Autumn new releases preview - Cirro

Tomorrow is new release day so I'd better get caught up and tell you what's coming!

Cirro is your perfect cosy winter Hat, complete with giant bobble. Knit up in bulky yarn, it's a super quick knit, making it perfect for gifts. And with 4 sizes included, it'll cover just about every head.

Designed for Cloudborn Fibers Merino Bulky Splash, it's been available as a kit from Craftsy for a few weeks, and tomorrow sees it available as a single pattern for the first time. The recommended yarn is a super lush soft and squidgy bulky merino which is absolutely perfect for winter Hats!

The pattern is ideal for adventurous beginners or experience knitters alike - you'll want to be able to knit in the round and be comfortable with a moving-the-marker direction, but otherwise it's all increases and decreases and that's it! The pompom is of course optional but how could you not?

There's just time to squeeze in one last blog post before release date, about the 3rd pattern. Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter if you haven't already?

It's been a strange week here as I've slowly been moving over everything from my hard-drives and ageing laptop onto a brand new shiny PC. It's a job that's needed doing for quite some time and right now might not seem the best time to do it, but it's best to do it before the laptop gives up completely, and right now I've very little work in progress that needs the machine... so circumstances dictate. It's a bittersweet thing to be moving onto a machine that's less portable but it does feel very good to be giving my filing system a very thorough tidy up!

Autumn new releases preview - Sagitta

Come 31st October, I'll be releasing 3 new single patterns. I've been sharing a few posts on Instagram and will explain a little more about each here.

You'll remember this one from a few weeks ago, when I needed some help naming it! Thanks to Satu, it'll now be known as Sagitta - the name suits it perfectly, as not only does the name refer to the arrows within the pattern but also to the geometry, too.

Sagitta is knit sideways using a garter stitch lace pattern that's very easy to memorise. Because it's worked sideways with narrow panels, it's also easier to size than most Hats - you can simply work more or fewer panels. The depth of the panel is best adjusted by gauge, as the stitch pattern isn't quite so forgiving if you remove a stitch repeat.

The pattern comes in written and charted format, and includes illustrated tutorials for all relevant techniques. It is a quicker than you think knit with it's oh so easy to memorise stitch pattern and narrow panels, and you'll find it hard to put down!

The Hat is designed for Miss Bab's Yummy 3-ply and it will be one of their recommended patterns for their November Hat-a-long, so it's absolutely ideal if you want to join the KAL and try something different!

Sagitta will be published on 31st October, next Tuesday, along with the other two new releases for this autumn. Newsletter subscribers will get a little something dropping into their inbox, so if you're not signed up you may want to fix that now.

I'm a British Craft Awards nominee

Erm, yes, I'm totally going to brag! I've been nominated for the Best Designer award in the Knitting category.

And I'm not just here to brag.... I'm gonna ask if you'll kindly go and vote for me?

Simply pop over to the British Craft Awards website, click on through to the Knitting category, and go from there. You can also click through from the image below. You'll want to do it before mid-December to ensure your vote counts. You don't need to be a British resident to enter, and there are Amazon vouchers up for grabs (bribery always helps, yes?)

Thank you!

There are some great folks who've been nominated - Stitchmastery for best product, Knit British for best blog, Baa ram Ewe for best yarn brand (hint, hint) and more. 

(I won't mention that I don't think I stand a chance against the big Rowan names but hey, I just might, right?)

Standing still for a moment...

My October teaching tour is now finished, and I have to thank the folks of Bath and Inverness for their hospitality! I got to see some beautiful parts of the UK and share in the love of knitting techniques, especially that of circles and knitting sideways.

I fell ill over the weekend at Lock Ness Knit fest and I'm still in bed trying to shake this lurgy. I got back to the bus 2 days ago and have barely moved from this spot, and it's confirmed that I need to slow down with teaching, and maybe even grind it to a halt for a while.

Don't get me wrong - I love teaching. I love sharing what I know and seeing that knowledge spark new ideas. But I've been through teacher burnout before, when I used to be a full time teacher in schools, and I promised myself that I wouldn't let that happen again when I started teaching privately.

I don't teach often - during this season I'll have taught a total of 23 x 3hr workshops (or 12 full days) across 6 venues, with a weekend spent at each. That's a lot less than many teach but it's too much for me right now. Given how easily I get exhausted and how painful it is trying to travel with two frozen shoulders, I've decided to not teach at all during Autumn/Winter 2018. Travelling is also difficult with a specialist diet and I get such anxiety about eating out (fear of being dosed again) and it'd be nice not to worry about that, too. After I'd completed my year end accounts I saw that financially, I could afford to teach less and indulge in more creative studio time (which is where most of my income is generated); thanks to Elemental, this year is going to be even better and I'm going to use that to buy myself some time off.

(who am I kidding? I'll still be in the studio, working. But I'll be buying myself some time off from travelling and planning and preparing for workshops)

So, that's my plan. From May 2018 until Spring 2019, I'll not be teaching anywhere. I won't stop teaching altogether; I've retired a few workshops that I no longer enjoy teaching, and added a couple of new ones that I know I'll love. I've updated my T&C to be kinda to me, which was really hard as it feels less kind to small shops, and I'm hoping they'll understand.

Internet access was limited whilst I was travelling and the SquareSpace blog app decided not to work (or at least it keeps crashing as I try and write a new post...) so I'm way behind with emails and stuff to share! Be prepared for an onslaught of posts ;) 

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The photo above is the crown shaping swatch for Circled 2. It's one of my workshop samples for Art of the Knitted Circle and Turning Sideways classes, and will also form part of the new Advanced Kitchener class. I've been thinking about circles a lot lately (more than usual, at least) and I'm really excited to have some studio time in the near future. It feels like such a luxury to have this to look forward to.

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Before I go, my November teaching tour kicks off in just under 4 weeks, and you'll find me at the Devon Sun Yarns retreat in Lyme Regis and at Purlescence for a whole weekend of knitting sideways! See you there? Otherwise, the only other places you'll be able to take a workshop with me for the foreseeable is Edinburgh Yarn Festival and the Woolinn in Dublin.

I'm teaching at Edinburgh Yarn Festival again!

With the workshop sign-ups opening very shortly, I though I'd give you a quick run down of what I'll be teaching? I'm excited to be going back again - it's an incredible well organised event, with so much to do and see (possibly too much?!) and I can't wait to see everyone again.

My classes include An Introduction to Short Row Colourwork (ala Elemental!), An Intoduction to Kitchener Stitch (sensing a theme here?), Advanced Kitchener Stitch (you know you want to) and Hat Design, where we'll design our own custom fit beanie (with or without slouch). This latter class is similar to my Hat Design Masterclass, but as it's only 3hrs instead of 6hrs, we'll focus on specific shapes and structures to ensure everyone achieves a Hat.

And you can find all of my classes on the EYF website!

For the last few years, I've provided professionally printed and edited workshop booklets, so you have something comprehensive to work from and a nice souvenir from the class. I'm a bit shameless showing off about these, so forgive me ;)