You can't go to a yarn and knitting festival without a little something coming home with you, and that's just how it should be. The only time I get to see great hand dyed yarn in the flesh is at shows, and I may as well support the vendors if I can. And I bought a little more than usual at Pomfest, as there were some new to me dyers there!

I'd not come across Rauwerk before, and they had some amazing eco and ethical yarns and there was no way I could not bring something home with me. Interestingly, through the Friday I found myself drawn to these muted pinks and had to keep myself in check. 

Being woollen spun, it's a lofty yarn with some seriously good yardage - in the skein it looks more like a worsted or aran, yet the label tells you it's a DK. My skein is a 100% organic single farm yarn, hand dyed with natural dyes.

I've been eyeing The Wool Kitchen's greys with colour yarns over on Instagram but not being a huge fan of speckles, I was mighty glad to see a grey with bright solids. It's still a little out of my comfort zone but I don't doubt it'll make a seriously fun Hat!

Qing is another new to me dyer, and I was rather taken with the top skein, which is essentially the same colour as my henna dyed hair, with splashes of black through it. It's going to make a gorgeous Hat.

The 2nd skein is a single ply DK in a pretty busy colourway.... I don't normally lean towards single plies as there's always a chance of ripping and reknitting when designing, and the plied yarns stand up to that much better. I do think though that design wise, this 2nd skein wants a simple Hat, and it may be my sanity knitting that becomes a free Hat pattern this summer.

I really struggled to get the colours right in these two with my phone.

I knew of Julie Asselin's yarns, but this was the first time I saw them in the flesh. And that green is stunning! (again, tricky to capture on my phone with the light today... hindsight tells me it may have been better to pick a white background....)

The Hektos is a luscious blend of high twist merino, cashmere and silk in worsted weight. This will definitely become a Hat! (I'm just not promising when)

La Bien Aimee is another dyer I'm familiar with online, but hadn't yet had the chance to see up close. Not being a fan of speckles I thought I'd push myself a little and see what I could do with this one... it's kinda greys and lilacs and there's no white bits, which always helps.

And there was non-yarn swag!

The little cat tape measure from Pink Hazel was not going to not come home with me. As well as her usual array of gorgeous hand sewn needle cases and knitting cases, she stocks a range of Fair Trade extras, including hand crocheted animal tape measures. Win-win.

And after spying a gorgeous hand knit cardigan being worn at the show, I bought a copy of Pompom. Part of me kinda thinks that maybe I'd got a little carried away with show shopping, as I'm now having doubts about this, but I'll sit on it for a bit. I'm not very good at buying lots of stuff and always find that there's one item that's loved less when I do have a half decent spend (mostly I think 'cos I'm a frugal old sort and well, I don't like having a lot of stuff). It's a nice cardy and I just need to decide if it'll suit me... I have the hand-dyed black DK yarn already.

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I'm at Fibre East in 2 weeks time with Babylonglegs and if I'm not careful, I'll end up with too much yarn! (yes, that is a thing; remember that storage space isn't in endless supply in my world)

And now I'm starting to feel buyers regret, dammit. 

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AuthorWoolly Wormhead

I'm awake way too early for day 2 of Pomfest and it's the ideal time to chat about a particularly special project I've been working on. Hints have appeared here and on Instagram and I'm itching to share more!

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I've collaborated with Love Knitting and The Yarn Collective and produced 5 new Hat designs in their Bloomsbury DK, which is curated by Carol Feller. Her colours are gorgeous and were the perfect match for these designs. 

All 5 Hats feature short row colourwork, which is a method I've not seen used in Hat design. It's incredibly fun and magical and results in some pretty amazing knitting.

The patterns are due to be published in the first week of September and in the coming weeks I'll be sharing more about the designs, the yarn, the concepts behind them and the construction methods used.

These will be in the Elemental eBook and book (it'll have a similar size and feel to Circled, and be published via POD for print and wholesale) and each design will also be available as a single pattern...

