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Intro
It’s the final of our regular interview sessions before returning to regular programming next week. We will be welcoming Kate Atherley onto the show to talk about working in the yarn industry, as well as to give us some top tips for knitting socks to get us back in the swing for September.
There’s news of a charity project and I’m giving away five patterns to celebrate 500 members in my Ravelry group. I like to do this now and again. There’ll be another for 600 members. We like to party.
If you’re attending Great Lonon Yarn Crawl at the weekend, be sure to say hi. I’ll be floating around the marketplace causing mischief.
Shawl of Awesome is continuing at pace. This Boo Knits pattern done in DyeForYarn fine lace weight with 700 beads is flying off the needles. If you want a project that looks really impressive but is ridiculously simple to execute, Boo’s your girl.
Phoenix Hat Project
I’m supporting Sally-Jane and Rachel’s work raising money for the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town by gifting five copies of the Phoenix Hat to listeners. Check out the group on Ravelry to see who won. Please consider giving a copy of this pattern to a friend as 100% of proceeds will go directly to the hospital. Don’t know Sally and Rachel? Meet them in this video and they’ll tell you all about it.
You can get or gift your copy of the pattern here on Ravelry.
Interview
This week, I’m chatting to Kate Atherley. Kate is the Managing Technical Editor for Knitty, as well as a designer of and writer about knitting. Her latest book, Pattern Writing for Knit Designers, draws on her extensive experience as a technical editor and provides concrete guidelines and examples for everything from what information needs to be included in a knitting pattern, to how to use charts and written instructions, to how to properly and clearly communicate sizing and measurement information. Kate is also a devoted lover of handknit socks and has a new book for Interweave Press debuting this summer called Custom Socks. Kate teaches extensively in Toronto, Canada, as well as across North America, and has online classes with Interweave and Craftsy.
Image Copyright Kate Atherley.
Previously in the software industry, Kate left her job around 7 years ago to move into full time teaching, writing and designing. Having published all her previous books with small publishing companies, her latest book, Custom Socks, is published through Interweave Press.
Kate is passionate about teaching and about helping designers communicate their ideas clearly and in a way that allows the knitters to be able to recreate the designs easily. She also teaches on this subject and is holding two workshops in London on Sunday 6th September. If you’re thinking of taking the first steps into designing your own patterns or you want to learn how to write clear patterns your customers will love, these could well be for you.
Many of you are into all things socks as a result of our Sock Surgery feature, and Kate offers her ton ten tips for knitting socks at the end of the interview. Highlight of this interview was discovering we have a shared love of engineered sock yarns, particularly Regia.
You can find Kate online at www.kateatherley.com.
Giveaway
Leona of Fluph, who was interviewed in Episode 60 has very kindly offered a skein of hand dyed yarn from local Dundee dyer, Rusty Ferret. She’s also including a fabulous Fluph project bag to boot!
To enter, head over to the giveaway thread on Ravelry.
Wrap-Up
That’s all from me this week. As always, thank you for listening. Feedback is always appreciated, and you can email me or message me via Ravelry or social media. If you enjoyed listening today, please consider leaving an iTunes review, to help others find the podcast too. Happy crafting!