yarn – KDD & Co

ooskit is coming

By: KDD October 14, 2021October 14, 2021

manufacturing, wool, yarn, yarnBritish manufacturing, british wool, Kate Davies designs, KDD, KDD and co, manufacturing, new yarn, ooskit, sheep, wool, yarn1 Comment

new yarn! tomorrow!

schiehallion

By: KDD September 9, 2020September 9, 2020

wool, yarnbritish wool, colour, knitting, palette, Schiehallion, yarn22 Comments

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…

restock!

By: KDD August 1, 2020January 13, 2021

design, yarnbusiness, design, stock, yarn12 Comments

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…

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…

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…

Yorlin

By: KDD May 22, 2020May 22, 2020

color, colour, design, Milarrochy Tweed, yarncardigan, cowslip, design, Lace, Milarrochy Tweed, yarn, yellow, yellowhammer, yorlin62 Comments

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…

help me choose buttons

By: KDD May 19, 2020May 19, 2020

buttons, design, Milarrochy Tweed, yarn, yarnbuttons, design, Milarrochy Tweed, yellow229 Comments

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…

ends

By: KDD May 14, 2020

color, colour, making, process, textiles, yarnends, knitting, making, process, yarn50 Comments

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…

weaving with Milarrochy Tweed

By: KDD May 7, 2020May 7, 2020

Milarrochy Tweed, process, weaving, wool, yarn, yarninkle weaving, making, Milarrochy Tweed, process, weaving, wool35 Comments

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,…

a cowslip hap

By: KDD May 1, 2020May 1, 2020

knitting, yarnblocking, hap, knitting, Lace, Lynsey Walters, Milarrochy Tweed, shawl, Shetland, Shetland Lace, The Observatory, yarn27 Comments

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,…

Coofle

By: KDD March 27, 2020March 27, 2020

color, colour, design, knitting, Milarrochy Tweed, yarn, YOKES!colourwork, coofle, jumper, knitting, pullover, stranded colourwork, sweater, weaving, yoke40 Comments

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,…

Shilasdair: isle of Skye natural dye company

By: KDD August 18, 2019August 18, 2019

color, colour, yarncollaboration, Hebrides, knitting, shilasdair, Skye, skye natural dye company30 Comments

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…

“For me, Europe means connection”: Yasmin Harper, Laine des Iles

By: KDD July 18, 2019July 19, 2019

wool, yarnBrexit, connection, conversation, Europe, European Yarn Community, Laines des Iles, Yasmin Harper44 Comments

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,…