You may remember that I mentioned I fancied designing and knitting myself a new hat as part of the It’s on Your Heid knit-along, currently running in our Ravelry group I wanted to create a hat with deep, folded ribbing to cover my chilly ears; which sat on the back of my head (which is…
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Are you interested in designing your own blanket squares using the Square Share pattern template? If so, this post is for you! In what follows, I’ll describe my process when developing and designing a chart for a blanket square, inspired by the work of Adrienne Rich. If one has favourite poets, then Adrienne Rich is…
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Good morning! We’ve now reached the half-way point in the Inspired by Islay club and I thought I’d catch up here by showing you the last three patterns I’ve designed. The collection has been created in four groups of three (each of which features a different style of knitting, and is inspired by a different…
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Next week (all being well at the printers) we are hoping to release our new Shetland Oo book! For those who don’t know, this is not a book of patterns, but a documentary project in words and photographs exploring the world of Shetland wool. Tom travelled all over Shetland meeting and photographing Shetlanders who work…
Read MoreI was very excited to have the opportunity to design the Machrihanish vest for Cross-Country Knitting, Volume One, and always enjoy knitting for Tom, who is its recipient and model. Tom often bemoans the general lack of shaping, and poor fit of men’s garments, so I like to knit him things that are well-fitting. Men’s…
Read MoreI always find it exciting when different iterations of my patterns are posted on Ravelry. This is particularly the case when knitters’ colour choices and personal modifications really transform the look of a design. Some amazing Ursulas have begun to appear which, because they have a completely different feel to my original, and also because…
Read MoreWhile we were in the Highlands, we took the opportunity to photograph a design I’ve had ready for a while: the Sixareen Cape. I started knitting this Fair Isle wrap last October. You may remember that at that time I’d just designed a hat especially for Shetland wool week (The Sixareen Kep) using Jamieson and…
Read MoreWell, I had a fantastic time in Shetland. As I was on my own, I stayed in Lerwick. I really enjoyed meeting up with Shetland friends old and new, and pottering about toon. But I was there to work — I have a couple of writing commissions in the pipeline, one of which involves producing…
Read MoreSo, here is Bláithín (junior)! This is the kind of cute child’s garment that makes me want to intone “almost too wee” in the manner of Whisky and Brandy Bolland examining Prince’s wardrobe (about a minute into the clip). (Ahem). Bláithín (junior) comes in sizes from 12 months to 9 years, and has many of…
Read MoreAt last! Some actual sunshine! We’ve been out taking photos of my new cardigan design, which will be released tomorrow. Heres a peek!
Read MoreIn this post, I’m going to show you how to further reinforce (and cover) the cut edges of your steek using a techique that I’ve called “the steek sandwich.” There are many other methods of binding / covering steek edges – but this one works well, I think, for a steeked cardigan. The front edges…
Read MoreWe had a lovely day out in the Highlands today. Bruce loves a good walk up there – though, as you can see, he is not a fan of sitting still and posing for a photo. Would you like to see what I’ve got on underneath that jacket? Boreal — my new design! Two years…
Read MoreI think that the most enjoyable few hours knitting I’ve ever had was the afternoon I spent last Wednesday with Hazel Tindall at the Braewick Cafe. Since 2008, Hazel has held the title of the world’s fastest knitter, working an unbelievable 262 stitches in 3 minutes. She is also an incredibly talented designer – Jamieson…
Read MoreHappily, I always love to knit, but it has been a while since I have found myself in a total knitting frenzy. This particular frenzy struck on Friday, took over my brain and hands, and meant that I had to knit all weekend until I was done. To explain: on Friday morning, I popped into…
Read More(Tom takes a wee break from knitterly things in the Unst Bus Shelter.) As you may have guessed, I was occupied with a few knitterly things while visiting Shetland. I can’t really talk about these yet, unfortunately, but hopefully it will be worth the wait. I can say, though, that I met some truly lovely…
Read MoreThe landscape of East Lothian is littered with the ruins of medieval castles. Just a stone’s throw from each other are Crichton, Dirleton, and Hailes (which I note from my archives we visited a while ago at exactly this time of year). But the most impressive is surely Tantallon, which, as we came out from…
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KDD & Co 