Award-winning Scottish publishing and design
Hello! I’m happy to say we’ve just about completed all our behind-the-scenes admin, and have been able to reopen the KDD online shop today. Among the new things you’ll find there is our just-published 10 Years in the Making book (beautifully produced for us by Glasgow’s Bell & Bain), plus two brand new shades of…
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Morning, everyone! First up, I should let you know that the KDD shop is once more up and running, and subscriptions to the 10 Years in the Making club are now open! Next, I can finally tell you about our new flagship yarn, Schiehallion This is a yarn that’s been a long time in the…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Good morning! When I sketched this yellow cardigan in my notebook towards the beginning of the year, it was with the thought that I might get to wear it, with a favourite dress, at the wedding of my friends, Briony and Will. Like many couples in similar situations, Will and Briony have had to change…
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Hello! Today I’m putting the finishing touches to a new cardigan which (all being well) I’ll be able to show you on Friday. I have spent the past hour or so poking around the button box . . . with some success, and a wee bit of frustration. I fear my button-vision may no longer…
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I sometimes feel that I’m unusual in my love of ends. As a project draws to completion, and especially if it has involved a lot of different shades, I really look forward to sorting all the ends out. I don’t find this process onerous. It’s just a question of setting aside enough time and being…
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Good morning! Friday is project reveal day – or in this case, outfit reveal day. Do you remember St Catherines – the shrug-style garter-stitch cardigan that’s included in my Shore collection? I originally designed this piece in a solid colour, which I wore, and rather liked, but then Mel knit up a bruce and birkin…
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Good morning! I spent yesterday afternoon sat outside on the freshly painted decking, weaving in the sunshine. Which really felt like quite a treat. I’ve been wanting to weave with my own Milarrochy Tweed for a while, and yesterday I decided to finally take the plunge. I was a little nervous for two reasons: first,…
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Hello! Friday is project reveal day, and up today is a light and simple knit I’m really enjoying wearing at the moment – The Observatory. I originally created this design for our West Highland Way book, building the pattern around one of my all-time favourite Shetland lace edgings. This edging has a wonderful, intuitive rhythm,…
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This is a very cheerful sweater And to accompany it, I’m wearing the most cheering pair of shoes I own. . . Yes, even someone with a dropped foot and appalling balance can gad about in these ridiculous ruby slippers! Back to the sweater, whose name is Coofle: an old Scots word for a puzzle,…
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Sometimes there is nothing better than being a beginner: nothing better than learning something new, completely from scratch. To explain: back in September, I had the pleasure of spending some time in the studio of weaver Belinda Rose, as part of my residency with Applied Arts Scotland (which involves developing a wonderful project with some…
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On our way to North Uist and Berneray a few months ago, we stopped off in Skye to say hello to Kirsty, who now runs Shilasdair, the Isle of Skye natural dye company. I first visited Shilasdair – when it was run by natural-dyeing legend, Eva Lambert, in its old home on the Waternish peninsula…
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Today, I’m delighted to introduce Melanie Berg as the next participant in our European Yarn Community conversations. Melanie is a German designer whose work will, I’m sure, be already very much admired by many of you. Melanie is best known for her shawls, but she also creates gorgeous modern garments, and everything she makes is…
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Hello, everyone, it’s Kate here – to introduce a new series of conversations on the KDD blog. I was born in 1973, a year after the Treaty of Accession paved the way for Britain’s entry into the European Union. Both sides of my family are shaped by histories of European immigration, and as a teenager,…
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