Wild and Windy at Woolfest and a vintage yarn haul

The heavens opened on us at Woolfest this year but try as it might it didn't stop it being a great show. Gavin had worked really hard prior to the show creating a 'structure' for our stand featuring Royal Route 'wallpaper' on one side of the stand and pretty vintage patterns on the others. It looked great and attracted lots of attention.

the royal route - photo copyright Gavin Crawford

me on the stand wearing Fair Isle twinset cardigan from A Stitch in Time 2

We 'divided' the stand into Coronation Knits and A Stitch in Time 2 at either side with the full Excelana range of 4 ply and DK along with single patterns in the middle.

copyright Gavin Crawford

 Coronation Knits went down a storm with the Princess Twinset 

Copyright Susan Crawford

seeming to be the most popular first knit out of the book followed by Crowning Glory.

Copyright Susan Crawford

The other most popular design on the stand was the lovely Frances who went home with an awful lot of people.

Copyright Susan Crawford

 I didn't get to look round the show a whole lot but I made sure I visited the stand of the amazing Eliza (who doesn't have a website) who collects all sorts of vintage bric a brac and who I can't resist buying from whenever I see her at a show. And on this occasion I was lucky enough to purchase three lots of yarn from her:

copyright Susan Crawford

copyright Susan Crawford

 The first is this lovely deep rose pink 3 ply shrink resist all wool 'Polynit' from Golden Eagle. I have used Golden Eagle patterns in both volumes 1 and 2 of A Stitch in Time but have never actually been lucky enough to find any actual 'Polynit' before. I need to do some more research but I believe that 'All Wool' was a bit of a catch all phrase that meant the wool could be of varying types and grades including recycled - once upon a time this was considered a negative rather than a positive selling point!

copyright Susan Crawford

The next yarn is Patons Beehive 2 ply Fingering with shrink resist Patonised finish which from the label design looks a little more recent than the Golden Eagle yarn but I'm not too sure as yet.

copyright Susan Crawford

And the final yarn is this lovely soft pink 3 ply wool from Lavenda with this fabulous logo on the label. The Lavenda and Patons yarns are both from around the 1950s I think, but I believe the Golden Eagle yarn is a little earlier but I have found evidence that Golden Eagle were still trading until early in the 1950s so I need to do some more digging!

copyright Susan Crawford

 What I am particularly thrilled about is the similarity between my Excelana Nile Green and the Patons Beehive yarn and my Excelana French Rose and the Lavenda 3 ply. Neither look out of place with the vintage yarns.

Our stand at Woolfest was next door to the lovely Arbon's who I work with on Excelana, and in a little down time at the end of the show we agreed that there will be FOUR new colours added to the Excelana range this winter! My job is now to work on getting exactly the right four colours to work with the existing palette and also extend the variety available. I already have three of the four colours pretty much decided but would love to know your thoughts on this whilst I agonise over the fourth colour.

The next stop on the Coronation Knits blog tour happens to be with the amazing Felix who 'quizzed' me on colour usage in the book. This interview should be going live tomorrow so do stop by and have a read - it might help with that important fourth colour choice!

Here's the tour list once more to save you scrolling back through my posts:

12th June 2012 - More Yarn Will Do The Trick - Jean Moss
16th June 2012 - JenACKnitwear  - Jen Arnall Culliford
18th June 2012 - The Icelandic Knitter - Helene Magnusson
20th June 2012 - Knitting Institute - Knitting Magazine
24th June 2012 - Ingrid Murnane Investigates - Ingrid Murnane
28th June 2012 - Domestic Soundscape -Felicity Ford
29th June 2012 - Sheep To Shawl - Donna Druchunas
2nd July 2012  - The Making Spot - Simply Knitting 
7th July 2012   - Fourth Edition - Karie

6th July 2012   - rock+purl - Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
10th July 2012 - By gum, by golly! - Tasha
14th July 2012 - tomofholland - Tom Van Deijnen
18th July 2012 - Woolly Wormhead - Woolly
22nd July 2012 - Crinoline Robot - Mim
25 July 2012     - Sexyknitter.com - Sarah Wilson

so for now,
I'm off to think about colours
Ruby xxx

its Woolfest time again!

Time flies so quickly. It really only feels like a couple of months since I was last at Woolfest - admittedly its only just over 12 hours since I was in Cumbria  - but it is actually a year and its time to hit the road again.

On the stand at Woolfest in 2011 - copyright Woolclip

ETA: Knitted items from left to right - all from A Stitch in Time vol 2 are - Simple but Attractive; Sunday Pictorial Beret and Fair Isle Twinset Jumper.

This year I have a slightly bigger stand as it did get a bit crowded last year and you can find me at D80-81 - the same aisle as last year I think but a slightly different position. All the designs from Coronation Knits will be on display with a large selection from A Stitch in Time Vol 2 and we will have both books available to purchase along with the last couple of hundred copies of A Stitch in Time Vol 1 before it goes out of print (not for ever, but for a little while). I'll be signing all books purchased from the stand.

Exciting news is that Excelana DK is now available in all 8 colours and will be in stock at the show too along with Excelana 4 Ply.

This is the first show where I will be completely 'Susan Crawford Vintage' - if you look on the back of Coronation Knits you will see the new publishing imprint:

With Excelana DK now available and the switch to the name Susan Crawford Vintage I will also be having a small clearance sale of some patterns which still have the old branding on them. The patterns will be remaining in print but these particular ones need to be cleared so will all be available at only £1 per pattern. So a real chance to pick up a bargain too!

There is a 10% discount available on any yarn purchase if a book or pattern is purchased at the same time and finally, we have our own chip and pin machine for the first time so can now take cash or cards on the stand.

