Hmmm… I hate myself a teeny bit for that pun.
There are quite a lot of new and exciting things in the future for ELY Knits, so today’s post is going to be different than the usual review or tutorial. Announcements, new policies, and fun fiber collaborations–all that news is right here!
Patterns and Pricing
Going forward, ELY Knits will still have free patterns, so don’t worry! Free patterns will usually feature both hand knitting and machine knitting versions, but expect there to be some time between the releases of each version.
Patterns from my old blog, Emily Does Everything will remain free but change format from blog posts to free PDF Ravelry Downloads.
New, paid versions of old patterns will be released featuring different sizes and more instructional content. If you want to figure out the sizing yourself, download the free version. If you’d rather have me do it for you, that’s what the paid version is for!
The end goal is monthly patterns, but I’m staying flexible on that one because so much is happening at once!
Ko-Fi Support
Like Patreon, Ko-Fi offers readers a chance to “buy me a coffee” as thanks for the content I produce, but Ko-Fi doesn’t take a percentage of any of the funds.
If you’d like to support the website, yarn reviews, pattern development, tutorials, and more, you can check out my Ko-Fi page at Ko-fi.com/elyknits.
Like Patreon, Ko-Fi now offers memberships. I haven’t enabled memberships yet, but if you’re interested, let me know! Members would receive perks like early pattern access, free copies of paid patterns, knitting help, and the ability to submit options and vote for the next yarn review choice.
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This one’s a big one!
Lessons
I’ll be working at a local yarn store again! I worked at my (now closed) LYS for five years before the pandemic.
I have desperately missed being in fiber fellowship with yarn lovers.
This November, I’ll be joining Get Stitchin’ in Tulsa, Oklahoma to offer intermediate and advanced hand knitting classes along with machine knitting lessons.
Knitting Machine Sales
That’s right! Machine knitting lessons mean Knitting Machines FOR SALE! Partnering with Get Stitchin’, we are offering new Silver Reed Knitting Machines for sale.
The LK-150 Knitting machine is a plastic bed mid-gauge machine with nearly limitless capabilities. Different stitches are created by manually selecting needles and changing simple carriage settings. As my mentor Pamela Carrico says, YOU are the brain with this machine.
Most of the yarn reviews, patterns, and projects featured here on ELY Knits use the LK-150 mid-gauge 6.5mm machine.
This is the machine most suitable to the majority of hand knitting yarns and is a great place to start for beginners.
Classes will be based around projects on the LK-150.
For those who want to learn more before purchasing a machine, we’ll have demo days along with a lecture-style class to teach you all about what you can do with the LK-150 and other machines.
We’ll have metal bed machines available for order, too, along with…
Design-A-Knit 9!
The DAK9 software offers nearly endless knitwear design opportunities and directly connects to electronic knitting machines via the Silver Link 5 Cable.
It’s not just for machine knitters, though. Even without a machine and the cable, you can design your dream sweater and more using this extensive software.
Keep your eyes peeled for future announcements here and @ely.knits on Instagram for news on Knitting Machine and Design-A-Knit 9 demonstration days at Get Stitchin’ in Tulsa.
Online Sales
The ELY Knits online store will be launching soon along with the re-opening of my KnitPurlEverything Etsy shop as ELY Knits.
The Etsy shop will focus on ready-to-ship knits where the ELY Knits store (the SHOP tab at the top, coming soon) will offer customization options.
Now for a bit about what we’ll be doing with online sales.
Shipping Materials
We reduce, reuse, and recycle in my house. It’s not just a smart and frugal business and personal choice. I believe it’s better stewardship of our environment to use and reuse where we can.
Purchases from ELY Knits may arrive in many different types of boxes with different types of packing. As we use up the last of our plastic mailers, we will transition to 100% compostable or recyclable materials.
Knits do need protection from wet weather, so some will still ship in plastic. However, this plastic will be reused shipping materials or recyclable materials made from recycled plastics.
Now for the yarn! You didn’t think you’d get through an ELY Knits post without talking about yarn, did you?
Yarn Composition
I like to think of myself as a bit of a recovered yarn snob. I don’t mind acrylic or synthetic fibers. I think those yarns definitely have their place and uses, and quite a few of my go-to yarns are natural and synthetic blends. I’ve even reviewed a few of them here on the site.
But. I think natural fibers are superior options, especially since I want to support my local fiber community as much as possible. And there are fiber farms in Oklahoma, y’all!
I do have synthetic and semi-synthetic yarns in my inventory currently. These will be used completely and then replaced with a natural alternative.
There are some semi-synthetic fibers like Tencel that recycle over 90% of the chemicals used in the extraction process that will likely stay in my stash.
Old yarn stock and recycled synthetic yarns will also stick around. I do my best to reduce yarn waste wherever possible. If I find old stock yarns, even if they’re synthetic, you can bet I’ll bring them in and use them appropriately.
And last but not least,
Collaborations
If everything else I listed out wasn’t enough, EVEN MORE good things are coming! I’m collaborating with local indie dyers and fiber artists to bring some really cool kits and patterns to you in the future.
Covid delays are the norm these days, so I don’t have a specific timeline for some of these projects yet, but rest assured they will be amazing!
Oh, and Yarn Dyeing friends? Hand Knitting Design friends? If you’d like to collaborate on a hand and/or machine knitting project, hit me up!
Whether you’re looking for a pattern to highlight your yarns or you’d like to make your hand knitting pattern more accessible to machine knitters, I have you covered!
I am always up for working together with my fiber friends.
Thanks for wading through all of that! I wasn’t sure when or how to announce some of these things in posts with more concise topics, so I appreciate you sticking around to the end and reading all of the wonderful things coming your way via ELY Knits.
As always, let me know what you think in the comments below!
What ways do you reduce, reuse, and recycle in your fiber life?
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