Award-winning Scottish publishing and design
Friday is pattern reveal day, and I have a brand new sweater design to show you! I’m a huge fan of the arched Selbu motifs which are most often traditionally used on gloves and mittens and you’ll see the long-standing influence of these motifs on my design work in hats like Richard the Roundhead, or…
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I imagine most of you were looking at the shawl I’m waving about in these pictures yesterday, but today I’m going to talk about the belt I’m wearing too. I wove this belt back at the start of the year, when I’d really got into pick-up weaving In fact, it was one of the first…
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A shawl for midsummer! A shawl red as a June strawberry, light as an evening breeze! The name of the pattern is Beamer Now, in many parts of Scotland, Beamer is not a particular brand of car, but a word for blushing. To “take a beamer” means to blush – most usually with embarassment –…
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There are things involved with developing and writing a knitting pattern which you rarely get to see. This is one of those things. Yorlin is knitted top down. This means you can work your cardigan to exactly the length that you’d like, so that it suits your body. The design features two lace panels, using…
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Good morning! Time for another pattern release today! I love our new Asphodel shade of Milarrochy Tweed – a light, fresh orange colour with bold tweedy neps. I wanted to really celebrate Apphodel’s interest and complexity by featuring it in a garment – so I designed Con Alma A couple of years ago, I designed…
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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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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…
Read MoreFriday is pattern release day, and today I have for you a pair of bunnets. Bunnet is a colloquial Scots term for a hat. The word bunnet is etymologically related to the English bonnet, and the French bonnet, but while the English term has predominantly feminine associations, the word bunnet is most often used in…
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The other day Brenda, my lovely neighbour, appeared with a piece of paper in her hand, a gift for me. When I unfolded it, the piece of paper turned out to be a rather interesting and very beautiful hand-painted floral design, which I could immediately tell was some sort of pattern repeat. But what sort…
Read MoreHere is today’s yoke – Ásta Sóllilja. I began this design with the idea of using colour to create a transition from deep blue to silver grey around the edges of a jumper. I wanted the edges of the design to shimmer a wee bit, in such a way that they might seem to fuse…
Read MoreI have been getting to know my new sewing machine. I have to say that I really, really love it: my old machine was rather basic, but this one has several different feet, a fancy buttonhole thingy, and a multitude of decorative stitch patterns. Plus, it is so smooth! So intuitively simple to operate! The…
Read MoreI’ve been really inspired by some fantastic knitting books which have turned up here recently, so I thought I’d give them a shout-out. First up is Rachel Coopey‘s much anticipated first collection. Rachel is truly the Queen of Socks — she has a distinctive feel for pattern and structure which suits her foot-shaped canvas perfectly.…
Read MoreAn obligatory tree-hugging photograph whilst wearing an outrageously festive gnome-suit can only mean one thing . . . Yes! The Snawpaws pattern is now OUT! If you have a desire to sport hand-wear to match your heid . . . . . . and fancy adorning your wrists with cute wee pompoms (these ones are…
Read MoreOk, before I begin, allow me a moment: I think that this is probably the best photograph I have seen of myself in ages. I like it because I look comfortable and physically capable — concepts which, a couple of years ago seemed totally unimaginable. Few people seem to talk about just how bloody uncomfortable…
Read MoreI am currently completely obsessed with the knitterly potential of colourwork tubes. Here is my latest tube – which I have called the Mucklemuff. In Scots, ‘muckle’ is a sort of catch-all emphatic expression which means big, large, or much. This skater’s muff is all of these things, and its name is also a shout-out…
Read MoreOne of the many things I admire about Portuguese culture is the way that pattern and design are part of everyday life. There are beautiful tiles everywhere. Most interiors are tiled, and almost every public space is enriched by a particular experience of the decorative. Even Brutalism approaches the ornamental. Wandering around Funchal – Madeira’s…
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