I do hope to see you if you're visiting the show,

so for now,
Ruby xx

Behind the camera at Coronation Knits part I

I had lots of fun at the photo shoot for Coronation Knits and for once we actually managed to get a few photos of me taking photos! So I thought I would share just a few of them with you.

Charlie getting into character in Crowning Glory

Action

and from another angle

here I am at work

you can just see the image in the camera view finder

Crowning Glory in all its glory as seen in Coronation Knits

Diamond Stole and Charlie both looking every inch the lady!

Holding the pose

and got it!

Diamond Stole sparkling in the finished pattern

Denis in Retro Jubilee Socks, just taking a rest?

But no, there's still work to be done!

and from another angle...

and you would never know from the final photo!

I hoped you enjoyed the first 'behind the camera' post. I hope to have a lot more behind the scenes to share over the next few weeks. In the meantime I'm delighted to be able to say that the print copies of Coronation Knits are on their way to me today and will be arriving tomorrow for signing and then despatch. If you are yet to purchase and would like to do so, you can do this on my website here.

Tomorrow the blog tour makes its second visit, this time to my amazing technical editor, Jen Arnall-Culliford, and I believe Jen will be talking about some of the techniques I used in a number of the  patterns, including the Retro Jubilee Socks. Jen is also hosting a giveaway on her blog so it is another chance to win a copy of the book.

for now,
Ruby xx

Coronation Knits is Launched!

Da, da, da, da, da, daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (Imagine this as a fanfare playing)!

So without further ado, I am delighted to announce the launch of Coronation Knits.

Here's the front cover which I've shown before

This book has been hard work as it had to be completed in a relatively short period of time, but it has been an absolute delight at the same time. As a designer, putting together a collection is always the ideal but something which one rarely gets to do. However the concept of Coronation Knits was just that; to design a complete collection around the theme of the Coronation/Jubilee, Royalty and the personal style of a young Elizabeth from around 1947 to 1953. I have always enjoyed working to a brief or interpreting a storyboard. I guess it was the way I was trained, and as I always like to create a story in my head as I design, the brief becomes the framework around which I build my ideas.

This is the back cover - you can just see the new publishing imprint I'm using - Susan Crawford Vintage

Over the years I have collected a lot of memorabilia from this period, some incidentally containing images of the Royals, others specifically about them. As I was going through all this material, I began to ask myself why had I actually collected it. I don’t think I ever collect things randomly, even though I do collect a lot of things, I feel there is usually a reason, a connection, that initially starts me off.  Then the penny dropped. All the threads led back to the same point - my mum! Mum was 12 when Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952 and was already a collector of all things related to her. But particularly about Elizabeth, and her sister Margaret’s, personal style. Mum had kept a scrapbook about Elizabeth during the late 1940s and early 1950s that resided at my nan and granddad’s house and which I used to study on wet Sunday afternoons when I would go and visit. Unfortunately the scrapbook no longer exists. At some point my granddad had thrown it out without our knowledge and it was lost. But mum and I both remember it clearly and it without doubt it has been a huge influence to me when designing the collection. so, I hear you ask, just what is in the collection? Here the the 14 designs that make up Coronation Knits:

Coronation Knits by Susan Crawford

You'll see and hear a lot more about each of the individual designs over the next few weeks but for today I am very excited to be announcing the Coronation Knits Blog Tour. This is the first time I've done a blog tour so am quite nervous but thrilled that my book is in the hands of some of my favourite designers, textile artists, knitters and bloggers. So here is the list of where we will be visiting: Doing interviews, questions and answers, technical behind the scenes info, reviews and giveaways. It should be a lot of fun:

12th June 2012 - More Yarn Will Do The Trick - Jean Moss
16th June 2012 - JenACKnitwear  - Jen Arnall Culliford
18th June 2012 - The Icelandic Knitter - Helene Magnusson
20th June 2012 - Knitting Institute - Knitting Magazine
24th June 2012 - Ingrid Murnane Investigates - Ingrid Murnane
28th June 2012 - Domestic Soundscape -Felicity Ford
29th June 2012 - Sheep To Shawl - Donna Druchunas
2nd July 2012  - The Making Spot - Simply Knitting 
7th July 2012   - Fourth Edition - Karie

6th July 2012   - rock+purl - Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
10th July 2012 - By gum, by golly! - Tasha
14th July 2012 - tomofholland - Tom Van Deijnen
18th July 2012 - Woolly Wormhead - Woolly
22nd July 2012 - Crinoline Robot - Mim
25 July 2012     - Sexyknitter.com - Sarah Wilson


Each post will feature the book in a different way that will really help you to get to grips with what makes this book so special. The variety of bloggers also means that you can learn about the book from many different points of view. Many of the posts will also include an opportunity to win your own copy of ‘Coronation Knits’ so be sure to visit each blog if you can.

If you cannot wait to get your hands on a copy of Coronation Knits however, you can see more details and place your order on my website, here.

There are three options for your purchase: Print book only which is £12.99; E-book only which is £9.99; and a Print and E-book joint purchase at £17.99. We're also adding a 'bolt-on' option this week which will allow print only purchasers to add the e-book to their order for £5.00.  There will be more details on this to follow. The print books will be available for us to despatch at the end of this week. And finally, the e-book will be available to purchase directly from ravelry later this week.

for now
Ruby xx

And the Shetland Prize winner is...

... using the the random number generator on random.org, comment number 75 of 78 was chosen as the winner, who is Susie Hewer! So Susie I don't have an email contact for you so if you could email me on susan (at) susancrawfordvintage [dot] com with your address and I will send you out your Shetland goodies.

Well done!

Susan xx