Waiting to be Born

Believe or not, following all the excitement of the last week with the anniversary and fall launch I still have more news.

1. I’m writing a book

For years now, it’s been on my bucket list that I want to write a book. I knew it was buried somewhere in me, with all the photos, learning, and teaching I’ve been doing over the years, but I couldn’t quite figure out what I would write about. I’ve been approached by other publishers in the past, but it was always poor timing or mismatched circumstances. But this year, Kerry Bogert at Interweave contacted me about writing a dyeing, spinning, and knitting book and this miraculous and clear-headed woman was able to draw out of me a book proposal that even got me excited to read this book.

Since this summer, I’ve been writing, spinning, dyeing, and sampling for my new book which will hopefully launch around Christmas 2016. My first milestone (to delivery half of the content of the book) is early November and my full manuscript deadline is in April 2016. This book project is extra exciting for me, since I also get to photograph everything that goes into the book! It’s an added challenge but I am so thrilled to be able to put all my knowledge together in a way where I can show you, through my eyes, how I dye, spin, and knit.

The book will have four main sections: 1) colour principles like colour theory and colour psychology, 2) dyeing techniques for protein-based yarns and fibres using acid dyes, 3) spinning techniques for hand-dyed fibres, and 4) knitting techniques for hand-dyed yarns. One of the most challenging things for me is that I’ll also be designing ten knitwear patterns to go with the book, to demonstrate the various techniques for manipulating variegated colour.

You can follow my book-writing progress on Instagram as I start posting things with #SGYbook.

2. We’re having another baby

It’s harder and harder to hide this watermelon… all my tricks of wearing loose tops and leaning forward are really not fooling anyone anymore. Having Russell join our family has been one of the very best things to happen in my life and now we are so happy to have the opportunity to grow our family again. I’m so looking forward to seeing Russell have a little baby brother or sister to play with! If all goes well, we’ll meet our newest family member in March 2016.

Of course, having a baby is a great thing for our family… but it is actually also a really good thing for SweetGeorgia. The last time when we had Russell, I had to step back from a lot of the day-to-day activities at the studio. It gave us the opportunity to really empower and develop many of our team members. Give them the tools, skills, and abilities to run SweetGeorgia smoothly and seamlessly. It’s a jump in the learning curve for everyone involved. This time, it’s another chance for us to grow as an entire team. Before March 2016, we will definitely be putting in more and better systems to ensure that you all continue to receive the best experience possible from us.

3. The timing of these two events is deceptively fortuitous

You may have noticed that my book deadline is about a month after the baby is due to arrive. Hilarious, I know. I thought so too. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the pregnancy has become an incredible motivator and driver for me to get lots of big things done. So, my ambitious plan is to actually hunker down and get everything for the book finished by February 2016. Just in case. So, all I ask is that you maybe sprinkle a little productivity dust my way and send me some good, healthy baby thoughts. Thankfully the discomfort of the first trimester is over and I can write without wanting to nap all the time.