balloons

I’ve a long-held fascination with late eighteenth-century hot air balloons and ballooning. In fact, I’ve even knitted an eighteenth-century balloon (in a square of our International Women’s Day blanket, which references the Montgolfier balloon that appears in the final lines of Anna Laetitia Barbauld’s brilliant poem, Washing Day) In the past few weeks, my historic…

By: KDD August 1, 2020August 1, 2020 design, yarnbusiness, design, stock, yarn12 Comments

restock!

For KDD, as for most other small businesses, the past few months have certainly posed their difficulties. I have not talked about such difficulties here: though some things have not been easy, I’m continually reminded that, unlike so many others, absolutely nothing we’ve had to face in any way counts as hardship. I’m grateful for…

By: KDD July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 landscape, People MAKE Glasgow, Scotland, walkingcarbeth, Craigallian, Glasgow, Glasgow writers, Hugh Macdonald, Ian R Mitchell, Pillar Craig, Rambles Round Glasgow, Strathblane, walking, working class writers19 Comments

the pillar craig

I’ve been reading a lot of books while researching People Make Glasgow, and one of my favourite recent reads is Ian R Mitchell’s This City Now (reissued as Walking through Glasgow’s Industrial Past in 2015) which offers a brilliant walker’s guide to the city’s industrial history. The book mentions one of Mitchell’s peripatetic-literary Glasgow forbears…

By: KDD July 28, 2020July 28, 2020 landscape, photographylandscape, photography, rain, Scotland, weather28 Comments

a picture of rain

It has been a very wet and cool July. As our Spring was unusually dry and warm, the garden has definitely appreciated the wet weather, and apart from having to wear the dreaded rain pants on my long daily walks, I’ve rather enjoyed it too. Certainly there is something rather jolly about hearing the rain…

By: KDD July 23, 2020July 23, 2020 art, History, womenart, empire, Glasgow, History, manufacturing, painting, People MAKE Glasgow, retail, rum, shopkeeping, slavery, sugar, women's history12 Comments

keeping shop

As part of my research for the introduction to our People Make Glasgow book, I’ve been doing some highly enjoyable work poking about the city’s eighteenth and nineteenth-century post office directories, which provide intriguing lists of Glasgow’s merchants, manufacturing and retail businesses (much like the yellow pages). Looking at these directories across a century or…

ReJean Denim

One of the things I’ve been really struck by, as I reach the end of the process of writing our People Make Glasgow book, is just how many thriving enterprises in this city are led by brilliant young women. I’ve found learning more about the innovative work of makers, artist and designers like Rachel E…

By: KDD July 15, 2020July 15, 2020 writingtips, writing24 Comments

four writing tips

I’m in full-on, heads down, focused writing mode right now, completing our People Make Glasgow book. Someone sent me an email a couple of days ago asking about my approach to writing, and it occurred to me just how much I love to write, and that my approach to it was probably pretty simple –…

Birlinn Yarn love

Hello! Friday is project reveal day, and today I wanted to show you a new iteration of one of my favourite designs of 2019 – the Udal pullover, designed for and with Meg Rodger’s Birlinn Yarn Company. Inspired by one of my favourite Hebridean places, and using Meg’s own fabulously hardy and beautiful Hebridean wool…

shop

The KDD online shop stocks our yarn, knitting kits, books, and knitwear (socks, snoods, and jumpers, made right here in Scotland) You can purchase Kate’s hand-knitting patterns as digital PDF downloads through the KDD shop or Ravelry Tom’s photographic work is available to purchase as high-quality archival prints To date, we have published sixteen books under…

about KDD

Kate Davies Designs (KDD) was established by Kate Davies in 2010, when a stroke at the age of 36 ended her career as a literary academic. While learning to live with the effects of her stroke, Kate supported herself by designing digital patterns for hand-knitting, established an independent publishing company, and began to produce books…

tutorials

Ester A tutorial to make the 5-stitch star motif that features on the Ester hat. Inside and Outside the Red Box. A Bold Beginner Knits Tutorial for the Footfall shawl Triangular shawl construction. A Bold Beginner Knits Tutorial for the Footfall shawl “Join body and sleeves into yoke” A Bold Beginner Knits tutorial for the…

balloons

restock!

By: KDD August 1, 2020August 1, 2020

design, yarnbusiness, design, stock, yarn12 Comments

the pillar craig

By: KDD July 30, 2020July 30, 2020

landscape, People MAKE Glasgow, Scotland, walkingcarbeth, Craigallian, Glasgow, Glasgow writers, Hugh Macdonald, Ian R Mitchell, Pillar Craig, Rambles Round Glasgow, Strathblane, walking, working class writers19 Comments

a picture of rain

By: KDD July 28, 2020July 28, 2020

landscape, photographylandscape, photography, rain, Scotland, weather28 Comments

keeping shop

By: KDD July 23, 2020July 23, 2020

art, History, womenart, empire, Glasgow, History, manufacturing, painting, People MAKE Glasgow, retail, rum, shopkeeping, slavery, sugar, women's history12 Comments

ReJean Denim

four writing tips

By: KDD July 15, 2020July 15, 2020

writingtips, writing24 Comments

Birlinn Yarn love

found feathers

By: KDD July 9, 2020July 9, 2020

birds, collaboration, Crafting Futures, photographybirds, Crafting Futures, feathers, found objects, landscape, photography27 Comments

I’ve been thinking about how I might incorporate local found materials into the pieces I’m making for my Crafting Futures collaboration with Pilar. So, for the past couple of months, I have been picking up the feathers I come across on my daily walks. I’ve not done anything special when gathering these feathers – I’ve…

An ideal shopping list

By: KDD July 8, 2020July 8, 2020

embroidery, People MAKE Glasgow, stitch, stitchingCastlemilk, community, creativity, Deirdre Nelson, embroidery, Glasgow, Glasgow life, linen, stitch10 Comments

I’m currently working hard on our People Make Glasgow book, which approaches its final stages (exciting!) and am finding the different stories the book covers about the city’s making and producing communities really inspiring, thought provoking, and often moving. As well as creative enterprises of all sizes, in fields from woodworking to whisky, the book…

this oak is

By: KDD July 5, 2020July 5, 2020

landscape, photography, poetry, seasonal, walking, writinglandscape, nature, oak, oaks, photography, poem, poetry, seasons, trees, writing15 Comments

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been really struck by how colourful the oak trees I see on my morning walks are at this time of year, with their wild orangey-red foliage so different to the surrounding trees heavy green. So here’s a poem I wrote in my head about those oaks this morning. The…

treit

By: KDD July 3, 2020July 3, 2020

design, kits, knitting, yarndesign, gardening, knitting, Lace, Milarrochy Tweed, summer, Treit, yarn, yoke13 Comments

Good morning and happy Friday everyone! Today we are feeling particularly pleased because Ardnamurchan is back in stock! And with stock of this lovely tealy-green shade available, we can now release this new summery design of which I’m really very fond – Treit. Treit is a simple tee with a lace yoke, knitted from the…