Award-winning Scottish publishing and design
You’re proudly displaying your beautiful finished object to the world when a friend, swooning over your latest make, laments – “oh this is stunning, I wish I could knit”. How often do you hear that refrain? We hear this many times a week, and not just online.Here on the blog we’ll document the progress of one such “I wish I could knitter”
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You all know that the owl sweater means something to me, and now I know that it means something to you too. Over the past few day, via email, blog comment, or on Instagram, you’ve shared your owl-y stories. I received more than 700 responses across the different platforms and it has been inspiring, moving,…
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Isn’t one of the best things about Autumn that it’s sweater weather? I always enjoy seeing knitters around the world wearing my designs, and this enjoyment often comes to a kind of peak around this time of year, when a veritable slew of amazing projects begin to appear on Instagram and Ravelry. I’ve never been…
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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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I was recently having a chat with an academic pal of mine, who is working on a project looking at changes in the hand-knitting industry over the past few decades. She asked me about how I thought the industry had changed, and what I felt the major differences might be in establishing and running a…
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I’ve said it before – but really – the best and most rewarding thing about doing what I do is seeing knitters enjoying the stuff that I create. Over the past few weeks, it has been a huge pleasure for me to see women all over the world making and wearing their Carbeth jumpers. The…
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Inspired by Islay was released a couple of months ago, and it has been making me very happy to see so many new projects from the book springing up on Ravelry, and so many beautiful garments appearing. As you know, I particularly enjoy designing and knitting colourwork, and The Oa is one of my favourite…
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Here is the second part of my post, bringing you ten beautiful projects from ten amazing knitters, using my designs and yarn. I think that Georgie is the working definition of an amazing knitter – I love everything she makes and am always happy when she chooses one of my patterns to work on. I…
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I am currently unable to knit. A couple of weeks ago I injured my right wrist and thumb while winding yarn, and whatever I did to the tendons has taken quite a while to heal. As I’m in the middle of producing a new collection this is more than a little annoying from a work…
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As discussed in the previous post, this design is inspired by an early nineteenth-century shawl, collected by Rachel Kay Shuttleworth, and now part of Gawthorpe Textile Collection. The colourful, ribbon-like bands of the shawl immediately reminded me of one of my favourite colourwork motifs, a small, simple pattern which resembles an interlocking vine. The pattern…
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What an amazing week I had in Shetland! It was a complete privilege to see and talk to so many amazing knitters, who generously shared their work and thoughts with me. Mary Kay, at the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers, shows us an incredibly fine lace shawl, knitted in Unst around 1930. Joan…
Read MoreIt is Wool Week in Shetland, and I began it in this cottage out at Vementry. What a spot! It was lovely to take some time out to visit my friend Hazel Tindall. I just love the part of Shetland where Hazel lives, and it was a real privilege to potter about her garden, and…
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