Yes, I am standing in a frozen landscape dressed as a fried egg – what of it?
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All articles filed in yokes
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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Scottish knitwear, Irish yarn
It’s a very busy week here at KDD! On top of our usual work on a new book and collection, we are launching our seasonal product range before the recommencement of Knitting Season on September 6th. Whew! You may remember that last year we began producing new pullovers using fantastic Shetland yarns spun by Scotland’s…
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float upstream
Hello! Kate here. It’s time for another release from the Bold Beginner Knits collection – the Upstream pullover. Seamless yoked pullovers are a great first sweater project for a beginner knitter to tackle, and I knew I wanted to include one in this collection. And loving the muted marl-y palette of Àrd-Thìr, I was keen…
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Finnich
Now I can introduce the second of the two yoke styles we’ve developed with Harley of Scotland – Finnich. Like Duntreath, the garment is knitted using Harley’s innovative seamless technology and, like Duntreath we’ve used JC Rennie lambswool, but worked at a heavier weight and gauge. Finnich is a super-cosy aran weight sweater, featuring simple…
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Duntreath
I’m so pleased to be able to introduce you to Duntreath! After we successfully launched our lambswool snoods last year, I really wanted to develop a line of garments. Having researched and written a book all about the history of yoke sweaters, I knew I wanted to make yokes, and I also knew who I…
Read MoreOystercatcher yoke
Autumn has definitely arrived in Scotland and it is, as they say, sweater weather. I have been very busy making samples for the Seven Skeins club, so there has not been much sweater knitting around here of late. But the other day I found something that I knitted up a while ago that needed adapting…
Read Moredesigning & publishing: part 1
(One of my favourite layouts from Yokes, pages 18-19) I think that these are really interesting times in knitwear design and publishing. I’m someone whose interest in hand-knit design directly lead to my establishing myself as a (very) small publisher. Having previously written several academic books and articles, as well as various editorial features, bits…
Read MoreMel’s knitting
I’ve had cause to celebrate Mel’s knitting on more than one occasion here. . . Some of you may recognise Mel as a model from Yokes: Mel has many strings to her supremely talented bow, and I’m lucky enough that she works with me on projects such as Yokes as a sample knitter, design consultant,…
Read MoreEpistropheid is out!
With massive thanks to my pal Rachel and her superlative & speedy editorial skills, Epistropheid is published! Just like my Epistrophy yoke, Epistropheid is knitted in TOFT Ulysses DK – a lovely British wool – and is topped with an alpaca pompom, also available from Toft. I’ve found this hat to be quite an addictive…
Read MoreGuess the name of my hat
Good morning! This week I have news other than logistical matters from Yokes dispatch central (though I’ll return to these things in a moment). For example, we had our first snowfall . . . I do find that snow affords me a welcome shift in perspective on the winter months. The world of relentless grey…
Read MoreLopi & Band interview
Today I want to share with you a conversation I recently had with Margret Linda Gunnlaugsdóttir and Ásdís Birgisdóttir – two of Iceland’s most important and influential designers of hand-knits. I knew of Ásdís and Linda’s work with the 1990s Icelandic magazine Lopi & Band, and was fascinated with their designs, which seemed really distinctive…
Read MoreI’ve got a lab in Kalamazoo
Hiya! It is I, Bruce. Things have been a little strange and discombobulating around here recently. First a mountain of books and cardboard appeared, and suddenly Kate and Tom were completely preoccupied with foraging in this mountain. Then my friends Mel, Gordon, and Ivor came to visit, but unusually they were not interested in playing…
Read Morequick update
If you have placed an order for Yokes, most of you will by now have received an email containing your unique code to enable download of the digital e-book. If you haven’t received this email, please first check your spam and all your other folders, particularly any ‘promotions’ or ‘social’ folders that your email client…
Read MoreOver and out . . . for a while
Well, I’ve showed you all the designs in the collection, and it is now time for me to enter logistics world. This is a world of franking machines, books, and cardboard boxes and though it is, in its own way, interesting and absorbing, it does not make for particularly fascinating reading. So things may go…
Read MoreCockatoo Brae
Yes, you did read that correctly — Cockatoo Brae. This remarkable phrase is, in fact, the name of a lane in Lerwick, Shetland, and it is also the name of the final yoke in my collection. This design emerged from an exciting collaboration with my friend Ella. In Shetland, machine and hand knitting go very…
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