Travels!

Hello all! This is just a quick notice to let you all know that I will be travelling from June 14th to June 25th and, as such, may not be able to respond quickly to any queries (although I will be checking my e-mails as often as possible!). I'm going to France, to check out some Neolithic sites in Brittany and to play some gigs in my alternate-disguise as a folk musician! :) I will also be closing my web-shop for this period, so you won't be able to buy the print version of Celtic Cable Shawls directly from me during this time (although you can still buy it via Ravelry, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, etc. or by ordering directly from any major bookstore such as Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, etc.).

Also, a big thank-you to Kate Davies for mentioning my book on her blog, as part of series of posts about designing and self-publishing!

EYF and.... Celtic Cable Shawls book launch!

With me, it seems like exciting announcements are a bit like buses.... you wait ages and nothing shows, and then two turn up at once! Celtic Cable Shawls Book Launch

It's FINALLY HERE! (and I know it's taken so long... and I have to thank all of you for your patience in waiting for me to get this project to completion). Celtic Cable Shawls now exists in print form (if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you probably saw the recent photos of me getting ridiculously excited after receiving the first print proof!).

Here's what you need to know if you want to get a copy:

• I will be having the official launch at Kathy's Knits on Broughton Street tomorrow (Fri 13th) from 5pm to 7pm. It's open to all, so please do come along if you're in the area!
• I will also be selling copies at Edinburgh Yarn Festival (this weekend, 14th to 15th March) - I'll be in stall A3, and I'm very, very excited to be a part of EYF!
• If you would like to order online, and buy directly from me, you can do so here! I'm opening it for pre-orders now and will start processing the orders on Monday 16th March (after I've recovered from EYF!). Please note all the orders via my site will take at least 5 business days to process and ship (each book is printed-on-demand, so it's a bit of a slow process). If you want the book more quickly, you might have more luck ordering from your local Amazon (the listings are being updated gradually, so if you don't see it as available right now, try checking back in a few days).
• If you order it directly from me, you'll receive an e-mail with a link for downloading the e-book version too (note that if you buy the book anywhere else, you won't get the free e-book version unfortunately. I would love to be able to provide it everywhere but it's a bit of a logistical nightmare!).
• It's also worth noting that you may be able to order it in direct from major bookstores worldwide (I'm told by my distributor that this is possible but it all seems like witchcraft to me!). If you try this, it might be useful to give them the ISBN (978-0-9927690-0-0), And if it works, please let me know! :D

Some photos of the first print run!

Important announcement for EU customers!

UPDATE (5th Jan 2015): Celtic Cable Shawls is now available for EU customers to buy from LoveKnitting here - all of my individual patterns are available to EU customers via the integrated Ravelry/LoveKnitting checkout. There is one drawback, which is that LoveKnitting does not currently support Ravelry-based promotions. I have an on-going promotion where anyone who has bought the pattern Taliesin can get Celtic Cable Shawls with the price of the pattern deducted - this currently won't work for EU customers unfortunately. If you'd like to take advantage of this offer and you're based in the EU, please e-mail me/Rav PM me with your Rav username and Paypal e-mail address, and I can arrange a way to send the e-book to you at the discounted price!

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This is an announcement for anyone in the EU (not the UK) who wants to buy my patterns in the future (if you're in the UK, or outside of the EU, this doesn't apply to you so you can cheerfully ignore it!).

From 1st January 2015, EU VAT laws are changing - sellers of digital products to customers in the EU now have to charge tax based on the customer's location. Without wanting to get too ranty, this legislation has been very poorly written and badly communicated to the businesses that it affects - it took a lot of us by surprise and for the past couple of months, Ravelry has been working to find a solution. They have teamed up with LoveKnitting to provide a checkout service that will automatically add the required VAT to Ravelry pattern prices for EU customers.

Not every designer on Ravelry will be using this service (for a variety of reasons), but after a lot of thought I've decided it's the best solution for me for now (hopefully this will be a temporary solution and I'll let you know once things change!). What this means for you, as a customer living in the EU (non-UK), is that from Jan 1st, when you buy one of my patterns on Ravelry, you will check-out through LoveKnitting. This process is entirely automatic, but you will be required to make an account with LoveKnitting (you only need to do this once). The pattern will still be saved in your Ravelry library as normal, the only difference is the check-out process.

Ravelry have written an excellent guide for EU customers here: http://www.ravelry.com/content/vat/loveknitting

One small flaw in the system is that at the moment, it can't handle e-books, so for a short while Celtic Cable Shawls will be unavailable to EU customers. There is a workaround which involves putting all the individual pattern files into one PDF and uploading to LoveKnitting - I will be working on this tomorrow and hope to have it available very soon.

Apologies to all of my EU customers for the shortness of notice in communicating this change to you - and best wishes for 2015!

Ishneich pattern release + update on Celtic Cable Shawls book

It's been rather quiet on this blog for a while - but I'm very happy to announce the release of the 7th (and final!) shawl pattern in my Celtic Cable Shawls collection: Ishneich!

Ishneich is a top down triangular shawl pattern, designed to work well with a variegated yarn and a contrasting semi-solid (or solid) yarn. The variegated yarn is used in the body, and broken up with stripes of the semi-solid, which is also used for a cable border. I used two gorgeous shades of Malabrigo Sock, which I picked up on a lovely trip to The Yarn Cake in Glasgow, the day before my birthday (back in March). When I picked the shades originally, I wasn't planning on using them together, as I didn't think they would match, but once I tried some stripes, I was surprised by how well the colours worked together - it's funny how that can happen sometimes!

I wanted to take this opportunity to also give an update on the progress of the book. Celtic Cable Shawls is going to be released in print format (together with an update to the e-book version - so if you already have the e-book, you will also receive the PDF version of the print book, once it's ready).

I have had many queries asking me about a publication date, and I'm really sorry to say that at the moment, I can't give an exact date. I am self-publishing the book myself, and doing most of the work myself too, including layout and photography. I'm also working with a graphic designer to produce some tutorial diagrams, as well as with a couple of freelance tech and copy editors.

At the moment, all the photography for the book has been completed, and all the pattern are finished too. The diagrams are in the process of being completed. The main work left to do is all of the layout, all of the final editing, and also some introductory text that I need to write. So, it's close to finished, but I'm reluctant to give an exact date, because co-ordinating a major project lik this is a bit of learning curve for me - I'm working with Lightning Source to print the book, and I'm not exactly sure how long everythinig will take to get ready once I submit the final file to them.

I will update this blog as soon as I'm able to give an exact date of release (you can also sign up to my newsletter, if you would like to be the first to hear about any news!).

I know a lot of you have been waiting patiently for the print book for quite some time, and I'm really sorry to not be able to give you an exact date yet - thank you so much for your patience, and for your interest in the book too. It's really very much appreciated!