Gearing up for beta knitting

As the new collection gets closer to publication date, I’m going to open it up for beta knitting!

Beta knitting isn’t test knitting; you could consider it ‘preview knitting’. The patterns and tutorials will all be polished and should be error free, so I won’t be asking for a lot of feedback. There’ll be room for it, of course, feedback is always welcome! But you won’t be asked to work from patterns that knowingly contain errors or are unclear.

What I will ask is that you share your knitting progress on social media - take photos, talk about what you’re knitting! You might wish to try out the crochet options, too. Beta knitting is about helping me generate interest in the collection, talking about and getting early access to the shiny new thing, and sharing your thoughts not just with me, but other knitters and crocheters too.

In return you’ll get a full and complete copy of the eBook as a thank you. You’ll be working from temporary files that will include all the tutorials, as the eBook won’t quite be ready, and when it is you’ll get a choice of Ravelry or Payhip for download. However, I’ll only be able to send out download links to folks who’ve shared their projects in various ways, and I’ll provide details as to where and how.

The last time I ran beta knitting for a collection was for Imperceptions and it was incredibly popular! It took me by surprise to have so, so many people up. Thankfully I’d got help in setting things up backend, especially with the google forms, that made it all that much more manageable.

This time around I’m going to give first dibs on signing up for beta knitting to my Patreon supporters. Then I’ll send a newsletter to members of The Woolly Hat Society, inviting them to sign-up. Then any remaining places will go public here on the blog. Doing it this way will help me manage things even more smoothly and avoid anything getting muddled. There will be a limited amount of places and I’m expecting them to get filled pretty quickly once the newsletter goes out, so if you’re keen to beta knit this collection I’d suggest joining Patreon or The Woolly Hat Society. The TWHS in particular is one option I have to help folks with more limited budgets get their hands on my patterns, as I offer member-exclusive discounts and early access to new free patterns, and offering beta knitting through there is an extension of that.

There will be a sign-up form, and with there being 8 patterns of varying styles I’ll ask for 2nd or even 3rd choice patterns, just in case some styles prove more popular than others. I’ll explain more about the styles nearer the time but even if you don’t get your first choice it’s still worth doing as you’ll get a copy of the eBook and you’ll be able to make any of them then!

Now that we’ve had the photoshoot - I’m up to my neck in photo editing as this post goes live - I’m not expecting it to be long before we’re ready for beta knitting. I think the first call will go to Patreon supporters within the week? Then the newsletter shortly after that. Things are moving along quickly and it’s all getting a bit exciting!