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 Ravelry Tom’s photographic work is available to purchase as high-quality archival prints To date, we have produced twelve books under the KDD and Makadu…

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 recovering from her stroke, Kate supported herself by designing digital patterns for hand-knitting, established an independent publishing company, and began to produce books that combined her skills as…

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 tutorial for the…

looking forward

Hello! Kate here. August is the month at KDD when we all start to look forward to what’s coming in the autumn. This season we are busier than ever, with a wide range of different projects and new releases. Next month, for example, we will finally be able to begin to release the new knitwear…

The McCune Smith cafe

By: KDD July 30, 2019August 26, 2019

History, People MAKE Glasgow, Politics, writingabolition, Glasgow, james mccune smith, mccune smith, mccune smith cafe, People MAKE Glasgow, slavery30 Comments

Hello, it’s Tom here. In today’s People Make Glasgow post I’d like to introduce the McCune Smith Cafe and Dr. James McCune Smith, the important 19th Century African-American abolitionist, physician, educator and intellectual, after whom the cafe is named. Glasgow’s remarkable nineteenth-century growth was due to imperial trade. That Glasgow was built on tobacco and…

“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, featured, Laines des Iles, Yasmin Harper43 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,…

“disorientation enables new perspectives”: Catherine Mountford

This interview with talented ceramic designer-maker, Catherine Mountford, is brought to you as part of our “chain” celebrating the interconnected work of interesting and inspiring creative women. Catherine was nominated by illustrator / embroiderer, Reena Makwana, whose interview you can read here. Hi Catherine! Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your…

all about Bold Beginner Knits

By: KDD July 10, 2019July 10, 2019

design, knitting, process, publishingbold beginner knits, design, featured, Jane Hunter, publishing18 Comments

Kate here! I’ve just about recovered from all our Xpo north fun, and am now back at my desk, finishing work on our latest book project Bold Beginner Knits – a collection of 6 intriguing, wearable, and simply knit-able designs in our beautiful aran-weight yarn Àrd-Thìr – which I created for my friend, and KDD…

downstream

By: KDD&Co. July 7, 2019July 7, 2019

Àrd Thìr, knitting, learn to knitbold beginner knits, design, featured, Jane Hunter, knitting, knitting pattern, learn to knit, publishing14 Comments

Downstream, a simple top-down cardigan with raglan shaping, is a sleek and wearable knit.
Progressing through the Bold Beginner Knits patterns, I find my confidence in my knitting has grown…

xpo north in pictures

By: KDD July 6, 2019July 6, 2019

events, photographyCarol Sinclair, Chibundo Onuzo, Circumpolar Crafters Network, creative industries, featured, Helen Lockhart, independent publishing, Jenny Brown, Marion Sinclair, Peter Urpeth, publishing, Scotland, xpo north26 Comments

Last week, Sam, Tom and I enjoyed spending a few days at Xpo North – a fantastic celebration of Scotland’s creative industries, that’s held every year in the Highlands. All kinds of creative endeavour are showcased at Xpo North — from music and screen, to fashion and craft — and I was honoured to have…

Introducing People MAKE Glasgow

By: KDD June 30, 2019June 30, 2019

People MAKE Glasgow, textilescreativity, featured, Glasgow, manufacturing, People MAKE Glasgow, photography, Refuweegee, Reza Wood, Sahelia, Scottish Refugee Council, Shetland Oo20 Comments

Hello, it’s Tom here. As those of you who follow the KDD blog will be aware, I’m interested in many kinds of photography. As well as my knitwear and landscape images, I also work on larger photo-documentary projects. The subject I most often return to in my documentary photography is work. I’m especially interested in…

midstream

By: KDD June 28, 2019June 28, 2019

design, knittingbold beginner knits, knitting, midstream15 Comments

Ta Da! Meet Midstream – the fifth pattern release from Bold Beginner Knits Since I created Rowchoish for the West Highland Way collection, I’ve had a bit of a thing for using simple oblongs to create interesting shapes that wrap around the body. I have so many oblong-y ideas, in fact, that they could probably…

Inside and outside the red box

By: KDD June 24, 2019June 24, 2019

tutorialfootfall, shawl, tutorial12 Comments

Inside and outside the red box A Bold Beginner Knits tutorial for the Footfall shawl Many hand-knit designs – for everything from lace shawls, to Fairisle hats and cabled pullovers – use charted pattern repeats – which often appear within a red box. The red box is, I think, one simple reason why some beginner…

“I feel like a lot of textiles tell stories”: Reena Makwana

By: KDD June 23, 2019June 23, 2019

art, embroidery, inspiring projects, interviewchain reaction, embroidery, featured, illustration, interview, Reena Makwana28 Comments

You may remember that a few years ago (thanks to one of this blog’s readers, Maylin) I was interviewed on Woman’s Hour for part of their “chain” series, in which women nominated other women who had inspired them, creating a series of interlinked interviews. I often find myself thinking about the interconnected nature of women’s…

Triangular shawl construction

By: KDD June 20, 2019June 20, 2019

tutorialbold beginner knits, footfall, tutorial6 Comments

A Bold Beginner Knits Tutorial Shawls can be constructed in many different ways, using many different shapes – triangles, rectangles, combinations of triangles and rectangles and other geometric shapes. Footfall is a triangular shawl with a top-down construction which begins by casting on a few stitches and ends by binding off many. This shape is…