I find it fascinating how a different set of colours can change the feel of a garment. Here’s the Weel Riggit pullover, in four very different shades of our lovely new Àrd Thìr yarn . . Camusdarach (grey); Firemore (mauve-ish); Kintra (dusky pink) and Husinis (khaki-ish). This palette creates a softly muted gradient – very… Read More
Like many people, I think, this style of warm, hard-wearing and definitively wintery sweater fills me with a very particular kind of nostalgia. I first saw sweaters of this kind when I was eighteen, and went away to University. There I encountered a very particular kind of student who wore this type of sweater –… Read More
It’s yarn launch day! Let me introduce Àrd Thìr: our new aran (heavy worsted) weight yarn in a range of beautiful shades that have been inspired by the Scottish winter landscape. Our winter landscape is often thought to be drained of colour, but if you look carefully, you’ll discover a mix of many interesting shades:… Read More
Hello, everyone Things have been a bit quiet around here – largely because I’m busy working on the Knitting Season club. As well as the designs, the club involves a 12-week essay series (a course, if you like) exploring a range of different approaches to creative practice. These essays are polemical, and are meant to… Read More
Back in the spring, I knew my ten year owliversary was coming up, so I decided to knit myself a new owl sweater. These photographs were taken while we were in Berneray, back in May. It’s quite weird seeing myself with my ‘old’ hair – I suppose that must mean I’m now completely used to… Read More
Back in 2015, when Tom left academia and began working with me, I took a decision to only design with my own yarns. The reasons for this should be obvious: I’d taken a huge risk developing and investing in Buachaille. Buachaille was what I hoped would enable us to shift from a single-person enterprise to… Read More
I’ve recently been enjoying designing blue things. This is my new shawl – Traigh – which works so well with Tarbet, one of our new shades of Milarrochy Tweed. Tarbet is a glorious mid blue with lots of colourful tweed neps, which make it really interesting. This rich, complex, maritime blue is my new obsession.… Read More
Today I’m excited to reveal our three new shades of Milarrochy Tweed. There’s Cranachan – a vibrant raspberry red – (named for the traditional Scottish dessert made with raspberries) . . . there’s Hare (named for the animal, with its soft dun-coloured coat) . . . and finally Tarbet: a complex, maritime blue named for… Read More
When you get involved in manufacturing yarn for hand knitters, one of the first things you learn about is just how bloody difficult it is just to get some elements of wool production done. I’m talking about the messy, dirty, non-glamorous things; the things like wool sorting, grading, and scouring (washing) or things that involve… Read More
One of the many things I really like about the communities and cultures of crofting is their distinctive effect on the way people work. What I mean is this: in towns and cities, jobs tend to become more and more specialised, people do what they do within smaller and smaller categories, individual work occurs in… Read More
There are many things to think about when putting together a palette of shades for hand knitting. Some schools of thought tend toward the representative: that there should always be, for example, a red or yellow. Others, meanwhile, might urge the wisdom of considering particular colour trends and preferences, of including “the colour of the moment”,… Read More
We are all busy here behind the scenes – putting the finishing touches to the pattern collection that will be released as part of our forthcoming club, and awaiting the arrival of our new and much-anticipated yarn – Milarrochy Tweed. Milarrochy Tweed is produced for us by our friends at Donegal Yarns – a company… Read More
