Oh my goodness… it's here, it dyes beautifully and it fills a gap in the market! Imagine a sock yarn that is fine; finer than the 2.5mm-needle yarns everyone is knitting with. That you could actually knit lacy socks or stockings with that don't look and feel like over-sized socks…

Hundreds of stitches? NO! And pretty close to old-fashioned 3-ply. Think 80 sts per round rather than 60. That's 20 sts per needle rather than 15. Everyone can oversee that difference. And knitting with 2mm needles is not THAT different from knitting with 2.25 or 2.5mm.

It's on its way, peeps. It's coming. I'm designing with it, I'm writing up patterns. I'm working on a new home-dyeing technique. And I'm organising a dyed range of it as well.

To make it easy to recognise, I'll give it a name. Soliloquy. Not a monologue, as it addresses the audience. This yarn speaks to you. As Soliloquy Natural (un-dyed) or Soliloquy Shades (vibrant, hand-dyed colours).

This post is me bubbling over with excitement. I cannot keep quiet anymore. It's coming…..!

Okay, first the bad: this site is looking sad, what with all the blurb running along the top (trying to sort that out today!) and no news, updates or dates posted….
I have kept my head down to finish writing the book that I am co-authoring.
Sincere public apologies to Eve (trusty knitting group member), who did not get my email about stopping the knitting group during the darkest months and turned up to an empty pub…
It turned out I had an incorrect email address on file (which doesn’t come back as undeliverable, so someone, somewhere will be wondering why on earth I keep contacting her about this knitting group….) but contact was restored at Unravel so I hope I haven’t done permanent damage.

And then there’s lots of good:

THE BOOK
We’re nearly finished! The book will be ready at about April/May time. I promise to shout it from the rooftops once i have a date and list it in the shop for sale.

KNITTING GROUPS
We will be resuming the evening knitting group on Monday nights at the Fox and Pelican pub, in the centre of Grayshott. First meeting: 2 March, from 7.30 pm.
I will also start a daytime group, at the new coffee shop behind the Post Office in Grayshott. Dates and times to be confirmed shortly.

FIRST SHOW OF THE YEAR
The first one was this past weekend, Unravel in Farnham. A new, one day event, which went down a complete storm, both with visitors and stand holders. Smiles all around. Due to the stomach bug that completely floored me on Friday (that was a first!), I wasn’t able to build the stand on Friday afternoon, so I made due with a very rudimentary set up that I quickly threw together on Saturday morning with help from my best pal in the world. By 11:30 (!!!), i.e. 90 minutes after the show opened, I knew I was going to sell out…I brought back some DK yarn, a couplle of sets of knitting needles and a handful of pots of dye. THANK YOU to the extremely patient customers waiting to be served AND the ones happily agreeing to only have their goodies sent out to them this week. I promise it’ll be worth your wait.

OTHER SHOWS COMING UP
March: Thurs 19 – Sun 22 Stitch and Craft Show, Olympia 2, London
April: Sat 25 – Sun 26 Wonderwool, Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, Wales
June: Fri 26 – Sat 27 June. Mitchells Lakeland Livestock Centre, Cockermouth, Cumbria, CA13 0QQ
Aug: Sat 22 – Sun 23, Fibrefest, Coldharhour Mill, Uffculme, Devon (TBC!)
Sept: Sat 12 – Sun 13: iKnit London (TBC!)
Oct: Thurs 8 – Sun 11, Knitting and Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace, London
Nov: Thurs 19 – Sun 22, Knitting and Stitching Show Harrogate
I will change my home page to add a panel with upcoming events to keep these in the limelight and make it easy to find updates.

THE SHOP
More yarns, patterns and kits are on their way and will be added in the next couple of weeks. Yarn tasters: more Sock yarns, Boucle, Alpaca, Aran and Chunky weights AND 6 new dye colours!

PRESS AND PR
I have started talking to the magazines, who have all reacted with enormous enthusiasm to the concept of the book – the idea of combining dyeing the yarn and knitting the garment in one project – so in the course of this Spring, you will start seeing Tall Yarns ‘n Tales in the media. Do look out for it!

REGULAR UPDATES
As I no longer have to focus as much on the book, I will post regular updates both in the shop as well as on the blog, so do keep an eye out and I’ll re-introduce the Live Feed button, so you can subscribe to automatice updates. Tata for now.

I am THRILLED with this new look! Visiting friends from Holland (web developers – www.lefthandmedia.com) spent hours behind the screen yesterday after I asked them to help me add the necessary software that will allow me to start selling products. Not only did they do that, they agreed that things as they were didn’t look like the business I am launching. This new look was the result. So I have started putting all the info together to be able to add working product pages (with the option to buy on line!). It’ll take some days all together, but it should all be up and running by the end of this week (famous last words…)

And then of course there is the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace NEXT WEEK. Eeeek! I’m living day by day, not thinking too much about everything that still has to happen before then. Has anyone out there ever decided to start preparing a pre-launch only 5 weeks before THE DAY?

