We had a wonderful time at Wool-in Garden City as you will know if you’ve seen any of my social media posts. The part I was nervous about (giving a talk as part of the Meet the Designers session) was great fun and my workshop students were amazing. An unexpected bonus was meeting a completely different set of vendors from the ones I have previously come to know at the shows I did last year. I think this must be because the location was that bit further away. It’s nice to expand my network of yarnie folk – and, just like the people I’ve met previously, they were such a warm, welcoming collection of people. As the event lasted a whole week, it gave proper time to talk to everyone and I got some excellent advice and top tips from other vendors and designers, most of whom are far more experienced than me in the business of yarn shows!
Do you remember how much I’ve been enjoying making my Mystical Lanterns blanket? I decided it was about time I extended my crochet skills further and I now have a copy of Persian Tiles blanket, also designed by Janie Crow. For Mystical Lanterns I took the opportunity to use some yarn that had been in my stash for a while and I’m loving the random colour approach of ‘pick a ball out of the bag without looking at it – whatever it is, that’s the next colour you use’ (it’s not finished yet, but it is growing well). However, for Persian Tiles I’ve decided to go down the traditional route of matching the colours of the original design. Not exactly, as I’m using West Yorkshire Spinners ColourLab DK rather than the Stylecraft used in the pattern, but I’m very pleased with the shades I’ve got. I already had the red and cream and picked up the rest this afternoon at Yarn O’clock. I like ColourLab as it’s pure wool and not desperately expensive and I use it in workshops quite a lot. The yardage isn’t as long as the Stylecraft at 225m/100g rather than 295m/100g, but I’m hoping it will be enough – if not, I’ll just have to top individual colours if I run out.
I realised this morning that there’s been a definite colour theme going on recently in what I’ve been knitting – perhaps I’m channelling orange to combat the darkness of the winter evenings (and some of the days)? I know that I’d love to go to Shetland for the Up Helly Aa fire festival one year.
Some exciting things will be happening soon with the lightest orange in that picture – watch this space!
The orange/fiery theme continues with my small Petulia which has grown quite a bit since last Tuesday! This pattern is currently exclusively available from RiverKnits as either a kit or just the pattern.
Speaking of exciting things happening soon, here’s another picture of beautiful yarn that is going to become something lovely in the near future.
This is Donegal Rich Tweed 4-ply from McIntosh in the colours Rossnowlagh, Raphoe and Ardara. Aren’t they gorgeous!?
At the beginning of the month I launched my year-long discount for members of my Facebook group (the imaginatively named ‘Kath Andrews Designs’ group) and subscribers to my monthly newsletters. Folk receive a discount code they can use each month (as often as they like) on specific patterns which change each month, so by the end of the year, my full portfolio will have been included. Facebook group members can get 10% off the full price of patterns and newsletter subscribers can get 20% off. January has been all patterns beginning with A or B – 11 designs in total. February will be – you guessed it – all patterns beginning with C or D.
This year-long discount has been introduced partly as a thank you to folk for signing up to the newsletter or joining the group and partly as a balance against the price changes I have been bringing in.
Garments are now £7 (for those with 4-7 sizes) or £8 (for those with 8+ sizes).
All other patterns are now £6 with the exception of my very simple patterns (Beginners Bunting Triangles, Furrowed Fields Scarf) and baby blankets (Croeso Baby Blanket and Nos Da), which are £5.
Those of you buying online in the UK won’t actually see a difference in price on the £6 patterns on platforms such as Payhip. Patterns will have already been costing you £6 because VAT was added on top of the main pattern price (the extra 20% is then kept by the website and passed on to the government).
However, I didn’t really like the fact that the price you paid depended on where you lived. So, I’ve now included any VAT due on digital patterns within the price – and raised the basic pattern price to cover this. This means that if you live in the US, patterns will cost you a little more and I will receive a little more. If you live in the UK (where VAT is 20% on digital patterns), patterns will cost you the same as they previously did and I will receive the same as I previously did.
It may sound a bit complicated, but it isn’t really. You’ll just see a single price that is the same for a given pattern regardless of where in the world you are.
Enough of the maths! During the rest of this week I will be putting Caramel Slice into my own format and continuing to knit the sleeves of the adult version of Honeybun (as well as playing with some fiery coloured yarns!). I’m nearly at the full width of the sleeves and then once I get to the sleeve cap things will progress quite rapidly as the stitch count drops.
We are hoping to visit the Process exhibition at Qube in Oswestry soon as well. The exhibition continues until 12th February and is open Monday-Friday 9-5 and Sat 9.30-12.30.
I’m hoping to have some completed sleeves to show you next week (and maybe a few other things too!). Until then, take care and stay warm. K x
