Anyone who knows me personally has heard me talk about my new book for many months. I wanted to do a full length book again, but I was having a very hard time deciding how to publish it! I kept swinging between the merits of self-publishing and going with a publisher.

I have self-published two books before (Scrumptious Knits and Among Stones) but both of these were shorter books which meant less time and money was involved. The new book I want to do will be bigger, a full technique book complete with a big collection of patterns. However the time and money commitment were only one part of the equation. When you put that much into a book you need to spend just as long selling and marketing it. This is what swayed me towards a publisher. Within a few months of publishing a book I want to get stuck into something new. I’m just one person and the sole caretaker for 4 children so realistically it has to be one or the other, I can’t design and market full time. And I can’t stand still long enough to do a substantial book investment justice by myself.

After some work I think I’ve found the perfect publisher for the book, Potter Craft. The quality of the books they produce is fantastic and being a division of Random House there is a considerable marketing team behind them. So last week I took the plunge and the papers were signed! Even though I’ve done this before signing a book contract always fills me with equal parts excitement and fear. It’s the start of an adventure but there’s always some little part of your brain that’s terrified you won’t get everything done in time. I’m going to be on a pretty tight deadline with this, the manuscript (edited!) and photographs are all to be submitted by the 1st of August. So if I seem a little quiet over the next few months perhaps you’ll forgive me :-). However it will be a little after that before you get to see the book – it’s planned for Fall (Autumn) 2015, so be patient.

I’ve been working behind the scenes on this project for several months already, sketching ideas, gathering yarn and knitting some of the samples. I don’t like to be under pressure designing so I started planning early. I want to give a big thank you to all the yarn companies who sent me yarn before I knew how I was going to publish, Cascade Yarns, Malabrigo, Lorna’s Laces, Blue Moon, Fyberspates, Miss Babs, Sweet Georgia, Berroco, Noro, Knitspot, Anzula, Harrivsville Designs, Shibui, Manos, Hedgehog Fibres, O-Wool and Green Mountain Spinnery. Here’s the yarn/sample mountain in all it’s glory, you’ll have to wait to see any more than this though!