Last time I posted, I was trying to get you to take a survey I was running to try to determine current levels of interest in my virtual workshops, as well as many other facets of Fallingblox Designs. The survey was up for about a month and closed with 216 responses. Today, I’ve got a new Fallingblog Podcast where I talk about some of the results of the survey and what they’re going to mean for Fallingblox Designs going forward.
I’ve also lived up to the promise I made to split off the “technique of the month” segments from the podcasts, and I’ve released two more Youtube videos on double-knitting single decreases and troubleshooting your double-knitting.
One of the big takeaways from the podcast might be a game-changer for my virtual workshops. I had a number of people respond that they were frequently unable to get to the workshop during its time slot, due to schedule conflicts or time-zone issues — but that they’d be interested in recorded workshops. I also had plenty of people request to be able to go back and rewatch parts of the workshop. I had been resisting recording my workshops because of the cost — I had tried it once, and the resulting file was about 1gb in size, which takes up my entire Zoom cloud storage. But I figured that if this made the workshops more marketable, it might just mean that I’d get enough extra monthly income to make the cost of extra cloud storage worth it.
So I’m going to be recording my workshops in the future — the recording will be accessible to all who enroll, whether or not they attend! And I’ve got some other big plans but will hold off on announcing the next steps until I’ve made sure the first steps work. For now, I can tell you that I scheduled my first Fall 2021 workshop as a Multi-color Double-knitting workshop (the most popular according to the survey) about a week ago, let folks know about it, and it’s technically sold out already. Also, the number of students who paid over the minimum is much higher this time, which I think indicates greater perceived value in a workshop which can be accessed later. I have added a few more slots, so it’s not completely sold out yet.
I’m also experimenting with weekday evening workshops, per the survey results which show significant interest in those times. I’ll be interested to see if signups are higher for those, again, due to the recording.
So, without further ado, here are the September/October BuildingBlox virtual workshops. I am currently not scheduled to teach workshops with any other show during this time period, except the WEBS Fall Knitting Retreat, which is (so far, anyway) going to be taking place in person! All times are in Eastern Time:
- Saturday, Sept 18, 2-5pm: Multi-color Double-knitting
- Thursday, Oct 21, 6-9pm: Intro to Double-knitting
- Saturday, Oct 23, 2-5pm: Two-pattern Double-knitting
- Thursday, Oct 28, 6-9pm: Double-knitting Cables
To see what else is coming up (virtual and in person), visit my calendar.
In other news
The Bocote hat (the final hat from the Wuxing: 5 Elements collection) has hit a snag but is still on track for release this Fall. This will complete the collection, and I will then work on putting the whole thing together as an ebook rather than 5 separate patterns. If there’s enough interest, I may also consider printing the booklet, similar to the Parallax collection.
Patreon patrons in the Modern and Extreme tiers got another advanced double-knitting video recently, and I’m hoping to have another announcement for Extreme-tier patrons soon. If you’re interested in getting access to those perks and more, consider becoming a patron today.
Finally, if you didn’t fill out the survey but still want to get an email when a workshop you’re interested in is scheduled, visit my new workshop interest signup form!
Thanks for your continued interest, stay tuned, and I’ll post again soon(ish).
Alasdair Post-Quinn, “Softwear Engineer,” Fallingblox Designs