The Fall Knitalong is almost here and in today's video I'm excited to share what these knitalongs are all about. I dive deep into my big why behind my business and these community making events. It's not just about the yarn or the knitting. They are tools we can use to come back to our authentic creative selves. Beyond that, leaning into knitting, and crochet helps us feel more relaxed, peaceful and confident too...and the list goes on! Our knitalongs are all about helping you develop a consistent making practice so that you feel these life changing benefits.Think in depth tutorials that match the exact pattern you’re making and in the moment expert coaching to help if you make a mistake. This experience works so well that we keep doing it over and over again – twice a year and now we are somehow on number 16!

Learn more in the video below:

For the first time ever, well be hosting this KAL on our brand new app so you’ll have the opportunity to become a founding member. This is going to be a complete game changer for the user experience and it won’t be open to the public until 2025!

In the next video coming out on Thursday, I’ll go into all the fun, creative details of each of our four designs plus share more about our unique yarns – how they are made and by whom. Along with that video, will be a detailed blog post where I’ll share exact size, color and pricing details.

If you're up for sharing, I'd love to know what aspects of your knitting journey you most want to improve. Is it learning new techniques, finding more time to knit, or connecting with a supportive community? Whatever it is, take a moment to reflect on this. I invite you to leave a comment below where you share these insights. Is it the idea of mastering new skills, the prospect of finding a stress-relieving hobby, or the opportunity to connect with fellow knitters? Let’s hear it!

AND If you are a beginner knitter or crocheter, this is for you. Our team plus the video tutorials are there to guide and support you. When you're starting out, you need the most help and support - that's what our KALs are all about!

Thank you ~ Amy

Thank you all so much for your kind comments on last week's blog post. The trip was so amazing and truly shook me to my core. I can already feel it fading into the background of my hectic life all too quickly. I don't want to forget anything. I want to somehow keep that special place and the amazing people that make our yarns with me each day. The only thing I can think of is to print out the below pic and post it right above my desk each day as a daily reminder. A reminder of how grateful I am to these women for taking a chance on my hair brained yarn idea and sticking with me. A reminder of how how happy and proud they are of the yarn they make. A reminder that I'm not working alone but have a team of strong women that also depend on this to earn a living.  A reminder to keep going and to push my creativity to come up with new ideas - they (as well as myself) demand it and are up for trying anything. Good reminders, reminders that make me smile, reminders I need. Reminders that have me wondering how long before I get back there and bring the fam?! I am ready to go back right now! With that, I'd love to introduce you to these amazing women. 

Here we are! Just one missing, see my only snap of Monika below who runs the whole show and is a little camera shy. All of the ladies except for Dipika has been here since the beginning, 6 years ago. 

I'm lucky enough to stay with Monika while there and the food - OMG it's such amazing home cooked Indian food. All from scratch! Monika is my English speaking point person. Some of the other ladies speak a little English but not much. Monika helped me build everything and truly I could not have done it without her. She's a very old friend and we consider each other family after all these years.

Meet Sungita! She packs the yarn up. Twisting the yarn into a skein is an art form as any yarn shop owner knows. She's excellent at it - our yarns always look so yummy the way she twists them. Her favorite yarn is Spun Cloud in color Blue Flame and Rolling Stone in color Shooting Star. She also dives into other jobs like fiber prep when needed.

Meet Meera - she was the first lady I trained to spin on my own wheel. She is the quality control expert and checks each and ever skein. She also oversees the spinners. Her sari, right, so good! She likes Spun Cloud in Bodacious Pink and Wildflower yarn in Gardenia. 

Meet Ranjit! Ranjit makes the trims you see in our yarns. These include pom poms, tassels, crochet flowers, braided trims...the list goes on. She also makes our fabric yarns. If she had to pick one favorite it would be Wildflower Drifter in color Pale Lime.

This is Reeta, she also makes the trims and Wildflower cotton fabric yarns as Ranjit. Her favorite yarn is Wildflower Drifter in Ginseng.

This is Bindu. She preps and cards fiber. Carding fiber is the process we use to blend many different fiber colors together. She's holding some of the fiber we use in this pic. She didn't want to choose a favorite yarn - just the fiber, ha!

