Start 2021 with a bang! or at least a new double-knitting skill

2020 is almost over, and I’ve settled into the virtual workshop space where I should have been comfortably situated months ago. I’ve reworked many of my workshops and will be able to offer more of them in the 2-hour windows used by the big virtual shows like Stitches and Vogue. But I’m continuing to run my standalone workshops as well, under the BuildingBlox name again. Because I don’t need to share the fees with anyone else, I can afford to make these workshops less expensive (although they are pay-what-you-want above a modest minimum), with a smaller number of students and a longer 3-hour format. I also get to choose which workshops I run, so you’ll be more likely to see the advanced workshops in the BuildingBlox format.

For a quick view of what’s coming up, always check my calendar! But if you want to focus specifically on the BuildingBlox workshops, you can visit their page — and if you’re looking for the next time I’m teaching a specific workshop, you can visit each workshop page for a workshop-specific calendar. Keep reading for a list of the January workshops, though.

I have two exciting workshop-related announcements:

1. It’s been a long while since I released a new workshop, so if you’ve been waiting for something that’s not quite the same as the others I’ve run before, you’re in luck. I’m offering my new workshop “Marling with Double-knitting” to the Vogue Virtual Knitting Live show in January (normally I would release a new workshop to my followers first, but I needed to offer them an alternative to what they really wanted which was my two-pattern workshop).
2. My two-pattern workshop has been the hardest of all my workshops to execute in the virtual space, primarily because it requires a pencil and paper for the worksheet, and in this day and age I cannot guarantee that everyone has access to a printer. So I needed to come up with an online option that would maintain the interactive element that is the key to this workshop. Enter George, a programmer and knitter who offered to write the software that will let me run this workshop again! I wanted to offer this to my folks first to make sure everything is working before I let the big shows jump on it.

Without further ado, here are the workshops I am teaching so far in 2021. All times are in EST/EDT:

• Sat, Jan 9, 2-5pm: Intro to Double-knitting (BuildingBlox, 3 hrs)
• Thurs, Jan 14, 7-9pm: Intro to Double-knitting (VKL, 2 hrs)
• Fri, Jan 15, 2-4pm: Marling with Double-knitting (VKL, 2 hrs)
• Sat, Jan 16, 2-5pm: Two-pattern Double-knitting (BuildingBlox, 3 hrs)
• Sun, Jan 17, 2-4pm: Multi-color Double-knitting (VKL, 2 hrs)
• Sat, Jan 23, 2-5pm: Double-knitting Lace (BuildingBlox, 3 hrs)

Stay tuned for more in February and beyond!

In Other News

Tomorrow (Dec. 18) is the last day you can order books and patterns from my online store for delivery by Christmas — although, with the state of the USPS right now, there is still a risk. I will do everything I can to get you your stuff quickly. If you are not in a rush, I will be turning on Media Mail as a shipping option again after the holiday rush is over.

If you have been on the fence about joining my Patreon, you should consider it. I’ve got some new perks coming soon for all three tiers, and you’re going to need to be there to take advantage of some of them. You can read more about it or just go straight there. Thank you so much for your support!

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for my video podcast, I did some preliminary filming but didn’t like the way it came out. I know that “the perfect is the enemy of the good” so I will try to get something out before the end of the year, even if it’s not as polished as I’d like it. However, I did finally put out the bind-off video I’ve been promising for the past several years. Subscribe to my Youtube channel to get notifications when I post new stuff (including the podcast)!

If you’ve been waiting for the new installment in the Wuxing: 5 Elements collection, thank you for your patience. I have been hitting some designer block on this pattern, but I think I have made a breakthrough and should be under way on it soon.

Thanks for your continued interest!

Alasdair Post-Quinn, “Softwear Engineer,” Fallingblox Designs