New Year, New Start for Fallingblox

Hello friends and happy New Year! OK, I know that was a couple of weeks ago, but time has been weird for a while now, and I thank you for your patience. As you’ve probably already read, I was injured at the beginning of December and had to put my personal well-being ahead of my knitting work for a little while. A quick update on that: I am not out of the woods yet, but my recovery progress has been sufficient that I believe I will be able to teach workshops again starting in February (more on that later in this post).

As I begin this new year, I am taking the opportunity to make some changes.

First of all, I’m taking a break from my constant social media presence. I had been contracting a social media guru to write and post on a near-daily basis, but after some analytics and the survey indicated that most people were not interacting with me via social media (and my mailing list and other methods were much more important), I decided to cut back a bit. Then when I was injured and my future was uncertain, I had her take a break. Now, after a meeting with her, we’ve decided to take a longer break and see if I can swing things just with other forms of media.

My virtual workshops are going to remain a big focus and will (as I began in the Fall season of 2021) be recorded for those who enroll, whether or not they attend the workshop. But I am also raising the minimum fee to $35 (from $30) as the beginning of a gradual movement of my hourly fee to a more sustainable, industry-standard number. Most people pay more than the minimum anyway, so I doubt this will change my enrollments much (and I am always willing to negotiate price with people who really can’t afford even the minimum).

I am starting the year strong with new patterns on the horizon, having just finished the Bocote hat and completed the Wuxing: 5 Elements collection. I still intend to combine that collection into a single eBook but I need to get past some other design work first. Sometime in April, there will be three new patterns released using Rowan Felted Tweed and Felted Tweed Colour (their new gradient line). These are currently in the hands of some of my sample knitters. I am also working on a secret project for Scheepjes. When that’s done, assuming my arm behaves, I’ll be able to start work on some of my back-burner projects.

My Patreon is also set to undergo a change soon — I have added a lower tier to make it even easier for people to support me, and will also soon be offering a yearly payment option. This will also require that I change the payment structure a bit, which will make it a little harder for people to abuse the system by joining, getting all the perks, then leaving before they’re ever charged. Not that this happens a lot, but it can. Patrons will get news of this before it happens, and will have a change to upgrade their tiers under the old system before the change happens. If you haven’t joined yet but have been thinking about it, now might be a great time.

Followers of my Fallingblog Podcast have no doubt noticed its absence recently; for a number of reasons I have not had the content or motivation to make more. I hope to be able to get this back on track this year as well, but it depends in part on having something new to offer each time, and the pace at which I’ve been knitting has kept that harder to achieve. If I can streamline the process, I’ll happily get more episodes out, but it’s been hard to find a good balance; I may need to do some research on how other podcasters are able to produce the volume they do.

Finally, I will be exploring other platforms and ways of increasing my visibility without relying on Meta products (Facebook, Instagram). Stay tuned (and if you have any ideas, please drop them in the comments).

Now, to business.

First, I’m going to be part of the Longmont Yarn Shoppe’s set of virtual “Fiberside Chats” with a session on February 6th. This is a really neat way that a bunch of LYSs are supporting their communities and helping to support fiber craft professionals like me in this time of Zoom. I hope you can join us!

I’ve just scheduled a bunch of virtual workshops in February and March, and now that the folks on my Workshop Interest Lists have had their first crack at them, it’s time to let everyone else know. You can find the whole list on my Calendar, or just my BuildingBlox series on the BuildingBlox page. But a quick rundown is also below:

• Thurs, Feb 3, 6-9pm EST: Double-knitting Lace
• Sat, Feb 5, 2-5pm EST: Double-knitting Off The Grid
• Sat, Mar 12, 2-5pm EST: Intro to Double-knitting
• Sat, Mar 19, 2-5pm EST: Marling with Double-knitting
• Sun, Mar 20, 2-5pm EST: Double-knitting Cables
• Sat, Mar 26, 2-5pm EST: Two-pattern Double-knitting

In slightly more surprising news (especially given the current state of the pandemic in this country), I do have some in-person workshops scheduled. While it is certainly possible that some may be cancelled, here is a list of the ones that are scheduled now:

Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, Tacoma, WA, Feb 17-20:

• Intro to Double-knitting
• Multi-color Double-knitting
• Double-knitting Off The Grid
• Double-knitting Intarsia
• Double-knitting Entrelac

Interweave Yarn Fest, Loveland, CO, Apr 20-23:

• Intro to Double-knitting
• Multi-color Double-knitting
• Double-knitting Off the Grid
• Double-knitting Lace
• Double-knitting Intarsia

More will be scheduled soon, so stay tuned. Thank you for your continued interest in double-knitting and my work in particular.