For whatever reason, these niggles remained niggles, and I wasn't going to publish a pattern that hadn't had all of it's kinks worked out. So it was shelved.

At some point last year I picked up the design again, and low and behold, the solution to the niggle was as clear as day. Isn't that always the way? Sometimes the simplest solutions will be staring us in the face but we won't see them until we're ready to. It's not even a difficult thing, more a fiddly thing, and now it's explained much better. My tech editors have gone over it all again too, as those picots (which are fully explained in the pattern) like to mess with the maths, and it's already to go.

Once the photo shoots for Playful Woolly Toppers were under way, it was clear this Hat was yet again proving difficult. We modelled it on Silvia, yet her short hair did not suit this deep Hat one bit, and it was way too unflattering to share. I whipped up a whole bunch of samples in different sizes, and had one of Aran's girlfriends model (the young lady who shares the Bambeanies cover) and yet those shots were lacking, mostly I suspect, down to our lively model being unable to stand still.

I then asked whether Elsa - who's in these photos - would be willing to try, although I wasn't sure that the Hat would fit her, but thought we'd give it a go anyway. And in a 10 minute photo shoot, squeezed in between showers of rain, we got the best shots of this Hat that I could ask for.

And so this Hat finally has it's moment! Which I'm very glad about, as it works so well with the rest of the PWT Hats.

Decisions have been made!

Hey folks - hope the weekend is treating you kindly?

Life's a little bonkers here, as TNNA gets closer (I'll be exhibiting again in June) and as I start to finalise Playful Woolly Toppers (yikes! Book 6 is almost done!). Amid all the mayhem I've been good and made a few decisions, namely which cover version (that was unanimous, then) and choosing the right names for those two Hats that were hurting my brain.

So yup, no-one tried to persuade me *at all* that cover choice no.3 wasn't the best one for the book. You all loved it. I'll get everything - the webpage, the Rav page etc - all updated once I've caught up on a bit of sleep (else I'll make it go all wonky)

I've spent much of this weekend organising and ordering all my promo printing for TNNA, and it includes a poster of this cover. It'll make me very happy to have my boy's face smiling down at me every day that I'm away.

We also have winners for the naming competitions!

This pinstripe little number...

... is now called 'Mercury', a suggestion made by Barb Foesch. I know this one was super tricky, and I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this! As I sat looking at the words, imagining them alongside the Hat, 'Mercury' really grew on me and it captures the elegance of the Hat pretty well, methinks. Thank you Barb!

And our structured design...

There were a lot of really good suggestions for this one, and thanks go to the folks at Lornas Laces for helping to promote the post and getting extra comments!

The idea that grabbed me the most was the relationship to bees.. I followed a trail of links about bee mythology and history and yet somehow the right name didn't quite jump out at me.. I learnt that my favourite suggestions had been used many other times, or had other meanings or were used frequently in different contexts. And then it struck me - 'Beelore'. Whilst there isn't a specific story behind it, 'bee lore' as a google search brings up everything relating to the myths and legends surrounding bees; it summarises it all. It also rolls off the tongue rather nicely, methinks.

For this one, as there isn't one winner exactly, I've decided to send out a bunch of coupon codes to all the commenters who helped me along the bee idea path - does that sound fair enough?

I won't be getting the winners' emails out until tomorrow now, as my brain needs a little rest this afternoon. Do keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow though! 

And now I'm going to switch off this machine and knit for a while. This week has been pretty testing as a whole number of things hiccupped and we've found ourselves running around and spending more money than we wanted to. The plan is all coming together nicely though, and it's all (finally) working out for the best. There's also been a lot of things to work through, including a new template for the Woolly Toppers books and lots of tech editing and test knitting feedback on the final few designs. I do have a habit of forgetting just how exhausting all of this can be... someone kick me next time I think it'll be a good idea to publish a new book AND prepare for a big show all at once, please?

And yes, there's another Hat in need of a name!

This is the last Playful Woolly Toppers Hat in need of a name!

Remembering that our naming theme is mythology/folklore/other-worldly type things, how does this pinstripe architectural Hat fit?

I really am stumped with this one.. I really can't think of a suitable name that describes the Hat AND fits with the naming theme.. and so dear friends, there's a competition for this one too. What does it say to you? The Hat comes with options for a 3-peak or 4-peak finish at the crown, and the vertical stripes are created through stranded knitting. The recommended yarn is Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport, which comes in the most amazing array of colours, and creates a wonderfuly warm and soft fabric.

As with our previous naming competitions, there's a copy of the Playful Woolly Toppers eBook on offer, or if you already have it, you can pick another of my eBooks or a selection of single patterns to the same value.

I'll leave this one open until the end of this week. Currently, the last naming competition is still open too, and I'll extend that to the end of the week too, so I can go through them together.

Fire away!

PS/ please leave your suggestion here, on this blog post, as this helps muchly with keeping track of comments. Thank you :)

ETA/ this competiion has now closed & the Hat has been named - thanks so much for your help!

Decisions, decisions...

We've arrived at that time when I need to settle on a cover for Playful Woolly Toppers! And it's tough this time as there's a couple of suitable candidates...

This was one of the first ideas I had for the cover, way back when. I like the composition of the photo, it's certainly playful, but I don't think the photo packs enough punch.. it may be styling, it's most likely the lack of colour or contrast. It's  still a contender, though, as the composition fits the theme just so.

This was the next version that I liked, and it's the one you'll be familiar with as the temporary cover. The Hat really pops in this one and although baby Urban is looking away from the camera and his eyes aren't drawing you in, the Hat design and composition are strong enough by themselves. I love the contrast of the colours of the Hat against the background, and how the robots compliment the wheel.

This morning we tried another photoshoot, and as much as we have nearly 200 photos of a heavy bottom lip or slouchy, begrudging shoulders we managed to get one or two great shots, of which this is one. It's not as playful as the first and is more grown up than the second but it has something... bright and inspiring about it. It invites you in, and although it doesn't quite capture the full theme of the book I think it will do a good job of getting attention.

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And now I can't decide which one to use! I think it's gonna be a toss-up between the second and third options; part of me would really like to *not* use Aran on the cover and let someone else have the limelight (baby Urban in this case) but I am also ever so slightly biased about this last photo because it's such a great shot of my boy.

Think I'll sit on this for a week before making my final decision. I'd be intrigued to hear what you think!

And the next Hat in need of a name is...

This Hat's working name has been 'Raygun' 'cos, well, it sums it up pretty well. But I'm not convinced that the name fits very well with our more folklore/mythical inspired naming theme! 

What does it say to you?

Worked in Lornas Laces Shepherd Worsted, the colours very much emphasise the structure, just like they did with the last Hat in need of a name (now called 'Labyrinth') and Selkie. These are my favourites from the book - it's no news that structure is my thing, and so to marry the use of colour with that makes me a very happy bunny. Not all of the PWT patterns are heavy on the structure but me being me had to squeeze a few in ;)

As with the previous naming competition, the prize on offer is a copy of the Playful Woolly Toppers eBook OR another of my eBooks or single patterns to the same value. Please leave your comment here on this blog post, rather than Facebook or Ravelry etc, so I can keep track easier, and don't forget to leave your email address in the right field so I can get in touch!

I'll leave this competition open for a week or so, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing your suggestions - fire away!

ETA/ this competiion has now closed & the Hat has been named - thanks so much for your help!