it’s yarn-launch day!
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it’s yarn-launch day!
Read Morenew yarn! tomorrow!
Read MoreAre ye dancin?
Read Moreaccepting that not everything works out is key to the (slow) creative process
Read MoreGood morning! I spent yesterday afternoon sat outside on the freshly painted decking, weaving in the sunshine. Which really felt like quite a treat. I’ve been wanting to weave with my own Milarrochy Tweed for a while, and yesterday I decided to finally take the plunge. I was a little nervous for two reasons: first,…
Read MoreToday I’m sharing the first of series of images and recollections from the Applied Arts Scotland residency I was part of last September – which seems, for so many reasons, like a very long time ago. This residency was part of the British Council’s Crafting Futures programme, bringing makers from Scotland and Mexico together, to…
Read MoreI’m really excited to reveal something which has been a long time in development and of which all of us at KDD are really proud – Coracle. Before I became a manufacturer of yarn and knitwear I was a consumer of both these things. And, as a consumer, I often found myself deeply troubled by…
Read MoreI’m very excited to reveal a wonderful new shade of Milarrochy Tweed yarn.
Introducing Cowslip.
Read MoreBack in the spring, I knew my ten year owliversary was coming up, so I decided to knit myself a new owl sweater. These photographs were taken while we were in Berneray, back in May. It’s quite weird seeing myself with my ‘old’ hair – I suppose that must mean I’m now completely used to…
Read MoreAs my business has grown over the past few years I have learned a lot about making things locally. Working with Scottish, Irish, and English producers, I’ve made my own books, and yarn, and knitwear. I’ve collaborated with many different types of manufacturers, from printers and spinners to dyers and wool producers. Being able to…
Read MoreWhen you get involved in manufacturing yarn for hand knitters, one of the first things you learn about is just how bloody difficult it is just to get some elements of wool production done. I’m talking about the messy, dirty, non-glamorous things; the things like wool sorting, grading, and scouring (washing) or things that involve…
Read MoreOne of the many things I really like about the communities and cultures of crofting is their distinctive effect on the way people work. What I mean is this: in towns and cities, jobs tend to become more and more specialised, people do what they do within smaller and smaller categories, individual work occurs in…
Read MoreHello – it’s Tom here – for a change. Kate is busy working on her Islay project, and I’m taking a break today from shipping out orders. I wanted to say thanks so much for your interest in our Shetland Oo book. Apart from being my first major project as a photographer, Oo is the…
Read MoreOne of the best things about working in the field of hand-knit design is that it really is an industry which abounds with good eggs. In my view, two of the very best eggs around are Gudrun Johnston and Mary-Jane Mucklestone: great friends, talented designers, and Shetland enthusiasts. Gudrun spent her early years in Shetland,…
Read MoreMy good friend Felicity Ford (aka Felix) is as enthusiastic as I am about Shetland and its wool industry. In 2013 (when she was patron of Shetland Wool Week) Felix worked on a number of field recordings for her important project, Listening to Shetland Wool. From the baas of lambs caught on the breeze, to…
Read MoreShetland abounds with wonderful creative spaces, but surely one of the most inspiring has to be the charity that Andy Ross has established, nurtured, and developed in Yell. From its beginnings as an organisation focused on music and music teaching, GlobalYell expanded its focus a decade ago to textiles, and to weaving in particular. Over…
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