the closing year

As the first copies of our 10 Years in the Making book arrived in the KDD warehouse yesterday, I thought (not for the first time) about what a very weird year it has been. We published four brand new titles . . . . . .and created 23 new patterns – the majority of which…

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a whole lot of yokes

We’ve been waiting for the new edition of YOKES to arrive from our printer, and I thought I’d go back through my records and check exactly how many copies we’d sold, in total, since the book was first published in December, 2014. I discovered that the total number of YOKES we’ve printed and sold is…

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a chat with Misa Hay

There is no getting away from the fact that, whatever business you are in, this year has been a very weird one. Having to change the nature and direction of what you are doing – often very rapidly – is never an easy thing, and this year there have been so many of those changes.…

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Glasgow’s atelier economy: then and now

Today I thought I’d share with you the introductory words I wrote for People MAKE Glasgow . For me – a former eighteenth-century specialist – the connections between Glasgow’s eighteenth-century past and its twenty-first century present have always been apparent, and I really enjoyed having the opportunity to write about those connections here. People MAKE…

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People MAKE Glasgow

Hurrah! It is People MAKE Glasgow launch day! As well as introducing you to what the book’s about, in this wee film you see one of the Glasgow makers featured in it – talented signwriter Rachel E Millar – creating the book’s cover art on one of the interior walls of the KDD warehouse. In…

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10 years in the making club

Hello! We have a busy week ahead here at KDD – and the whole team is still hard at work preparing everything behind the scenes for three almost-simultaneous big launches: our People MAKE Glasgow book; our beautiful new Schiehallion yarn, and our new club. I’ll tell you all about Schiehallion later in the week, but…

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remembering Walter Crane

Walter Crane, The Triumph of Labour (1891) ©The Trustees of the British Museum It was May Day a couple of days ago, an occasion that puts me immediately in mind of this wonderful image . . . Walter Crane, A Garland for May Day (1895) ©The Trustees of the British Museum . . . which…

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Colour Moves is published!

I want to thank everyone for your comments on yesterday’s post. Reading them, I was struck very strongly by the feeling of our all facing exactly the same pressing issue in our disparate regions in the world – an unusual sense of connection, but not one to be ignored. Today’s is an ‘announcement’ kind of…

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Colour Moves

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all doing well and looking after yourselves and each other. We are all fine here at KDD: indeed, all of us feel very fortunate that our circumstances are such that we can continue our operation relatively uninterrupted, work from home, and have the capacity to help our families…

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light, write, colour

The past few weeks have seen some rather intense creative activity, as Tom and I prepare for an exciting weekend in Argyll. On Friday, Tom will be opening an exhibition of his new work at the Tighnabruaich gallery, Light by the Sea. As well as his beautiful photographic seascapes, each of which evokes the distinctive…

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12 months

We are about to take our short festive break, and have all been looking back over the past 12 months. 2019 has certainly been a very significant year for us as a publisher. With our Glasgow printers, Bell & Bain, we’ve completed work on four new titles, and printed around 18,000 books (the largest number…

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wheesht

Wheesht is published! You can now buy the book in the KDD shop, find out more about it at its dedicated website and we’ve even produced a set of 12 jolly postcards featuring the wonderful illustrations that Tom created for each chapter of the book. If you were part of our club earlier this year,…

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Publishing news

In recent years, the book-publishing side of what we do here at KDD has grown pretty dramatically. We’ve made some exciting changes that reflect that growth – both in the way we distribute our titles as well as in the kinds of books we publish. You’ll find more about the latter topic towards the end…

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downstream

Downstream, a simple top-down cardigan with raglan shaping, is a sleek and wearable knit. 
Progressing through the Bold Beginner Knits patterns, I find my confidence in my knitting has grown…

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xpo north in pictures

Last week, Sam, Tom and I enjoyed spending a few days at Xpo North – a fantastic celebration of Scotland’s creative industries, that’s held every year in the Highlands. All kinds of creative endeavour are showcased at Xpo North — from music and screen, to fashion and craft — and I was honoured to have…

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mair heids

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…

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