Award-winning Scottish publishing and design
A few months ago, when Jane decided to learn to knit, I thought it might be nice to design a few things just for her. Simple patterns aimed at beginner knitters are sometimes not terribly exciting, either in the making or the wearing, so I set myself the challenge of designing some simple patterns that…
Read More
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…
Read More
We are five weeks in to the Knitting Season Club – a three month exploration of creative making (and handknit design), following a format that’s a little different to previous clubs, with weekly essays and creative assignments as well as the usual collection of new patterns. These essays have been one of the most enjoyable…
Read More
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
We are now over half-way through our Milarrochy Heids reveal. Pre-orders of the book will remain open until Friday 30th November – which is the last day for purchasing with free shipping. The book will be published this coming weekend (hurrah!) and we will begin shipping out your orders early next week (3rd). I’m so…
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
During our Hebridean break last week, we took the opportunity to photograph the results of my latest ready-made knitwear project: the North Star Snood. I loved designing my snoods last year, and also really enjoyed the process of working with William Lockie. Last year I used stitch patterns which had been previously featured on my…
Read More
Now I can introduce the second of the two yoke styles we’ve developed with Harley of Scotland – Finnich. Like Duntreath, the garment is knitted using Harley’s innovative seamless technology and, like Duntreath we’ve used JC Rennie lambswool, but worked at a heavier weight and gauge. Finnich is a super-cosy aran weight sweater, featuring simple…
Read More
I’m so pleased to be able to introduce you to Duntreath! After we successfully launched our lambswool snoods last year, I really wanted to develop a line of garments. Having researched and written a book all about the history of yoke sweaters, I knew I wanted to make yokes, and I also knew who I…
Read More
One of Handywoman’s central themes is the importance of tools and made-things in everyday life. I have a different, and much more nuanced, understanding of well-designed tools and objects post-stroke simply because my own physical deficits forced me to notice, and to reflect upon, how such objects addressed (or often failed to address) my body…
Read More
This sweater has been getting a lot of comments and requests for information – so I thought I’d tell you a bit about it. It’s a simplified two-shade version of my Strathendrick design, which I produced for my West Highland Way book. This sweater says quite a lot about my design process, and the integrality…
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