Wovember – KDD & Co

A chat with Tom of Holland

I am sure that many of you may be familiar with the work of my good friend and woolly comrade Tom van Deijnen, also known as Tom of Holland. Tom is perhaps best known for his expertise in, and celebration of, darning, which he puts into practice in his classes and workshops, as well as…

sunshine on . . .

Yesterday we had beautiful weather while we popped back to our old stomping grounds in North Edinburgh and Leith to take some photographs of two new sweater designs. I’ve been working on these patterns for a while now, and they form part of my Edinburgh series — garments inspired by my favourite places in the…

Layter – a celebration of sheep and wool

In case you haden’t noticed, today is the first of WOVEMBER! I thought I’d begin the month by showing you a garment that, like no other I can think of, truly celebrates the glorious variety of British sheep and wool. It was designed by my good friend and fellow WOVEMBERIST, Felicity Ford, AKA, Felix. This…

snawheid

Here is the result of my pompom mania — SNAWHEID! Snawheid is a seasonal, snowflake-adorned beanie, feauturing a gigantic snowball pompom. It being Wovember and everything, I thought it would be fun to present to you three rather different Snawheids, each made in a different British breed-specific yarn. All are, of course, 100% wool (as…

Wovember colour

By: Kate Davies Designs November 3, 2012

Bruce, color, colour, photography, WovemberAutumn, bruce, color, colour, fall, photography, wovember21 Comments

Gold Orange and Green Russet Flame A wine-red haze of hawthorn (the birds are going mad for it) Silver Black Marigold (He found it in the woods. He was so pleased with himself that I had to let him keep it. . . then he chewed off and devoured one of the fingers. Now it…

Wovember is here!

By: Kate Davies Designs November 2, 2012November 2, 2012

wool, Wovemberwool, wovember11 Comments

Happy Wovember, everyone! If you haven’t done so already, I urge you to head on over to the Wovember site to read the first of many wonderfully woolly installments. This year, I’ve not really been involved with the Wovember preparations because of the, um, somewhat pressing demands of my collection and book, but you can…

worn

The best things in my wardrobe are made of wool. Some of these are ‘vintage’ items that have worn incredibly well. I thought I’d show you one of my favourites today. I picked up this hand-knitted cardigan second-hand. From its shape, patterns, buttons, and the kind of worsted- spun Shetland wool that was used to…

news &c

A miscellaneous post: First, a reminder that there are only five days remaining for entries in the Wovember competition. You could win some amazing things! One grand woolly winner will be selected by our friends at Jamieson & Smith, and there are other great prizes too: Blacker Designs are offering three runners-up awards for the…

woolly thinking: part 2

(Mid- eighteenth-century glazed Norwich worsted wools: Bruxelles, Belles Illes, Martiniques, Blondines.) As we’ve seen throughout WOVEMBER, the way that textiles are named and sold can be misleading and difficult to understand. In a rush to make a chemical innovations integral to a brand, or to lay corporate claim to a particular spinning or weaving process,…

Woolly thinking: part 1

Wool snood at French Connection containing 0% wool and 100% Acrylic. We’ve had some WOVEMBER feedback suggesting that we are being overly dogmatic in our insistence that the word wool should pertain to sheep’s wool only. These comments are useful to read, and very interesting since they suggest how wide the application and understanding of…

wearing Deco

(my Deco cardigan in October 2010) Throughout WOVEMBER, we’ll be exploring WOOL from several different angles, and today Felix and I are both writing about how wool wears. We knitters are perhaps sometimes more interested in the new and the spectacular than we are in the old and the reliably-wearable, but durability and longevity are…

matchy matchy

By: Kate Davies Designs November 5, 2011

refashioning, sewing, wool, WovemberFelicity Ford, meta badges, refashioning, sewing, tweed, wool, wovember31 Comments

Wool — being wonderfully warm, breathable, and flexible — really is the ultimate Winter fabric for someone who likes to be outdoors. I have worn a near-as-damn-it 100% wool outfit every day so far this WOVEMBER, and fully intend to do so for the rest of the month. I’ll say more about some of the…

Launching WOVEMBER

By: Kate Davies Designs November 1, 2011November 1, 2011

wool, Wovemberwool, wovember42 Comments

Do you remember this post? Well, in response to all your wonderful comments, Felix and I have launched WOVEMBER — a grass-roots, month-long celebration of all things woollen and woolly. Please pop over and have a look at the website, sign the petition, and join us, in whatever way you like, in the shared appreciation…