shop

The KDD online shop stocks our yarn, knitting kits, books, and knitwear (socks, snoods, and jumpers, made right here in Scotland) You can purchase Kate’s hand-knitting patterns as digital PDF downloads through the KDD shop or Ravelry Tom’s photographic work is available to purchase as high-quality archival prints To date, we have published eighteen titles under…

about KDD

Kate Davies Designs (KDD) was established by Kate Davies in 2010, when a stroke at the age of 36 ended her career as a literary academic. While learning to live with the effects of her stroke, Kate supported herself by designing digital patterns for hand-knitting, established an independent publishing company, and began to produce books…

tutorials

Ester A tutorial to make the 5-stitch star motif that features on the Ester hat. Inside and Outside the Red Box. A Bold Beginner Knits Tutorial for the Footfall shawl Triangular shawl construction. A Bold Beginner Knits Tutorial for the Footfall shawl “Join body and sleeves into yoke” A Bold Beginner Knits tutorialfor the Upstream…

destination: sleeve island

By: KDD January 24, 2021January 24, 2021

design, knitting, making, processcircular needles, design, fixed circulars, knitting, knitting styles, making, process, sleeve island, sleeves75 Comments

I used to be one of the many knitters who didn’t particularly enjoy a visit to sleeve island. Working with dpns or a long circular and magic loop, I rarely looked forward to knitting the second sleeve of a pair. This changed radically when I started knitting with 8 or 9 inch fixed circulars a…

lilias day

Good morning, and happy Friday, everyone! I’ve a new design to show to you – Lilias Day I knitted two pullovers over the festive period, featuring the same Selbu motif. In Orchle, I used the motif as an allover pattern around the bottom of the pullover . . . . . . and in Lilias…

introducing My Place

By: KDD January 20, 2021January 20, 2021

amazing knitters, business, competition, design, publishingcollaboration, collection, competition, design, designers, Milarrochy Tweed, My Place, shawls, yarn24 Comments

You may (or may not) remember that last year we organised one of our regular design competitions. The theme was “My Place” and the idea was that competition entrants design a shawl, hap, wrap, scarf, cowl, snood, kerchief, or other neckwear accessory in Milarrochy Tweed inspired by their “place” in the world – however they…

jags

By: KDD January 18, 2021January 18, 2021

beasties, Bobby, Bruce, Familybruce, Coronavirus, Covid, etymology, innoculation, jag, jaggy, language, Scots, vacccine, vaccination, words58 Comments

Hiya, it is I, Bruce. Today I am here to tell you about the history and meaning of a very common Scots word which, it seems, very few of you outside Scotland are aware of. That word is jag. In Scotland, the word jag is often used in reference to pretty much any sharp or…

Orchle

Friday is pattern reveal day, and I have a brand new sweater design to show you! I’m a huge fan of the arched Selbu motifs which are most often traditionally used on gloves and mittens and you’ll see the long-standing influence of these motifs on my design work in hats like Richard the Roundhead, or…

grey and white

Hello, everyone! Thanks so much for your comments on yesterday’s post (which if you enjoy on-screen knits as much as I do I suggest you go and read!) I want to say an especial thanks to Davina for the link to the top 118 Twin Peaks knits (I personally have a thing for no72, though…

screen knits

Do you become obsessed with sweaters you see in films or TV? I frequently do, and on several occasions these obsessions have developed into fully-formed pattern ideas. Ursula, for example, began life with a very fleeting glimpse of a cardigan worn by a character in South Riding, a 2011 BBC miniseries set in the 1930s.…

making time

We were able to put quite a few things in the KDD shop last week, including our brand new 10 Years in the Making book. The book is now available for wholesale too, so if you are a bookshop or yarn store (or know a bookshop or yarn store) who would like to stock this…

out cold

By: KDD January 9, 2021January 9, 2021

landscape, photography, Scotlandcarbeth, chill, cold, fog, ice, landscape, photography, Scotland, walking, weather, winter, winter walking27 Comments

We seem to be in the middle of a fairly sustained cold snap in our part of Scotland. Icy days have been followed by snowy ones, with bitter temperatures and freezing fog. I personally like quite chilly weather, and particularly enjoy its transformative effect on my surrounding landscape. During a cold spell, everything starts to…

green shoots

By: KDD January 8, 2021January 8, 2021

colour, design, fairisle, knitting, seasonalcolour, colouwork, design, foxglove, hat, knitting, Milarrochy Tweed, stockiemuir, tam21 Comments

I think the month of January – and perhaps particularly this January – often seems rather dark. These are certainly dark days for many of us around the world, but there are some visible green shoots, improving prospects, and the hope of brighter days ahead. I wanted my first design of 2021 to speak to…

two-shade Sterntaucher

By: KDD January 7, 2021January 7, 2021

colour, design, Kate Davies Designs, kits, steeks10 Years in the making, cardigan, colourway, construction, design, finishing, knitting, palette, pockets, steek, Sterntaucher12 Comments

When we are working on a collection, Mel and I often knit several samples of a single design. This not only allows us to test and hone the pattern instructions (for maximum knit-ability, and knitterly-ness) but means we get to see how a design appears in alternate colourways. For Sterntaucher, we thought it would be…

shades and swatches

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…

serendipity

By: KDD January 5, 2021January 5, 2021

business, landscape, writingattention economy, happenstance, ideas, privacy, serendipity, Shoshana Zuboff, social media, surveillance capitalism, technology, writing56 Comments

A few of you asked about the changes KDD has made to the way we use big tech and social media – and about where to begin when considering making similar changes. As a starting point, I would suggest reading Shoshana Zuboff’s The Rise of Surveillance Capitalism, which I read back in the middle of…

sun prints

Here’s a moment of reflection, for these quiet, early days of the new year, with a guest post from my good friend Anne Whitehead. Anne found herself beginning a new experimental creative project in the early spring of 2020, and like many makers, discovered that this project came to tell its own story of a…

changes

By: KDD December 31, 2020

businessBrexit, business62 Comments

On the last day of 2020 here’s a post on a topic I’m sure you are all desperate to hear much more about – BREXIT! Ahem – I’m only joking. In all seriousness, though, it is no secret that the KDD team (like the vast majority of people here in Scotland) have heartily opposed the…

moon walk

By: KDD December 30, 2020

landscape, photography, Scotland, seasonal, walkingblue hour, landscape, moon, photography, Scotland, seasons, walk, walking, winter36 Comments

Hello! We are currently enjoying a very quiet and relaxing winter break. In the absence of any socialising, this has largely involved good food, lots of films and books, knitting (me), creating digital soundscapes from ordinary household objects (Tom) and crisp long walks (both of us, plus dogs). After an extended period of hard work,…