Join us for Knitting Wester Ross

Have you signed up for Knitting Wester Ross? If you don’t receive our shop newsletter, you may not yet have heard about our brand new Winter Club, subscriptions for which are now open. We are thrilled that so many of you are keen to join us: so many, in fact, that we may have to close subscriptions a little earlier than initially planned. So if you are interested in Knitting Wester Ross, please do make sure you sign up in the next week or so to avoid disappointment.

What’s this club about? Well, since 2022, Tom and I have been spending a lot of time in Wester Ross with this project specifically in mind. I’ve not written too much about this here (because we have been keeping the whole thing under wraps, of course) but it is fair to say that the work we’ve done, the people we’ve met, and the time we’ve spent in this beautiful part of Highland Scotland has resulted in a project of whose richness and scope the whole team feels very proud.

Tom has made this short film, condensing many seasons and hours of footage into three short minutes which, if you have never been there, give you a wee taste of Wester Ross.

As you can see, Wester Ross is an extraordinarily beautiful place. But this Highland landscape, with its high mountains, wide lochs, and dramatic coastline, has also been profoundly shaped by community and culture. Here, Pictish artists carved their mysterious stones, Bronze Age settlers built innovative roundhouses, and resourceful crofters shaped the landscape through the seasonal rhythms of shoreline and shieling. A place of innovative poets and inspiring teachers, of creative craftswomen and brave seafarers, so many fascinating human stories knit Wester Ross together.

Knitting Wester Ross will bring these stories to you, in a way that’s very much in the round, as we bring word and image, stitch and text, contemporary design and cultural history, together.

The beating heart of Knitting Wester Ross, is, of course, the knitting! For this club, I’ve created a collection of classic, creative knits with a definitive sense of Highland place. Inspired by a new theme every week, quick-to-knit accessories are balanced with absorbing larger projects, and while there’s an emphasis on signature stranded colourwork, this club also includes cables and lace, together with a specially-commissioned pattern from a talented guest designer. Patterns remain exclusive to members for the duration of the club; we’ll have limited-edition kits on offer and, in January, we’ll be introducing a brand-new KDD yarn in association with Knitting Wester Ross.

Every weekend, club members will receive an exclusive newsletter, in which I’ll be joined by some knowledgeable and talented local folk: curators and writers, archaeologists and craftspeople to explore the culture and history of Wester Ross. In a series of accessible, engaging essays we’ll introduce you to the resilient communities, ordinary people, and extraordinary individuals who have, over several centuries, brought this landscape alive.

And Knitting Wester Ross is a project which really allows you to see the bigger picture: over the past three years, Tom has developed a photographic portfolio specifically for this project, enabling our intertwined narrative of designs and essays to unfold alongside his beautiful landscape imagery.

 The Knitting Wester Ross club is specifically designed to bring some Scottish Highland cheer into your Winter, carrying you through the dark months with a weekly burst of colour, craft and creativity. Running from November through until February (with a break for the festive season), patterns land on Fridays, and essays on Sundays, so that you’ll be able to spend part of every weekend exploring Wester Ross with us.

Whether you already love this landscape or are discovering it virtually, for the very first time, Knitting Wester Ross will provide you with a whole season of Highland inspiration. 

You’ll find full details about the club over in the KDD shop, but (in brief) a Knitting Wester Ross membership includes:

• 12 weekly designs, plus 3 bonuses, delivered directly to your Ravelry Library or inbox as PDF downloads every Friday (as a club member, you’ll receive a total of 15 brand-new patterns) 

• 12 weekly essays, delivered to your inbox in an exclusive newsletter every Sunday

• Additional club content (interviews, photo essays etc) here on the KDD blog.

• A 10% discount on everything in the KDD shop for the duration of the club.

• Support, camaraderie, fortnightly prizes, and a fabulous club knitalong (KAL) with your pals in the KDD Ravelry group

• A beautifully-produced print book, published here in Scotland, (including my collection, the club essays, and Tom’s photography) shipped directly to your door, wherever in the world you are (digital-only subscriptions are also available). 

Our worldwide shipping-inclusive prices are very reasonable and your subscriptions will also benefit the local museums and heritage organisations we’ve been working with, for whom I’ve created some very special designs (more of which anon).

So do head over to the KDD shop and sign up, if you’d like to join us in November. I’ll let you know when subscriptions are about to close, which is likely to be in the next week or so.