Loch Ness Knit Fest

I've a few exciting workshops lined up this autumn, and one weekend will see me heading up towards the Scottish Highlands!

I've never taught this far north, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm also not sure if I've a warm enough coat...! (thankfully I should have a Hat or two)

I'll be teaching four workshops: Knitting in the Round, The Art of the Knitted Circle, Turning Sideways and Reversible Cables. These are some of my most popular workshops, especially the sideways knitting, circles and reversible cables (all of them, then?) and it's not often I get the chance to teach these skills - definitely worth booking up. As always, I'll have professionally printed workshop notes for everyone and plenty of samples and swatches to share.

There are still a few places available for classes, so do go ahead and book in advance to be sure of a place! You can find the full list of classes by clicking here.

The marketplace is shaping up pretty nicely, too, with some of my favourite yarnies attending. These last few weeks have seen me working away on a special collaboration with one indie dyer, which we'll be releasing at the show, and I'll reveal more about that very soon. (tease)

Introducing Parallelo

I've another new design to talk about today! (it's going to be like this for some time... I promise that life is still going on and I'm getting some rest and sleep)

Parallelo is a design using short row colourwork, and was the very first design I did with the Bloomsbury DK that I used for the Elemental collection.

When the idea of working colourwork sideways hit, and wanting to use short rows to achieve those colour changes, the collection was going to be more minimal and graphic in style. I had the photoshoot planned out, a good 3 or 4 designs mapped out. And then I designed Toph and that all changed.

This Hat was already a written pattern and knitted sample when things changed direction, so here it is. It gives an intro to the techniques used in the Elemental collection, and is a great pattern to start with if you're a little unsure about diving in. It's also a different style - Hat shape wise as well as design wise - so if slouchy organic forms are not for you, Parallelo might be just right.

Parallelo is available as a single pattern from me through my usual outlets, but it's also available through the Yarn Collective where you can buy a kit with the Bloomsbury DK.

Like the Elemental Hats, this one is graded through gauge. There is room to make some adjustment within the plain panels - something I'll talk about more on the forum for anyone interested. It also has a bit of a mix and match feel to it - there are two panels charted, and any combination of them will give you a finished Hat - so you can mix up those stripes or have a solo striped panel amongst the plain ones.

Those other graphic designs I'd planned have been parked, but not for long. I have So Many Ideas for this technique that I can't write them down quick enough! In the meantime though, do have a go at Parallelo, and I'll let you know how the other ideas come along.

(so many Hats, so little time)

Press packs for bloggers & reviewers

Trying to think ahead and make things easier all round, I've now uploaded press packs for bloggers and reviewers or anyone wishing to talk about either Circled or Elemental - you can find them on the books' pages.

And talking of reviews.... I'm starting to get in touch with reviewers and editors and bloggers and podcasters - who are your favourites? Leave a comment and let me know? ta!

(this is the bit I *always* find really difficult... emailing strangers and sayin' "hey, you wanna talk about my work?". Requires a stiff drink each time :/)

Social media hashtags...

If you're knitting one of my Hats, especially one of the Elemental Hats, don't forget your hashtags when sharing on social media.

Using the hashtags means we can link up and each see what the other is knitting. It's especially useful for me, 'cos I can see how many of my Hats are out there :)

#woollywormhead

is the regular hashtag for *any* Woolly Wormhead Hat knitting that you might be sharing on Instagram, Twitter etc. Sometimes #woollywormheadhats gets used, and that's cool, but this one is that bit shorter and more common.

#elementalhats

is the main tag for anything to do with the Elemental collection.

#circledhats

and while we're at it, as Circled is a companion collection to Elemental, this is the main hashtag for these Hats.

Some other tags I use a lot are:

#sidewaysknithatsftw
#sidewaysknithats

(because I have a thing about knitting Hats sideways....)

Elemental is now live!

Yey! I'm really excited to release Elemental into the world!

I'm going to have a short break this afternoon, then you'll find my back online in the Ravelry group, helping everyone work their way through these Hats :)