Shows and lack of wool

As we've finally finished dyeing our 200+ kgs for Yarndale and Ally Pally we still have another 20 kgs to do but, after 200kgs, 20 seems like child's play.
And I've finally got a few moments to blog about the shows.

As we have been concentrating on dyeing for the shows we haven't had much yarn to dye for our regular weekly updates, this means our website is looking a little bit bare.
I'll be updating the site tonight and yet again I only have a couple of kgs to add.

Including this which is 2 skeins of very dark indigo Godiva HT, there are only 2 skeins as I dyed it especially for the secret blanket design I am working on.
As its very dark indigo I expected to get very blue hands while crocheting, but so far I've used 2 skeins and it is no where near as bad as I thought.

And this Angelus logwood, there were 5 skeins in the same lot, but 2 of them are far more variagated, so I have listed them seperately. These are the 2 variagated and have dark streaks in them which isn't showing up in the photo - grrrr

The update will be HERE tonight at 7 pm UK time.

Now for the show news.
Next weekend we will be at YARNDALE in Skipton, Yorkshire, its a brand new show so will be really interesting going to a new place and meeting new people and hopefully a lot of our existing customers.
We are taking nearly all our yarns to Yarndale, + the new book, + kits + mini skeins etc etc

Then we have a 10 day break (dyeing the extra 20 kgs) until The Knitting & Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace
Ally Pally (as it is known in the wool world) is the biggest UK show, 4 days and what feels like a million people to chat to.
We haven't done it for 6 years and so are quite anxious about how it will go, especially as I have decided to do something totally different for our stand.
I am going as a designer, rather than going as a yarn supplier, so our whole stand is built around my new book MADDER TRIANGLES, with a few of our knitting patterns, because knitters need to be pampered too.
As the stand is based around the book we are only taking 5 yarns - this is the bit I am anxious about.
I know we will have lots of people asking for yarns we left at home, that's why I am warning you now :-)

The yarns are..
DAZZLE 4 ply/Sock
DAZZLE HT 4 ply/Sock
DAZZLING 2 ply Lace
DAZZLING 4 ply
And GODIVA HT 4ply?sock

You might notice a British woolly theme, but they are all used in the book, we've been dyeing some amazing new colours and hopefully they will go down really well, I'm particularly pleased of Berry Castle, which I'm afraid I don't have any photo's of, if it sells well I'll be dyeing more, if it don't there will be some on the website late in October.
Plus we are taking mini skeins, rainbow Collections, kits, books, hooks etc etc etc

And finally here is the only sneaky peak you are going to get of the KALEIDOSCOPE BLANKET CLUB, that is unless you join the club and watch your own blanket grow :-)

It's the centre 6 motif's, only another 660 to go!

Kaleidoscope Crochet Club

I thought I would write a blog post about my new crochet club for next year (2014)
I mentioned it in yesterday's NDS mailing list mail, but I know not everyone is on the mailing list.

I've been thinking about running a blanket club for over a year, but due to publishing books and dyeing wool I haven't had much brain space to work on a design.
But since publishing Madder Triangles a couple of weeks ago I've been thinking and playing with a design for a blanket club for next year.

Its a secret design, you won't see it until its finished, which will be December 2014, so you have a long time to wait. Members will see it layer by layer, as new layers will be built each month.

I can show you a couple of early sketches that ended up in the discard pile long ago.

The design has come a very long way since then, these 2 designs look quite sane, the finished design is totally mental :-) Here is a tiny sliver of the actual design, as you can see there are spots and a lot of colours.

Here's a little bit of info to tempt you with, which you can find on the site 

"What is a Kaleidoscope? Described by the Ancient Greeks as the 'observation of beautiful forms' the kaleidoscope is a cylinder of mirrors, with colourful loose objects in it, that reflect in the mirrors creating an astounding spectrum of colour in a symmetrical form.  

So what is the Kaleidoscope Blanket Club about? This is a club which will run for the whole of 2014, starting in the January and finishing in the December. 
At the end of the year you will have a spectacular and unique blanket, with a design based on a pattern created by a kaleidoscope, measuring approximately 60" (150cm) square consisting of 666 motifs. 
The design will grow from the centre out in the same manner that a kaleidoscope pattern does, utilising one simple triangle motif."

And you can find the rest of the information page HERE 

And HERE are all the sign up options.

I'm hopeing to get members to post in my Ravelry group DESIRABLE CROCHET MOTIFS, so they can share experiences and wip's.

Madder Triangles is Finally Published!

This a long photo heavy post and if you want to find out where to buy the book you will need to make it all the way to the bottom of this post :-)

Drum roll please.......

Madder Triangles was published on Monday night, so far the reception has been amazing.
The plan was to publish the PDf and use the funds to pay for the printed version and we are already half way to our target number of 300 copies. if it keeps going like this we will be able to print lots more.

Madder Triangles is unlike any other crochet book, rather than containing lots of crochet stitches and complicated patterns it focuses on colour and surface design.
I have designed a really simple triangle crochet motif, because I wanted beginners to be able to use the book.

If you can make a grenny square you should be able to make my triangle without too much trouble.
4 of the designs use this motif and there are 4 variations of the motif that make the other 4 designs.
The variations are simply taking a few stitches away for the main triangle.

The book is written in 2 sections, the first half contains all the info needed to use the book and the motif patterns.
The second section contains the designs, each design has its own information as to what you will need, yarn, hook etc etc And colour photo's and "crochet by numbers" charts and key's.

So onto the designs, these are some of my favourite photo's

KALEIDASCOPE

Lecchi Blanket 

Plankton Scarf  

RIPPLE 

The Rising Sun 

Isabella Scarf 

SPIRAL

Spyro Blanket 

Firefly Wrap 

WINGS

Icarus Shawl 

Serefina Shawl 

You can buy it on the NDS website.

Either as a PDF

or Pre-order for the print copy

I will be adding all 8 of the single patterns in time for tomorrow nights update.

Or you can buy it as a PDF on Ravelry

Some of the patterns are available as singles, I will be adding the rest today.