Good morning! A poem today. Earlier this week saw the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Wordsworth – a poet who has, for the past couple of centuries, often set the ideological terms of the writing of landscape and nature. I’ve been thinking about Wordsworth’s particular “Romantic” landscapes quite a lot in recent months,…
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Knitting Season is back today with the release of one of my confirmed collection favourites – Grèis Grèis is a simple tunic dress with a colourwork yoke that features 9 different shades of Milarrochy Tweed. Our friend Fenella kindly modelled Grèis for us. We first met Fenella near Loch Lomond where she was doing exactly…
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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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Hello! Tom here. Kate and I spent all of last week away in Berneray and North Uist, where I’ve been working on a new photographic project (more of which later). Late spring and early summer is a truly beautiful time of year in the Outer Hebrides, and we feel very lucky to be able to…
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Last week I was in a bookshop in Glasgow, perusing the outdoor bookshelves, and became absorbed in a tome about the West Highland Way. “Is this you getting ready, then?” asked a friendly assistant, assuming I was preparing myself for a 96 mile walk. “No,” I replied, “I actually walked the West Highland Way back…
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One thing you can say about knitting: it really makes you think about the many different processes that producing textiles involve. For example, prior to becoming an obsessive knitter, I had never really considered blocking a woollen garment (with water or with steam) . . . . . . nor had I understood what a…
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We were in Ireland last week, to see our new tweed yarn being spun by our friends at Donegal Yarns (much more of which soon!). It’s been a while since we were in Ireland, and it was lovely to revisit a few of our favourite spots, including Malin Head. It has changed a wee bit…
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Tom has been teaching himself to work with a drone camera, in preparation for a really exciting project (which I’ll tell you more about another time), and I’ve been rather enjoying the results of his practice. It is very interesting seeing our familiar landscape from new angles. I’ve found myself thinking a lot about how…
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Hello! It’s a beautiful day here today – fog has been hanging thickly since dawn at low levels, but in places where the sun burns through there is the most incredible golden light. It is also unusually still and crisp. We took Bruce out for one of our favourite walks, and Tom shot some photographs…
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A few of you have enquired, in the past, about Tom’s photographs, and the possibility of having them printed. I’m pleased to say that Tom has now set up an online gallery where you can view and purchase high-quality prints of many of the images he’s taken. In the gallery you’ll find several of the…
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Good morning! I’m feeling festive today and have released a new pattern – the 101st that I’ve designed and published. Its name is Hat 101, and appropriately, it is a sort of sampler of many of the things I enjoy about making and designing hats. Hat 101 involves simple, rhythmic two-colour knitting and small, interconnected…
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Lochs — and the opportunities they provide for walking through all seasons of the year — are certainly one of the best things about living here in the west of Scotland. We have recently been exploring more of our local lochs due in part to a on-off obsession of mine with tracing the provenance and…
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The weather really was glorious today. So, leaving Tom liaising with our printer, and muttering about gutters and crop marks, I decided to take the afternoon off. I took a camera and headed out to Loch Lomond with Bruce and walked for a few hours. This was just what was needed to blow away the…
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The October weather continues to amaze. I think the landscape where we live perhaps looks its very best on a golden Autumn day. This is the morning view from our house, across the small loch which sits just behind us to the south. The loch supports an abundance of wildlife and is full of trout,…
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High summer in Scotland. Days of rain, and days of grey, and weird, unseasonably chilly days, and then the occasional jewel comes along. A day of warm sunshine and breezes when, after work, we pick chard or courgettes from the garden, lament the woeful state of the tomatoes, and sit outside to eat with swallows…
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I am deep in research and writing at the moment, and thought I’d keep bringing you some of my incidental finds and thoughts as I come across them. Searching through online images of French fashion magazines from the first few decades of the last century (as one does) recently, I came across several references to…
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