Six weeks have passed since the Knits About Winter pre-release at Rhinebeck, but so much has happened that those weeks feel more like months to me. Between now and then I have remained bowled over by the amazing response to Knits About Winter. I cannot thank you enough for the support and enthusiasm I have received from all over the globe. Chuffed beyond words.

I am also delighted to finally be able to share our plans for getting Viola yarn in your hands so that you can knit the projects from Knits About Winter. It’s taken longer than I had hoped, but we are so close!

The first in a series of Knits About Winter shop updates is scheduled for…

Friday, December 14th @ 10am EDT!!!

The next few months are jam-packed with a Canadian tour that will bring me to Toronto, Montréal and Hamilton. As a result, wait times on all preorders are generous because I will be away from the dyepots for much of December and January (expect to wait about one month before pre-orders ship out).

The entire process of creating this book, from swatching, drawing, dyeing, writing, photographing and editing to travelling, designing and teaching workshops, dyeing more yarn, planning kits and meeting knitters around the world has been a dream come true. It is has also been an invaluable learning process for me from both creative and business perspectives, and my learning is far from finished.

At the moment, the greatest challenge I face is needing to be present, working and creating, in many different places at the same time. Both mentally and physically, which is (unfortunately) not possible. So I am doing my utmost to tightrope walk the line between numerous tasks in myriad places. As a perfectionist, I find it difficult at times to declare the end of a project, I’d rather revisit, amend and edit over and over again. if it weren’t for deadlines I would still be knitting samples for Knits About Winter! All this is to say that I wish I could offer more workshops, more kits and more shop updates this winter. I always wish that I could do more and am going to continue working like the obsessive perfectionist that I am in order to offer you the best selection of yarn that I can.

However, I am also very aware that I want to enjoy this special time before it’s gone. My tendency to obsess over work often leads me to work too hard and too long. So the reason why there might not be as much yarn as you’d like, or why there is a lengthy lead time for preorders, is because I am allowing myself some time to be present and enjoy this rare moment in my life. I could rush through dyeing, offering more yarn and more kits, but their beauty would be lost. Nuanced colours become flattened and subtle details are lost in the rush to produce more yarn more quickly. I can’t increase my production any further because dyeing yarn requires so much of my own creative energy and time. My process cannot be sped up, in fact, it would benefit from slowing down.

Viola colourways are not based on a calculated recipe, they cannot be reproduced from a sheet of instructions, using measured amounts. Viola colourways are an intuitive and creative product, they continually change and are unique each and every time they appear. Like a painting, each batch of yarn evolves into a finished colour through a long process of contemplation and experimentation. Each colour is the product of many years of colour observation and practice. On average, one batch of yarn (10 x 100g skeins) takes 3-5 hours to dye. Cutting down dyeing time would allow me to produce significantly more yarn, but that yarn would no longer be Viola yarn. And so, I hope that your Viola yarn is worth the wait when you do have an opportunity to purchase it. I am eternally grateful for the support of customers new and old, and for your patience as Viola and I continue to grow and develop.

xo Emily