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Pretty exciting, huh?  You can see the Hats in the flesh at Pomfest today on The Yarn Collective stand. There's been a lot of interest in these Hats and so many comments and gasps and even tears (Jen AC, I'm looking at you) and I'm feeling on top of the world this morning. (I confess to being a bit of a show off yesterday at the show - I am so chuffed with these Hats and my brain for creating them). I'll share more soon, I promise!

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Fibre East is not that far away now, and it's on my must-visit list every year. Usually I like to go as a punter (but normally end up chatting and making connections!) yet this year it's going to be a little bit different... Babylonglegs and I have hatched something special!

 
 

This Hat  - currently with no name - will be available from Fibre East as a part of exclusive kits with Babylonglegs yarn. There will be a limited edition 20 kits for gradients (shown above) as well as a full range of semi-solids and some rather special sprinkles (have a peek at Babylongleg's Instagram feed to see her take on sprinkles).

 
 

The pattern comes in a full range of 5 sizes; is knit in the round, bottom up and makes clever use of short rows and picking up stitches to create it's unique shape. Fear not, the knitting itself is pretty straight forward and the technique used to create the stripes also helps to hide the short rows themselves and neaten up your work. There'll be specialist illustrated tutorials to help guide you through it, I promise.

 
 

You'll be able to find me on the Babylonglegs stand at Fibre East on both saturday and sunday, at 11.30am - 12 and 2.30pm to 3pm, both days. I'll be there for Hat advice, tips to help with knitting and construction, etc. We'll also have some WW postcards with single use coupon codes in case there's another WW Hat you'd like to purchase with your Babylonglegs yarn! The pattern for this Hat will be printed and signed, so you'll be able to take a full kit home with you and get started straight away.

If you're not able to attend Fibre East, the pattern will go on general release roughly a week after the show, and will be available here, on Ravelry and through my usual outlets. It will have a special price of £3.50 at the show (usually $6/£3.75) and the kit will cost £23 with £1 of every kit sale going to the Fibre East charity.

 
The new design in two different dye finishes... Elisa and Silvia were melting in the heat!

The new design in two different dye finishes... Elisa and Silvia were melting in the heat!

 

And now for the competition - this Hat needs a name!

Leave a comment here between now and midnight GMT friday 7th July with your naming suggestions for the Hat. There'll also be a post on Babylongleg's blog and you can comment there too, then we'll get our heads together and make a decision and select a winner next weekend.

And the prize? The prize will be a little bit special...

During the two weeks running up to Fibre East I'll be staying with Babylonglegs and we've planned a day in her dye studio, and between us we'll dye up some special skeins as limited editions for the show, and one special skein for the prize winner! You'll also receive a digital copy of the pattern, and should you wish we can send a printed signed copy of the pattern, too (please do let us know if you require a hard copy so we can save you one). Please do note though that we won't be able to send the prize skein until the 3rd week in July at the earliest, as we do need to dye it for you first!

So there you have it!

Please leave your Hat name suggestions either here on this post, or on Babylongleg's post - I'm afraid we can't accept suggestions via Twitter, IG, Fb etc as it's tricky to track your suggestions in so many places, especially as I'll be on the move. And don't forget to leave your email address in the relevant field (it'll remain private, I promise) and we'll need your Ravelry name also, if you have one.

Good luck!

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Amongst all the new Hat designs we've been photographing, there's been the occasional older design, too. I do like to try and reshoot old designs when I can - different model, different light, different hair or face shape, fresher skills.

 And most recently it's been the turn of Ridgeway.

I've reshot this one a few times but I've never managed to get enough good shots of both Hats. Guess a two-in-one pattern does double the odds of not getting good photos?

Anyways, we've finally cracked it and here's a collage of the (many!) shiny new photos.

 
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To celebrate, there's a 33% discount on the pattern on Ravelry (in $$) and here on my website (in ££). There's no coupon code needed, the discount will apply automatically. 

 The promotion ends midnight GMT on Friday. Enjoy!

