KDD & co

Knitting, creativity, mental health.

By: KDD May 22, 2019May 28, 2019

craft, creativity, knitting, mental healthcraft, creativity, featured, knitting, mental health, Sarah Desmarais112 Comments

I have been thinking a lot over the past week about the difficulties of talking about the mental health “benefits” of a craft like knitting. There’s a lot of really interesting research about crafts and mental health about right now, but I often have problems with the way such research is publicly communicated or presented.…

Harriet’s hat

By: KDD May 19, 2019May 19, 2019

ShetlandHarriet Middleton, Harriet's hat, MRI, Shetland, Shetland MRI scanner appeal58 Comments

Have you heard about the Shetland MRI scanner appeal? I know from personal experience just how important MRI scans are, since it was inside one of these machines that my stroke was diagnosed nine years ago. Magnetic resonance imaging is an incredibly important diagnostic tool not just for brain injuries, like my stroke, but for…

Seavaiger

By: KDD May 15, 2019May 17, 2019

design, knitting, mental healthdesign, knitting, mental health, Milarrochy Tweed, Seavaiger76 Comments

If there’s one thing I’ve had time for over the past few months, it is my knitting. I think one has to be very, very careful when talking about knitting and mental health, or discussing craft activities in association with terms like “mindfulness”: mental illnesses are varied and complex, and craft is not, in any…

Blossoming

By: KDD&Co. May 12, 2019June 15, 2019

learn to knit, owlsJane Hunter, learn to knit, New Lanark, owl sweater, owl sweater pattern, owls48 Comments

Recently Kate suggested that for my next project I could have a go at her iconic Owls sweater pattern. Now, as you will know if you have been following my learn to knit journey, it had only been three months since I had picked up the needles…

inspiring projects: best in show

By: KDD May 8, 2019May 8, 2019

amazing knitters, inspiring projectsamazing knitters, inspiring projects52 Comments

A few days ago, all of us at KDD were very excited to hear that Jennifer Moats (WonderfullyWovn on Ravelry and Instagram) had won Best in Show at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival skein and garment competition for her beautifully-knitted version of Kate’s Shieling blanket from the West Highland Way collection. We caught up…

Light and lambs

By: KDD May 3, 2019May 3, 2019

landscape, photography, Scotland, sheepBerneray, Hebrides, lambs, landscape, photography, sheep, soay, soay sheep, Western Isles75 Comments

Hello everyone, it’s Tom here. I thought I’d pop in to share some of my photos from our recent Hebridean trip to the isle of Berneray (Eilean Bhearnaraigh). As a photographer, I find the ever-changing weather and shifting quality of light in Scotland’s Western Isles really stimulating in my work. On this trip we were…

in mind

By: KDD April 28, 2019May 28, 2019

health, personal, strokebipolar, bipolar II, featured, mental health, stroke

Hello, it’s Kate here. I know many of you have been keeping me in mind. Thank you so much. I’m a little better now, so I felt I should let you know what’s been happening. For the past year, I’ve been really struggling with my bipolar. Most of you probably had no idea I had…

a fresh new shade

By: KDD&Co. April 26, 2019April 26, 2019

Milarrochy Tweed, yarnmilarrochy heids, Milarrochy Tweed, wool, yarn38 Comments

I’m very excited to reveal a wonderful new shade of Milarrochy Tweed yarn.

Introducing Cowslip.

Learning to knit in the round

By: KDD&Co. April 19, 2019

knitting, learn to knitI wish I could knit, Jane Hunter, learn to knit43 Comments

My circular needles have arrived!
The learn to knit book gives an introduction to knitting in the round, explaining that this technique is effectively making a spiral to form a tube of knitting, rather than seaming flat pieces of fabric together.

Hand Knit Swatches in Stockinette with garter stitch border pink and grey

Scientific Swatching and a Como Cowl

By: KDD&Co. April 12, 2019April 12, 2019

knitting, learn to knitI wish I could knit, Jane Hunter, knitting, learn to knit, New Lanark62 Comments

I seem to have had a breakthrough with being able to read my knitting during this project. Maybe down to the chunky yarn, meaning the stitches are easier to see.

Thursday I got nothing

By: KDD April 7, 2019April 7, 2019

ootlier, photography, poetry, ScotlandGeorge Mackay Brown, ootlier, Orkney, photography, poetry42 Comments

Hello everyone, it’s Tom here. I’m dropping by to tell you all about my latest photographic project – Thursday I got nothing: a collection of images inspired by George Mackay Brown’s poem, Beachcomber. Together, these images ask the question, as photographers, if we look closely, do we ever get nothing? George Mackay Brown was one…

My first knit project

By: KDD&Co. April 5, 2019April 5, 2019

learn to knitBuachaille, I wish I could knit, Jane Hunter, knitting, learn to knit, mitts64 Comments

Here we go. My first ever knit project and first time reading a pattern – fingerless mitts.