(btw - these are all straight off the camera, unedited)

(ps - this last Hat won't be in TWT - it's the new design I was working on last week)

Photo Copyright © KAL Media

Forestry is a lightweight lace beanie, in 3 sizes, knit in the gorgeous Fyberspates 4ply Scrumptious. I haven't had a chance yet to photograph this one on a real person yet, so here are some extra shots on one of the semi-retired head forms.

(it's funny - these head forms are only used now for progress shots or temporary photos until I can get them modelled. Seeing them used here, shared on the blog once more, makes the pattern feel unfinished)

The lace pattern grows out from the brim and gently works it’s way towards the crown, where the shaping is elegantly worked into the lace pattern. The brim is reminiscent of the base of trees, the trunks; the the body lace pattern reflects the branches and the crown detail is like the tips of the trees, delicate and whimsical.

Although there are 3 sizes included, the grading between the sizes is wider than normal due to the width of the lace pattern. However, it is super stretchy as there are well placed purl stitches within the lace pattern and the yarn is used at a slightly looser gauge than recommended.

With the pattern comes a tutorial for working with yarnovers -  how to create them between knit and purl stitches, and vice versa, and how to maximise them to get the best effects for your lace.

Like my other patterns published with Yarn Forward, they are only available through the magazine until the rights revert back to me after 6mths. After that time I will be able to self publish the pattern and sell it individually, but until then, please don't ask me to sell a copy on it's own - I'm sure you'll find the magazine worthy of it's price, and it is eaier to get hold of than you may realise.

That's my current spell with Yarn Forward finished for now. No doubt I'll publish with them again in the future, once the book madness and other commitments have calmed down.

On the home front, the flu is being persistent. Blocked sinuses, drowsiness and constant headaches are abundant, and today the dizziness from last week returned. I'm trying to stay upbeat; after a week and a half we've gotta be over the worst of it, right?

My pledge ended on the 31st January, but I have now pledged that 50% of the profits for this months KAL Hat (over on Ravelry) wil also go to MSF. This months Hat is Marina, so do come and join us!

It's cables are subtle compared to others in the book. Worked in a 4ply yarn with plenty of drape (you didn't think I could do another collection of Hats without including a slouchy one, did you?) it has wide, long cables, with smaller ones nested inside at the point where they twist.

It comes in two flavours - regular slouchy (in golden moss) and extra slouchy (in pale grey). We've had trouble getting decent shots of the golden moss version; the colour suits Silvia wonderfully but the camera tells a different story (hence our experiments this week with the camera - it *will* work) I don't think the sheen of the yarn helps; it is merino, but a multi-plied variety with lots of luster.

Has anyone any suggestions? I keep trying to think of something witty, along the lines of slack chains (thinking mechanics) but fail every time.

I'll offer a complimentary copy of the Twisted Woolly Toppers digital book to whoever makes the suggestion I choose (and will do the same for the other Hat without a name), and will announce the winners nearer the publication date. Fire away with your ideas - I'm all ears!

We're recovering slowly, in the flu bus. Indeed, it turns out that we've all got the flu. We're past the chills, fever and aches stage, onto the stuffy head and sneezing stage. Even Tom is suffering now; this bug is that nasty.

Right - onwards I must go. I have some teaching & workshop proposals to write, and then a book layout to tackle. There's no rest for the wicked sick!

Tom was the first to have swollen glands, but as is usual for him, suffered few other ill effects. Aran's throat glands came up, and apart from the occasional whinge and a bit of a head cold, he's coping well. On the other hand, as expected, I have full body aches and a mild fever to go with my swollen glands. It's not mumps; both myself and Tom had it as kids and Aran has had his MMR. It could be tonsillitis or it could be a nasty flu bug, we don't know yet. It's not nice, that much I can tell you.

We were trying to organise the next photo shoot for Twisted Woolly Toppers for today, but in the end I conceded that it wouldn't be fair on anyone, especially as there's still snow on the ground, so we're planning for next weekend now. To top it all, it's started blizzarding again today, just as last flurry of snow is starting to melt.

Working on the book layout is proving tricky whilst ill, so to keep my hands busy, I've cast-on for a new design - something easy to memorise and pleasant to knit.

