Introducing Shuttered

This is the last new release for this month!

Clearly when I designed and knitted these Hats last year I was enjoying the subtlety of simple stitch patterns. The stitch pattern in Shuttered as a super easy to memorise 2-round pattern, and it's framed perfectly by the horizontal chains.

The featured yarn is a merino DK from Live or Dye yarn, based here in Italy. You may remember that I used Lorena's yarn for my Contoura pattern last summer. Well, Shuttered has also been translated into Italian and that version will be available on Ravelry (I've only English patterns on this website at the moment)

There are a bumper 5 sizes included in the pattern, as well as the illustrated tutorials for the techniques used. Round it off with a pompom and we have an instant winner.

Members of The Woolly Hat Society will want to check their inboxes today for details of the new releases and current promotions, as well as the two new free patterns. I did mention that it was a bumper issue this month, yes?

Introducing Ponderosa

I've two new premium patterns due to be published this thursday, and there's the first of them: Ponderosa.

This is one of my favourite new designs! I love the subtle and striking stitch pattern, and I'm really pleased with how it works with the yarn within this design. It's simple yet oh so satisfying.

The featured yarn is Delice DK from The Mulberry Dyer and it's a delicious blend of alpaca and silk. The colours within the yarn softly shimmer and it is just beautiful.

There are 4 sizes included within the pattern, covering 17in to 23in heads. The Hat is worked bottom up and in the round. As always, illustrated tutorials are included to help you through the techniques.

I'm also really chuffed with these photos. dark and moody is my default setting yet it's really hard to achieve here, where the natural daylight is so harsh. We're currently planning a sort of mini photographic studio to be built within my new studio (more about that another time) so that we don't have to wait for the narrow window that the light affords us at dusk.

And there we have Ponderosa! 

Not only does the pattern remind us of pine cones, but ponderosa also means "thoughtful woman" in Italian, and it sums up both the Hat and the mood of the photographs perfectly.

I've one more new release to share tomorrow :)

Happy birthday, Going Straight

We'll be taking our first foot steps on Indian soil as this post goes live, and it feels rather poignant that I'm celebrating the 10th anniversary of my first book - a whole chunk of sideways knit Hats - as we take a well earned break paid for by another book of sideways knit Hats!

I've always enjoyed designing sideways knit Hats, it's where I feel most at home and most challenged. For a while back there I didn't design so many and some books (such as Classic Woolly Toppers) didn't feature any at all, as they just didn't seem to be gathering much interest. I'm much, much more confident now in designing what I want and exploring different construction methods, and in them being well received, too.

I've said before that Going Straight is my worst selling book and also my most pirated; that's still true and it still feels like a shame.

I've learnt so much since publishing this book - about photography and colour/yarn choices for patterns. About layout and self publishing through POD. And also about short rows and grafting! For it's time, there was nothing else like it around and it kinda went under the radar. It's the book I've spent more time updating and tweaking than anything else, and I secretly hope that one day it might yet have it's moment.

For the next few days I'm offering a promotion on Going Straight either here or on Ravelry. Use code 10yearsofsideways to get 50% off the price between now and midnight on Xmas day (GMT).

Enjoy!

And I'll be hopefully posting very soon with photos of our India adventure - expect lots of textiles, silver jewellery, architecture and family fun (I can't wait to see Aran's face as he rides an elephant. That's how we plan to spend xmas day!).

Catching up, new resources and recent reviews

The busy season is drawing to a close and I'm winding down ready for our holiday. And boy has it been a busy season! Lots of touring and teaching and I'm more than a little ready for some time off. I've struggled more than usual this year to keep up with emails, and I'm slowly building resources to balance that going forward.

Knowing I'll be away for a whole month as we head to India I've been working even harder to put systems in place that mean knitters looking for help won't be stuck. One key aspect of this is the Pattern Support Index thread on Ravelry. I know not all my customers are on Ravelry but it does provide so many good resources and allow me to centralise everything, which is invaluable. The Support thread may look a little intimidating at first but delve a little deeper and it should lead you to everything you need. All of the support threads are linked from the pattern pages on Ravelry but not from here yet - they can still be searched the normal way within the forum and our trusty moderators are on hand to guide everyone or whoosh threads as needed.

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Both Circled and Elemental have recieved some high profile reviews of late!

Circled was reviewed by none other than Franklin Habit on The Mason-Dixon Knitting blog and it's quite the review! You can read it here.

and Elemental has been reviewed over at Knitty!

Both books have been collecting reviews and they're all linked (or the ones I'm aware of are!) on their webpages.

Autumn new release preview - Scourie

The third and final pattern that will be published later today!

Scourie was the special collaboration I did with Ripples Crafts for Loch Ness Knit Fest and it had such a positive response! Loads of people purchased the kits directly from Helen, and she's also put the recommended yarn in these colours up for pre-order, ready for anyone purchasing the ePattern from me.

Scourie is knit sideways, using short row colourwork techniques and short rows for shaping - it's pretty much all short rows, except for the provisional cast-on and grafting. Fear not though, as illustrated tutorials for these techniques are included, just as you'd expect from a Woolly Wormhead pattern.

The pattern comes in 3 sizes, and includes for adjusting the size through gauge. One thing I've tried with this pattern that I haven't with the Elemental Hats (because their pattern didn't provide the room to) is add in and adjustment area within the panel, that allows you to add or remove stitches, a bit like you'd see in a sewing pattern. It's the first time I've done this, and as I say, it's not always an option with sideways knit Hats, but this one gives us space to do it and I'm keen to hear what you think.

I've mentioned this before but I will say it again - the pattern is provided in charted format only. Providing written out, line by line instructions for a pattern like this would not only make the pattern lengthier and much more costly to produce, it would also introduce errors. The chart is not so much like regular charts, in that it's a map, that provides stitch counts at all relevant and clearly indicates which direction you should be knitting in, to help you navigate your way through the short rows. 

I've had really positive feedback on the maps, and I believe it's appealing to more people than a standard chart would.

Right, I'd better pop over to Ravelry and get these patterns published then, eh?