I spent 3 days at the Knitting & Stitching Show at the NEC and that was enough…we decided that it would be too good an opportunity to miss not to sell anything before the book’s out. Which would mean missing the entire sales period between now and X-mas. With my kits being he PERFECT present and Helen already having booked a stand at Ally Pally, how could we even contemplate not sticking toes in the water to test the temperature?
As for footfall, the NEC was a lot less busy than usual. Helen was doing alright, but there were lots of fallen faces amongst the stand holders. It just gave us more time to think, brainstorm and plan.

So, since the NEC I’ve been ordering stock, have commissioned the design of my logo and we’ve been able to get a bigger stand at Ally Pally. A corner no less! We’ll be in the Pavillion (where the workshops are and the cafe). I think we’ll be stand number RC F1. This last moment change means Helen’s stand details in the Show catalogue are not correct. She waves that away, but I know how fantastic it is that she’s happy to take it in her stride for the sake of our little venture!

We spent Tuesday all day doing dyeing trials to narrow down our dye collection for the Ally Pally launch. This means that this show doesn’t just see the launch of Tall Yarns ‘n Tales, but also the first ever selection of Helen Deighan Dyes! I am thrilled with this news. Helen is SUCH an experienced dyer and with such an eye for colour….and finally, after years of patience from her loyal following, they’ll be able to take some of her colour-whizz home.

In the meantime I also want to ensure that people have somewhere to go AFTER seeing my wares at Ally Pally, so I’m pushing to have a webshop up and running in time for the show. Of course all this has resulted in me chucking my new health routine by the wayside…not good. I haven’t been to Pilates in 3 weeks and I can’t see me returning before the show either. Okay, enough lamenting. On with some site building!

Knit in Public Day
Okay, it’s official: on 14 June we WILL celebrate Knit-in-Public-Day in Grayshott, Surrey! From 2 to 5, we will gather on the forecourt of the Fox & Pelican, smack in the middle of town, to show off our skills, learn and teach new ones AND meet as many knitters as possible. I hope to have some of my first ever Tall Yarns stock there with me to offer for sale, so no knitter will have an excuse not to plop down and have a knit and natter. Of course Ben at the F&P will be right there with coffee, tea or whatever takes your fancy (!) to help keep tongues wagging and needles clicking.
Tall Yarns Needles
I am currently putting together my first stock of Tall Yarns Knitting needles. Being a bamboo convert, that will be the main body of my offering. Based on your feedback, I will chop and change my needle offering to achieve a selection that meets your knitting needs. As soon as I’m ready to go, I will add my offerings for sale. Because I am very aware that the web is flooding with knitting materials suppliers, I aim to offer products that are either outstanding value or unique.
Speak out
If you are looking in vain for something in knit land, do let me know. Since I will spend considerable time putting my proper offer together this year, the more feedback I get, the better I will be able to offer what you want. Much appreciated!

June the 14th
I’ve put the wheels in motion today (better late than never…) to ensure that Grayshott has its own Knit-in-Public event! With a bit of luck, we’ll be in the Village Square. If that doesn’t fly, it’ll be the local pub – garden of course so we can still attract attention and get more people to grab some needles and join. If you want to know more about the event in general, check out www.wwkipday.com. For more info on KIP-day in Grayshott, just sign up to this blog (top right corner) and any updates will wing their way to you.

Knitting Conference
I’ve also found out about a 3-day international Knitting Conference in Winchester this July. If that doesn’t sound downright intriguing, I don’t know what does… To find out more about it, download a booking form etc, surf to www.intheloop.soton.ac.uk.

Book progress
I just today found a kick ass pattern for baby booties, thanks to my partner in crime, Helen. There’ll be some felted ones in the book and this pattern gives me a place to start for my own design. Hurray! In the meantime I’m knitting away on the test piece for my felted lacy shawl for the book. If this yarn felts the way I hope it will, it’ll be a stunner. Fingers crossed. The patterns for the book will be the first products in my soon to open web-shop, right here at Tall Yarns. Oh and of course there’ll be some gorgeous yarns to knit them with.

Habu
For the knitting aficionado’s amongst you as well as those with knitting aspirations, go have a look at the American website of Habu Textiles, especially their knitting kits (www.habutextiles.com). If I can help it, I will be selling their stunning materials as well as my own designs for their yarns. It would just be the bees knees.

Ravelry
If you’re into sharing and organising your knitting, do join a fast growing movement on www.ravelry.com. VERY addictive, only go there when you’ve got some time!

More soon, keep watching this space…