I'm not 100% sure what I'll do with it, but it's likely to be submitted. Did you notice my new fancy stitch markers? They're just arrived, and already I love them! Purchased from rycrafty, they are perfect for so many reasons.. they don't snag at all and as they are mini chains, they can be linked together or through your knitting, suiting just about every purpose I can think of. The choice of colours make for handy indicators, and you can buy a mix or single colour packs. On the downside, some folk might find them a little chunky on the needles compared to the standard wire loop, but I haven't noticed any problems with the tension of my knitting at all.

In other news, we've been messing around with the settings on my (our?) camera. We both admit we don't know the camera as well as we should, and it's been fun playing. These are some of Tom's shots:

To answer some questions on my last post, about the sculptures here on the Yard. The ones in that post are joint projects, made by people who have, or still do, lived here. Those ones are years old; metal ages well, as it changes colour with the elements and takes on a new personality.The giant man, the skeleton, is huge, and was joint effort by about 4 or 5 people, one of whom I believe was Sheila.

There are lots of individual sculptures here too, mostly displayed by their makers plots. When my dad & step mum came over in May, they commented that it was like walking into an art gallery or museum, with so many works of art mingled amongst everyone's homes! It certainly is an inspiring place to stay.

You may or may not know that I've been without coffee for 8 months now. Not entirely without caffeine because I have the occassional glass of Coke, and green tea (my favourite refreshment) isn't exactly caffeine free. Nonetheless, my caffeine intake has been low. Late last week, in an effort to beat the drowsiness caused by the meds and to have everything prepared for the photo shoot (which we need to do again*) I had coffee. For 4 days, I drank coffee. Not your wimpy kinda take it gently stuff, your proper Italian coffee. And it worked! I knitted like a mad woman, finished more Hat samples, and was awake enough to take plenty of photos. But of course I don't want my old caffeine habit back, so I stopped drinking coffee again. Couple that with general exhaustion from meds, book panic etc etc, and we have a bed-ridden Wormhead.

Anyhows, that's a long way of saying that I haven't been out to play in the recent snow we've had. Tom went out with the camera and took a few shots to show me how lovely the Yard looked with several inches of the white stuff.

*The photos we took at the weekend are wonderful, but most of them don't have enough pixels to print at the size I'd like. Many of them are usable though, for those extra small shots, so the shoot wasn't a complete waste of time; more like a practice run. Why there weren't enough pixels is another matter - the camera is always set to the highest setting, so how it got changed is a bit of a mystery...

Silvia and Alyx were wonderful, and we got nearly the whole collection done! I still need to take some more photos of the mens' Hats (Tom was rather clever at avoiding the camera today) and some more of the kiddies' Hats (Aran was too excited about being let loose in town to stand still for more than 3 seconds) and those can be done without too much trouble.

After 4 hours, we headed home, all feeling cold and tired. But we had fun, and we have some fantastic photos - can't wait to share them with you!

The tenth design for Twisted Woolly Toppers is finished! And here it is, pre-blocking. It's actually much more brown than my camera would have you believe this morning.

After much debating over colour for this design, a skein of Wollmeise Molly worsted won. The colour balances with others in the book, and the yarn weight is exactly what I wanted - TWT needed another worsted design to balance with the Aran & DK.

This isn't the original tenth design, that one wouldn't behave at all and has been thoroughly shelved. This is a new no.10, and looks so pretty on.

And now I can panic about getting the last 2 patterns finished, getting the test knitting complete, getting the remainder tech edited, whether the weather will behave for the shoot, whether the layout options are feasible and everything else needed to bring this book to publication! Designing and knitting is only a small part of it, really.

Tom took these photos this morning whilst I slept (my meds are causing me to sleep and then some). It's design no.9 for Twisted Woolly Toppers, named 'Brownie'.

Some sideways cables, a little bit of bias, a hint of ear-flaps and a touch of pixie = super cute!

There will be some adult sizes too, but only to the limit of the skein - an extra large size will need more than a single skein of Cascade 220, and you know I can't break my one skein rule.

Design no.10, the final Hat, is being a nuisance. There it was, all mapped out in my head, and now it's not behaving itself on the needles. Thankfully, there are plenty of designs in reserve, so I'll be swatching again today.

Ravelry link to my fund raising patterns.

(ps - you don't have to be a member of Ravelry - sales from this website too are included in the donations!)

I've chosen to donate the 50% of pattern sales to MSF - Medecins Sans Frontieres.

To help, all you need to do is purchase a pattern! If you've had your eye on a particular Hat or two, now is the time to buy that pattern and help a very worthy cause.

Thanks in advance for your help!