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AuthorWoolly Wormhead

Last night I got talking about books and what I've learnt about publication, specifically indie publication, over the last (almost) 12 years. 12 years is a very long time in the digital age. And I thought I'd write some of that down while it was still fresh in my head.

 
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10 years ago I was working on my first book, Going Straight. I'd been experimenting with sideways knit Hats and well, we all know now how much I enjoy this construction method. When it clicked with me 10 years ago, that passion was even stronger and the only natural path was to put it all down in a book. 

Whereas now, one of the biggest challenges an indie designer faces is being seen amongst the crowd, being heard over the noise, back then the challenges we faced were building trust and being taken seriously.

The industry was very different back then for indie knit designers. There were relatively few of us, in the digital arena at least, and it was hard work trying to prove that what we did had the same value as a designer that worked with a yarn company or worked on print. Or even that a digital publication had value when compared to a print publication. It was novel for a designer to publish their own PDF knitting patterns in the pre-Ravelry days and we didn't have the tools or resources that designers have access to now. We carved a path forward and worked bloody hard to get our field established.

The one thing that I never doubted, never even thought about for a second, was that my first book should have a lot of patterns. Books had to be substantial to compete, to be valued. 

Going Straight is my worst selling book. It's also my most pirated, although I don't think those two things are connected. I've come to learn that unless they're all kids Hats, knitters don't really need a book of 20+ Hats. Not from an indie designer at the prices we need to charge, anyway. If it's another book of quick Hats from large publisher who can put it out at comparitively next to nothing then sure. But that's not we do.

I stopped working on large books after Bambeanies, it was a very conscious decision. The amount of work and time and money spent made it all really really exhausting and that stole the enjoyment. Not to mention that I really wasn't earning that much. 

 
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A move to 10 patterns in the the Woolly Toppers series worked well, because 10 isn't 20+ and as a designer I can get behind a theme or concept without the need to pad things out, and as a consumer it's far less overwhelming. The designs will be more refined, more thoughtful, because putting that same energy into fewer designs is of course going to make each design richer.

And in turn, I was able to earn a better wage for my time. My budget would go further and the quality of production naturally goes up. My budgets are never big - I just don't have that much to invest, and it's usually around the £1000/£1250 mark (production costs, no print costs - that covers models, technical and copy editing, illustrators, photoshoot costs, travel, test knitters, yarn costs, and so on) -  and not having to stretch that as far really made a difference.

Lately though, that's changed. 10 designs still feels like a push - I'd get to about 7 or 8 and struggle to finish the collection. And that's not where I want to be.

 
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Circled was the first collection I put out with less than 10 designs and it's been brilliant. I can really explore a theme, get properly engrossed, and make each design count more. And the response from knitters has been positive, too - I've seen far more folk knit all the Circled Hats than I ever saw knit all the Classic Woolly Toppers Hats or Going Straight Hats, and that's not just because there's less of them. From here, it looks like you too appreciate a smaller book, a more cohesive, indepth and at the same time, less overwhelming book. Each design has a stronger connection to the next.

When I published Circled my production costs were covered within less than 24 hours of sales, and that speaks for itself. Although you'd think 4 designs requires a lesser budget than 10 or 20, my frozen shoulder meant that I wasn't able to do the layout work or photography myself, and Circled had the highest budget of all my books. Outsourcing the graphics layout is a huge job, both in cost and trust, but I'm really glad I went that route. Zab is bloody brilliant and I know I'm very lucky to know someone so talented and also on the same page to make this change in process that much smoother.

And this is where my journey has bought me. Less is more. It's pretty simple when you think about it, really.

It's a lot more common now for indie designers to produce publications with fewer, stronger designs but I think for me it's been a harder lesson to learn, because it was ingrained that I had to prove myself to the mainstream publication field way back then. We have our own playground now where indie designers, especially those in the digital arena, can work more freely because we're now much more established within the wider industry than we were; we don't need to compete or prove a point any more.

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