coo-ee

Coo-ee! How are you? How is your summer going?

Everything’s just fine here – but my friend Ivor mentioned yesterday (with a note of vague concern) that I’d not posted for a while, so I thought I’d pop in to say hi, and let you know that all is well.

So what’s being going on?

1. We went away for my birthday

It was good to have a proper break. We spent a fortnight walking and relaxing in one of our favourite parts of Scotland while gradually eating our way through a very large cake. Tom (and the dogs) did a lot of running. I did a lot of reading, knitting, and thinking. We enjoyed being by the sea and had a delightful time.

2. We are having some work done on and around our house

This involves considerable disruption and also a certain amount of input / involvement, in the matter of seeing how things are going, moving stuff around and occasionally being involved in the application of paint etc. So far we are pleased with the results and, following the successful installation of a rather nice walk-in shower, I am very happy to be able to actually wash again without endangering myself clambering in and out of an ancient bathtub in wonky and ungainly fashion. Hurrah for shiny new bathrooms and general domestic environment sprucing-up.

3. We have our heads down and are working very hard

I tend to be a mono-focused sort of person where big projects are concerned, but most unusually, right now, we have several large plates that are spinning, all at once. The other day I looked at my diary and noted that KDD now has projects pencilled in for production, release and publication right up to the end of 2025. This might sound rather daunting, and things can change, of course (especially where ones creative priorities / business realities are concerned) – but the amazing thing is that all of these projects are grounded in ideas that we’ve already firmed up and started to develop, and that, best of all, I’m excited about working on every single one of them. Hurrah for creative autonomy, and the capacity to let these things unfold, at their own pace.

So what will we eventually serve forth from these spinning plates?

A very important project for me right now is Colour Compass. With Maylin, Claire and our guest-designer and test knitting team, I’m developing some designs which, come December 25th, will offer those who’ve signed up for our Advent Calendar the surprise (and creative challenge) of knitting from a collection of patterns that have been specifically created for 24 different shades of Milarrochy Tweed (6 shades of which are brand new). The knitters we are working with are absolute stars, and it is a joy to see this project coming together into something rewarding and unique. Colour Compass is hopefully going to be something that those who’ve signed up for will really be able to enjoy over the festive season (and well beyond)! I’d love to show you the very colourful project that I currently have on my needles, but you’ll just have to wait for a few months to see it!

And speaking of colour, together with Felix, and a group of talented contributors, I’m also developing How to Make a Rainbow: a volume of essays about working creatively with colour. This book emerged out of the collaborative work we all did during Allover, and if everything goes to plan, we are aiming to publish it before the year is out (if you enjoyed Wheesht, this is a similar kind of book to that.). Projects involving Felix are always extremely inspiring and enlivening, and I find working with her quite simply a huge pleasure (as well as enormous fun). We both have a lot to say about colour, as you might imagine, and – who knows – the eventual publication of this book may prove to be the beginning rather than the end of something. . .

But top of my current to-do list is the project that Tom and I and Maylin and Claire and the rest of our knitting team have been beavering away at for several months. It involves a collection of brand new designs for hand-knitters, a group of exploratory written pieces, and some glorious photo essays, all of which celebrate one of our favourite places in Scotland. This is a place in which, Tom and I realised a few days ago, we’d somehow managed to spend a tenth of our time over the past year. Clearly we love the place so much that we just can’t keep away — and I think the unique pull of this location is probably apparent in the finished book. I’ve really enjoyed quietly working on – and knitting – the designs I’ve created for this collection. Hopefully you’ll enjoy knitting from it too, and I know you’ll love the photography, with which Tom has, I think, surpassed himself. After an intense creative and editorial period, we are at last quite close to publication, and I imagine we’ll be able to put this book on pre-order in a couple of weeks time, at which point I’ll at last be able to start showing you all the brand new patterns I’ve been working on. I’m looking forward to that.

I could say more about the other projects, to which I’m also really looking forward, but I’ll keep those under my hat for now. So worry not – if I seem a bit quiet over next week or so, it’s just because we are finishing the new book! My current thinking is that I’ll be able to tell you about the book and share all the new designs next month, and that it will ship as September turns, just in time for knitting season.

Summer is always a very busy time of year for us, workwise, but the long light days mean that we find lots of time for outdoor fun as well. I hope your summer is also proving to be just the right kind of combination of productive and leisurely! More soon!