Itās been a while since I just did a normal newsletter isnāt it? Between work stuff and my new insatiable urge to write all the time, I feel like weāve not just done a good ole classic WLM Digest! So, while we do have a pattern that just launched this morning, I wanted to do the fun stuff first! So today Iāll be telling you about some books I liked, catching you up a little on what weāve been doing round the studio, and giving you a wee intro to our newest design. We understand it may not all be of interest to you but I hope something about it brightens your day!
Beautiful Books!
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
Yeknow honestly I had no clue what to expect from this- itās very much not something I would have picked up had it not been on the recommendation of a friend. A ānovel in verseā itās an epic poem! So close to prose it teases you a little but the persistence of the poetry of it is just exciting. Beautiful, joyful, so sad, so funny. It really worked for me and itās such a quick read. I highly recommend.
"Geryon was a monster everything about him was red Put his snout out of the covers in the morning it was red How stiff the red landscape where his cattle scraped against Their hobbles in the red wind Burrowed himself down in the red dawn jelly of Geryon's DreamGeryon's dream began red then slipped out of the vat and ran Upsail broke silver shot up through his roots like a pupSecret pup At the front end of another red day"
It starts with some beautiful, loose translation of classical poem fragments (obsessed with the one above), and then indulges in all these amazing and funny framing devices before jumping in to just the most beautiful study of a young gay man who is also a monster from the labours of Hercules. Itās hard to explain but so lovely ok?
āThen a miracle occurred in the form of a plate of sandwiches. Geryon took three and buried his mouth in a delicious block of white bread filled with tomatoes and butter and salt. He thought about how delicious it was, how he liked slippery foods, how slipperiness can be of different kinds. I am a philosopher of sandwiches, he decided. Things good on the inside."
Oh please just read it- or lmk if you already had! I had such fun with my dad Daniel Otto Jack Petersen (who also has a fun substack on here) chatting about it together and reading each other our fave parts- but he still has my copy so I canāt share my FAVE quote cause I forgot to take a photo of it haha!
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Okay everyone the hype is LEGIT like wtf these stories are INCREDIBLE.
I am unfortunately a product of my background and I am actively working on unlearning the instinct of like āoh everyone thinks itās cool? I probably wont like itā gross ācool girlā 2010s male gaze nightmare ok???? Iām not proud of it, but here we are. SO, Iād avoided this assuming Iād be disappointed- I WAS NOT.
Iām only half way thru because I changed over to a James Baldwin collection that I only have a 2 week special loan of from the library I need to finish but ooooooft these first 4 stories have me obsessed.
The way CMM writes is, for me, almost perfect. The mix of realism, magic, poetry, long silly sentences, gut wrenching sadness, real true people joy, good sex (!!) and a bit of inherent, beautifully rendered politics is just pure gold. In some of the stories she uses these wonderful structures like an inventory of a characterās sexual experiences, or retellings of episodes of Law and Order SVU, to lead you so sneakily into the richest narrative in a way you donāt notice until youāre in the thick of it.
Sheās got a true talent for world and mood building in the short story form which is not a given, and she doesnāt leave you hanging with simplistic ādun dun duuuuunā moments. I feel like this is something even the short story greats (ahem, looking at you Ray Bradbury) donāt always execute super well!
You should definitely read it if you havenāt already! But Iām so late to the game so you probably have hahah.
What Weāve Been Up To!
This year has really taken a little time for us to kick into gear, we got sidetracked by some secret stuff (hehe) and then also, we are trying to do a Creative Scotland application and we somehow just canāt finish it even tho it should be relatively straightforward š© but I believe in us!!!
But this week has been a really nice, productive, change of pace. We took a bit of time at the start to really communicate about stuff that was holding us back from doing our best work, and coming up with strategies for better structure! It can be hard sometimes navigating these tiny small businesses and the boundaries and communication that keeps them going. We have spoken tonnes about how to make a safe and comfortable work environment for each other over the past year - and Iām so proud of us for how we are actually taking action on that.
When itās just two of you, or a small team that doesnāt super subscribe to traditional ways of doing business, it can be really difficult to be honest and say something like āhey when we rescheduled that at the last sec it was actually quite stressfulā- thereās no evil management or HR department to turn to, you just gotta rely on each other! And Iām happy to report that Rose, as always, is just a wonder of a person to work with and the changes we have made to our strategy have already been so helpful. ā¤ļø
I really wanna encourage other folks in small biz that itās possible to communicate in healthy ways about awkward things and the outcomes can be great! The biggest change we made this week was that Rose introduced me to Trello. Itās been really really helpful being able to visualise all the tasks we need to do and both be able to access them and move/add them as we do stuff, rather than just keeping them all hidden in my notebook, it feels much more accessible for both of us, at least for now!
We were a few weeks behind, in part because of the new pattern we were trying to get into testing needing to be totally re-done because the stitch gauge was off! š© but we managed to get it off for tech editing yesterday! šŖ This leads us toā¦.
ā¦Can-Do Cardigan Launch!!!!!!
After making the first samples in NOVEMBER, I am so happy to finally announce that this cardigan pattern is available! Itās available on both Ravelry and my website if Rav is inaccessible for you. As always, I also provide discount codes that can be used no questions asked if you need financial support to access our patterns!
The Can-Do Cardigan incredibly versatile, with 2 finishing options (button band and i-cord), 3 chest options (no shaping, cup 1 and cup 2), and 3 body options (straight full length, hip-shaping full length, and cropped). You can basically make a huge range of simple, wearable v-neck cardigans for different shapes and vibes all from this pattern!
I always try to encourage folks to be creative with our patterns and design their own colourwork (like I did in my white version above), and Iām so happy to show you a selection of tester projects worked plainā¦
ā¦. and with fun intarsia/embroidery!
Itās our first cardigan pattern and Iām so happy with how it turned out- I canāt wait to see more projects, and I hope youāll tell your buds about it!
Thanks so much for reading along with me and making it this far! I hope everyone has a great spring holidays and that your kids are nice to you if theyāre off school hehe!
Love
From
Lydia