Award-winning Scottish publishing and design
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…
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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…
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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.…
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We are now preparing for the publication of my new book, Handywoman! I’ve been working on this book (in between my other projects) for a couple of years now. I am more proud of, and happy about, completing this book than any other I’ve ever written. Probably the best way to understand what Handywoman is…
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I’ve made a new yoke jumper! This is Balmaha Ever since our new Milarrochy Tweed shades arrived I’ve had a yen to make a Còinneach yoke using Tarbet as the main colour . . . So I matched the beautiful marine blue of Tarbet together with the subtle duns of Hare, the rich chocolatey hues…
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Good morning! This is Pabaigh – my new design in the new Cranachan shade. I spend a lot of time walking in some quite exposed and windswept places. And I’m not sure if this is the case elsewhere in the world, but here in Scotland I find I often need to layer up, especially in…
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Our new West Highland Way book has just been published! I’m rather proud of this collection of thirteen patterns, five of which use our wonderful new Milarrochy Tweed yarn The Craigallian Hat and Mittens The Strathendrick pullover The Còinneach Cardigan and the Shieling blanket The collection also includes four patterns in our original own-brand yarn,…
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During our West Highland Way club, we ran a couple of competitions: the first for interesting / creative uses of colour, using my Craigallian hat as a template . . . . . . and the second for an original hat design in our new Milarrochy Tweed. This first time I’ve arranged this kind of…
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A book like our recent West Highland Way project involves many different kinds of work for me: when producing a collection I spend time coming up with the design ideas, swatching, knitting, re-knitting, pattern writing, working with Mel (who tests the pattern and produces many samples), working with tech editors (who check my patterns and…
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For a few months now, I have been riffing off the same idea (which really is one of my favourite activities as a designer). I’ve knit four Carbeth jumpers and two cardigans (for the tale of woe involving number 5 see here) . . . but Carbeth’s interesting gauge-related ratios and simple geometric shaping weren’t…
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This is a very busy time of year for me. But however busy I am, somehow the knitting never stops. So in the interstices of putting together the West Highland Way book, I’ve also been whipping up a Carbeth cardigan. I created the cardigan along the same general principles as the jumper: two strands of…
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One thing I’ve really enjoyed about designing my West Highland Way collection has been playing with new shapes. The Strathendrick jumper is an oversized garment with dropped, skinny sleeves, and the Shieling blanket is created modularly, with each square knitted borders-in, similarly to a hat crown. Meanwhile, this week’s pattern – Rowchoish – features an…
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