More secret knitting revealed!

I'm so happy to be sharing more of the designs I've been working so hard on!

It's not every day golden opportunities come along, and when they do, you know it. I was extremely honoured to be asked to design some Hats for Jamieson & Smith. Y'know, the Jamieson & Smith, the very same yarn company who have been associated with Elizabeth Zimmerman, Alice Starmore and Meg Swanson; Kaffe Fassett, Sasha Kagan and Susan Crawford, and many, many more. Yes, that yarn company, with it's prestigious history and modest ethics. They commissioned* me to design for them.

So of course, I said yes!

Naturally, I asked what sort of designs they were looking for, knowing that 'traditional' isn't always the first word that springs to mind when you think of my Hats. I was given free reign; they wanted something different. They wanted Woolly Wormhead originals :D

There are 2 designs available as kits:

Elourne is a sculptured beret, using alternating cable twists and lace to create the shape. The pattern uses J&S aran weight yarn, is available in 3 sizes (as always) and has both charts and written instructions.

Filigree beanie uses twist techniques on reverse stocking stitch background, creating a continuous lattice motive around the body. Like Elourne, it uses aran weight, has 3 sizes, and charts as well as written.

I am so, so chuffed   to have these designs published with J&S! They are available as kits direct from their website, clicky here (and you'll see I have my very own page on their site :)

See how busy I've been? It's so exciting to be revealing this!

*J&S commissioned these designs for selling in kits and promoting their yarns. They have a year exclusivity period, after which they'll still sell their kits, and I'll be able to make the patterns available individually, either as a download or in print, in my own layout.

Yarn Forward issue 20 - Elsica

All this secret knitting I keep talking about? I can finally share some!

© KAL Media

Elsica is a beret design I'm rather proud of. It uses a combination of techniques to create it's effect, and it took some fine tuning to get the result I was after.

I could have simply used bias techniques, but I wanted the appearance of the prominent knit stitches travelling across the purled background, rather than having the whole lot twist together.  The knit stitches start at the brim and continue unbroken into the body, spiral towards the crown where they all meet, and that's a detail I really like - design features that work together for continuity really make a pattern, in my opinion. There are slipped stitches on the brim, twists on the body, and bias + twists for the crown. It's the combination of these that result in this gentle and graceful shape.

Here's one of my best friends, Carina (who's getting married next year!), modelling the beret for me. Suits her, doesn't it?

The yarn, Wollmeise Molly (their worsted weight) really adds to the drape of the Hat, and gives great stitch definition. I picked this skein up when we stopped by their shop in June, and started working with it straight away.

I also wrote a tutorial to go with the Hat, cabling without a needle, which is so simple to do with these twists, and that will be published alongside the pattern.

The issue goes live on 16th November 2009, just over a week away. I like working with Yarn Forward, one of the reasons being that contractually, the rights revert back after 6 months so I can add this pattern to the rest of my line. A win, win situation :)

Hope you like it as much as I do!

The difference a photo can make

I knew when I finally bit the bullet and started reformatting all of my patterns, and getting them all new photos (which meant either reknitting the sample and doing a shoot or working with generous knitters kind enough to let me use their photos) that it would be a lot of work. An awful lot of work, but I also knew it would be worth it.

Now that I've got UK and US distributors for my print patterns, I've been looking over the stats, and they make for some interesting reading. I've been curious to know whether new photos would improve the PDF sales, and whether the same patterns that are most popular in PDF would also be the popular patterns in print.

One pattern has surprised me. It's quickly become a best seller both in print and PDF, yet it's an old design that in it's old format, hardly sold at all.

Trellis Beret. Here's a look at how it was originally knit and photographed:

Okay, so I guess the improvement is obvious, and I do kinda cringe a bit when I see some of these old photos! But I didn't know then what I know now, and I certainly didn't know the lovely Silvia, or anyone for that matter, willing to model for me.

What's surprising me is that this design, one that's at the simpler end of my range, has jumped to the top of my best sellers. There are about 4 or 5 designs that sell more than any others, but I didn't expect this to be one of them - it had always been a poor seller, before the lovely Silvia and my camera met.

One other thing that has been confirmed, something I can't always get my head round, is that it's often the simpler designs that sell best. The designs that I battle with or feel most proud of invariably aren't the ones that do well. (but hey, I don't pretend to have any idea of what's in fashion, or what the majority of knitters like!)

Here's some of the others that are doing well, either in print, PDF, or both...

Starburst	Sloochie	Whirly Rib	Sloppy Joe

Isn't it interesting? Whirly Rib, Starburst & Sloppy Joe have always been steady good sellers, but Sloochie, like Trellis, never did well, until it was worn and draped on someone who carries it of so beautifully, it's hard to resist. So it's not just the photo, it's the choice of model, the styling, the setting... all stuff we know but often need a reality check with.

Notice also, the beret/slouch connection? (I'm being facetious, this is me after all)

A photo really does make a difference, for the better, which is kinda good because it means all the work was worth it!

More of that secret knitting stuff

I should make a note somewhere, something big and bold that can't be missed, reminding me that this time of year is bonkers. I don't know how things pan out for other knit designers, but when it comes to woolly Hats, this is the most important time of year. 

And so, there's more secret knitting. This is secret knitting that will be going to a magazine (along with quite a lot of other secret knitting lately) and won't be shared until some time next year. It's pleasant secret knitting, working in Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply, with a pattern my memory likes.

Twisted Woolly Toppers is making progress, albeit slowly, and Kitchener Unravelled is still on hold until this seasonal madness has calmed down. I'm enjoying getting back into designing and pattern writing again, after the long hiatus due to book research and the massive pattern photo & layout overhaul earlier in the year, but I'm also itching to get the books finished. Right now though, I can't afford to turn this work down, so onwards I plough with my secret knitting.

Very soon, in a few weeks, some of it will be revealed. But only some of it.

Floralys

The latest design for the Twisted Woolly Toppers collection:

I'm really pleased with this design, and doesn't it look so cute on Silvia! Being committed to grading Hat patterns into a decent range of sizes can make working with chunky or complex cables difficult, and this Hat offers a good solution. Because of it's simplicity and minimal shaping it can be worked in just about any size, to fit any head. The pattern is currently graded in 4 sizes, which covers a wide range, although I am considering making it into a custom build pattern.

It's knitted in a new Merino DK from UK Alpaca - so new it isn't even listed on their website yet! The yarn is spun in the UK, and as soon as I have more details I will let you know. It's a sturdy yarn, with all the softness of merino maintained, and gives great stitch definition.

Twisted Woolly Toppers has slowed down in production, mostly because I've been doing lots of work for magazines and yarn companies ('tis the season for woolly Hats after all) and they keep nabbing my new designs! I have been good and chosen to publish with companies where I maintain my rights and the company has an exclusivity period (more about that in another post), so the designs I can't show you just yet will be self published at some point, but not in this collection. Some of these secret designs will be revealed over the next month or so, and I can't wait to show you how much has really been going on behind the scenes!