What We'll Be Working On This Month [Sep 2022]

Hi lovelies,

Hanna Lisa here with the first real behind-the-scenes blog post for our Collective! I really like having some kind of structure and consistency in place behind our content, and so we'll start every month with a BTS (behind-the-scenes) post about what we'll be working on this month.

Think of it like a mashup of "what the heck does an online yarn shop / publisher actually do" and sneak peeks of exciting things in the pipeline. I hope you like it!

Without further ado... what will we be doing in September?

Selling our Issue 8 Yarns and Kits

During the summer, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about our approach of carrying yarns and kits. I love this relatively new portion of the business so much, but it felt like it was lacking structure.

Prompted by my business coach, I sat down and wrote up three different launch types for three different product categories:

• Evergreen: Products that we'll always sell - like De Rerum Natura yarns and Katie Green notions
• Limited:Products that we only have a very limited quantity of - we might be restocking them, but in that particular instance, when they're gone, they're gone - like De Rerum Natura's Antigone earlier in the summer or our upcoming Sock Boxes
• Extremely limited:Products that we only have a very limited quantity of and that we won't be restocking - like our Issue 8 yarns and kits

As you can see, our Issue 8 yarns and kits fall into this category, so we essentially only have a month - September - to present them to you!

Starting our Preorders for Sock Boxes

I cannot even tell you how incredibly excited I am about these! Our first ever boxes! We'll start preorders for them mid-September (keep your eyes on your email for your early access!), and I am so, so thrilled with the products for our first box.

Each box will have 100g of sock yarn - all natural, dyed or curated based on a specific moodboard -, a set of hand-made stitch markers, and an additional gift (think prints, candles, notions, pouches, ...). It also comes with a pattern suggestion email that includes three pattern recommendations - one from our back catalogue in case you want to work from a publication you already have! - curated specifically for that yarn.

The products that we have for our first October box are starting to arrive (I got the additional gifts in the mail on Friday and they are SO SO GOOD!) and I am just super giddy that we get to share them with you!

The exact contents of the boxes will stay a surprise, but we will be showing example boxes so that you can get a feeling for what we might be including. All products are made by wonderful makers that care as much as we do about this planet and its people.

There's still lots to do before the actual launch - this week, I'll work on designing the packaging! - but it's already one of my favorite things we've done this year.

Test Knitting & Photoshoot Planning for Issue 9

Jessica, our wonderful Test Knitting Manager, is knee-deep in the test knitting phase for our Issue 9! There are already some gorgeous WIPs showing up on Instagram from our testers. It's going to be such a beautiful, positive collection!

I'll be planning out the photoshoot for Issue 9 - theme: In Bloom - with our photographer Melinda this month as well. We're torn between shooting in her second home in Portugal and an indoors shoot here in Berlin - I'll keep you posted!

Plan our Socktober celebrations

Sock boxes are not the only thing socks that we have in store to celebrate Socktober! We'll bring back our beloved Socktober promotion next month - a gifted copy of our Socks E-Book for every purchase of sock yarn throughout October - and I'll be working on that for some time during September as well.

Plan a very, very, VERY exciting yarn launch

In late September, early October, we'll launch a super secret yarn, and I can't wait to finally spill the beans. We've been working on this for months, and it's seriously one of the best yarns I've ever laid hands on.

We'll be the first stockists on this side of the pond, too, which brings on a certain amount of pressure, but I'm very sure we'll do the yarn and its amazing makers justice!

I hope you enjoyed this look at the big themes that are on our desks this month. Do let me know what else you'd like to see from us here in the BTS section of the Collective!

Hanna Lisa x