Say hi to Kavita. She also preps and cards fiber like Bindu and her favorite colors are pink and purple. 

Her toe rings, love!

This is Neelam, Kavita's mother. Neelam is a master spinner and can spin any of our yarns well including Gypsy Garden, Cast Away and Pixie Dust. She likes our Wanderlust yarns best and is holding our new fall 2017 color Peachy Keen in her arms. 

Meet Balgit, another spinner who's favorite yarn is Wanderlust. She's holding her favorite color - new for 2017 and called Spirit Animal. 

This is Rekha. She is amazing as spinning Cast Away and Pixie Dust yarns in particular. She's very fast too! Her favorite yarn is Pixie Dust in color Lemon Meringue. 

Bangle crush!

She always has spectacular toe rings. 

This is Ranjna, another spinner who can spin any of our yarns but who specifically specializes in Cast Away and Pixie Dust. She also likes Lemon Meringue :)

Meet Dipika, Kavita's daughter an Neelam's granddaughter (cool right?!) She's the only woman that has been with us 5 (not 6 years). So the newest addition. She's a spinner but also helps out with carding and fiber prep when need be.

Veena overseas the production flow and make sure the team is meeting delivery due dates. She makes sure we have all the raw materials in house to produce the yarns smoothly without any shortages. She's also one of the first ladies I taught to spin the yarns and now she's running the whole show!

One of the happiest things I saw was that the ladies all share 2 rickshaws home together. They all live near each other and are now quite good friends. Each night I said goodbye to them and watched them pile into the rickshaws, it was a riot! 

I loved seeing the camaraderie they have with each other.

Ok, now for the process. I think you may be interested to see a little bit into the process of how we make the yarns. Most of these pics come from short instagram story videos so excuse the quality. I hope to someday put together a little about us video for my website where I dive into the incredibly time consuming process of how these yarns are made in more detail. This is just a quick overview of how we go about spinning a yarn with no trims. The yarns with trims have a little bit more of a process to them!

Steps 1 & 2: Fiber prep & carding. We buy our fiber already processed and dyed from a mill. I'm also happy to show a little behind the scenes on this if you're interested. I actually visited this mill while in India as well. It was really cool! 

Step 3: Spinning with carded fiber

A bunch of our yarns, including Wanderlust and some colors of Gypsy Garden are actually spun twice.

Step 4: Make it into a skein!

Step 5: Steam or wash the yarn to set the fibers into place.

Step 6: Add the labels

Step 7 is where Meera comes in - she checks each yarn for quality - is the length correct, is the thickness Ok, are trims falling off...the list goes. So yeah, Meera is important! 

Alright, there you have it folks! I have so many more photos and amazing things I could share but this is already the longest post to date. If you're interested in seeing more behind the scenes, definitely leave a comment here. I think I must have 1000 pics of the spinners and India. It's been a blast sharing this part of the business with you all. Thank you so much for taking the time to read. XOXO ~ Amy

We recently launched two major shop updates - first up, you can now PRE-ORDER our yarns. I'm especially happy about this because inventory is a constant headache around here. I'm burdened with crazy lead times because of the tediously long spinning process and expensive shipping costs that make it worthwhile to ship only a few times a year. Now you can be first in line to get the yarn you want by pre-ordering out of stock items. The approximate ship date will be clear when you go through the pre-ordering steps. As always, drop me an email if you have any questions (amy@knitcollage.com) Pre-orders will also help me gauge how much of a certain yarn I should be ordering too!

Next up, treat the fiber enthusiast in your life to something special from us ~ a gift card. No more torturing yourself to choose a yarn they might like, let them pick for themselves this holiday season. Shop gift cards here. 

Last but certainly not least, say hello to our latest hat pattern. This beauty is called the Magical Daisy Hat. Think of the hat as a modern knit take on a slouchy 70's prairie bonnet, complete with giant tassels and flowers spun right into the yarn. Texture-filled, happy, cozy and a little more exciting to knit than your typical hat pattern. You'll have a blast taking this one to your needles! The pattern is available here. We knit ours in Daisy Chain color Frosty Azure.