housekeeping

Did you know that this blog has now been around for fifteen years? This space has always been at the heart of what we do, and Tom and I enjoy the fact that it remains a place where we share our passions and explore ideas in long-form, ad-hoc, experimental, and provisional ways that tend not to be accommodated by social media platforms. Over those fifteen years, what we do around here has changed, grown, and diversified, and we’ve amassed a huge amount of material, on a wide range of different topics. In a rare recent fit of tidying up, I decided to organise some of this material for those who find themselves here looking for something specific.

I’ve created a new section called Conversation Pieces, where you can find interviews with, profiles of, and guest posts by, our creative friends. There are over sixty conversations listed here so far, and the catalogue is by no means complete! I’ll continue adding to this section, so do check back from time to time.

There’s also a brand new Historical Excursions section, which includes essays I’ve written here over the years, exploring topics from the legacy of slavery in Scotland’s rural landscape to the imperial story of indigo and British balloon-o-mania. Posts exploring the history of textiles and hand-knitting are included in this section, such as last year’s popular sock of the week series.

In the Making / Art section of the blog, you’ll find posts about our different projects and work in progress. There are posts here about art and artists, about Tom’s creative work and exhibitions, as well as about the residency and collaboration with Mexican designer-makers, that resulted in the creation of the Carbeth Creature.

I’ve also created a Favourite Places section for posts celebrating the many beautiful spots we love spending time in around Scotland, together with a separate page, where you can find the films Tom shot as part of our Secret Coast project, and other recent work with moving images and sound.

And it would be surely remiss of me not to include a Dogologue section, where you can enjoy the many important contributions to this blog that have been written by Bruce, Bob and Bran over the years.

Finally, I’ve created a section which has the title Opportunities. At the moment, this section is dedicated to advertising our brand-new appointment (if you, or anyone you know, is interested in this position, you’ve until the end of this month to apply!) but in future weeks I’ll post information here about test and sample knitting, about the support we offer to designer-makers (yarn, materials, mentoring), and about other creative and collaborative opportunities, as and when they arise.

To aid your navigation, there’s a “looking for something” page and drop-down menu, where you’ll find all our new sections listed, and if you still haven’t found the particular thing that you came here in search of, try using the text search box at top right.

This remarkable photograph (like others in this post) were taken by Tom from Scalasaig, in Colonsay. He stayed up until the early hours to capture the wonderful sight of the moon rising over Jura – and I think the resulting images were definitely worth the late night!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!


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Comments

23 responses to “housekeeping”

  1. Dear Kate, dear Tom, did you know that I have been around on your blog for almost fifteen years too? In that time, my hobbies and the topics in my life have shifted from learning how to knit to trying to get my own business running, and to photography. It feels like you’ve always been around, and even if I don’t find the time to knit these days, you keep inspiring me: with your community and the business you’ve built, with the amazing photograophs (Tom, have you ever made a photobook? Id love to have one of your works!) and with your writing. Thank you for this. It means so much to me, and it’s something very constant in my life.

    Alex

    1. thanks for being here, Alex! x

  2. Is Tom making these images available for sale? They are beautiful.

    1. Hi Anna, I think he’ll do a custom print if you ask (info@katedaviesdesigns.com) . . . I might try to persuade him to do a print series. I love them too.

  3. I am always interested (ahem, some parties say “nosy”) about how people in the making/creative professions organize all the stuff that comes along with it. I think it comes from a secret belief that everyone else has a better system than I do. But, seriously–even in the days of Ravelry, I am still trying to find a good way to store and organize patterns! And why are my size 3 circs always NOT where I expect them to be? Sample garments, in-progress designs, don’t even get me started! At least I’ll be able to find what I’m looking for on this website :)

    1. My approach to organisation is generally to accept that what is important always rises to the top . . . and to accept the mess that accumulates underneath . . . but occasionally something more systematic seems to become necessary. I enjoyed making these categories!

  4. Stacey Michael Avatar
    Stacey Michael

    What a wonderful idea–we will all appreciate the work of organizing you have done. I too, am off to read about indigo, but first: does Tom sell prints-to-order of his photos? I would love to have the one with all the stars!!! I live in Houston TX where we don’t see very many and that photo just sings to me.

    1. yes, he does, Stacey -can you email us? info@katedaviesdesigns.com

      1. 15 years of utter joy. Thank you so much

        1. aw, thank you! x

  5. Sarah Avatar

    Oh the job sounds amazing. I do wish I had all those skills!

  6. Rene Walkin Avatar
    Rene Walkin

    Fantastic photograph!

  7. Gretchen (aka stashdragon) Avatar
    Gretchen (aka stashdragon)

    Thanks for this thoughtful re-organization. I’ve been reading the blog most of those 15 years – since it was titled “Needled”, I believe – time to revisit many essays.

  8. Merinda Avatar
    Merinda

    What a great idea, it will make it easier when I want to go back and explore a subject in more detail. I am enjoying my slow trawl through every single blog from the very beginning, up to 2013 now. I do enjoy going through associated subject to, it takes me on some interesting journeys.

  9. Jenny Obst Avatar
    Jenny Obst

    It must have been satisfying to discover in this organization project the depth and range of your blog over the years. And so useful too. I’m off to explore Conversation Pieces and Dogologues! Thanks!

  10. Susan Blake Avatar
    Susan Blake

    WOW! What an amazing body of work. Love the new sections. Huge thanks, Susan

  11. Madeleine Avatar
    Madeleine

    How very helpful this is—thank you. And Tom’s photos are even more stunning than usual!

  12. That’s really fantastic Kate thanks! It’ll make browsing so much easier and a great way to dip into the archives 😍

  13. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    Reorganizing fifteen years of post must have been quite an ordeal! I love the thematic arrangement and will be diving straight into the Historical Excursions section to see what I’ve missed – starting with Indigo post.

  14. Emily Churchman Avatar
    Emily Churchman

    Kate,
    Im located in Australia and would love to apply for the position..
    Is it really open to anyone in the world ?

    1. yes it is, Emily! There are ways of making these things work. Just send me an email if you’d like more information

  15. Madge Cook Avatar
    Madge Cook

    Brilliant. Many thanks for all your hard work and wonderful essays, stories and photos. Always a lovely surprise to receive mail and settle down for a good read.

  16. Geeha Avatar

    Thank you for making it easier to find items that may be of interest. My arthritis makes colour work tricky but I love to look, the sharing of difficulties and differences are inspiring and the photography and associated articles takes me where we have been unable to travel. Not to mention the dogs that cheer with their humour and insight.

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