rearview

In these quiet days before Hogmanay, at some point I generally find myself in my workspace, tidying things up, and taking a rearview glance at the past year.

Two large projects have dominated 2025. We began with a new design collection, Making Light

. . and we are concluding it at the midpoint of the large interdisciplinary project that is Knitting Wester Ross.

Tom published two fantastic Ootlier issues in 2025:

While Light Waves is an extended meditation on the extraordinary maritime landscape of Kintyre . . .

. . . Rubha nan Sasan explores the Scottish landscape – and our ways of seeing it – a little differently.

I love both of Tom’s new titles, but think his infrared photography in Rubha nan Sasan is especially stunning. I also really enjoyed researching and writing my introduction to this book, exploring the concrete legacies of World War II.

There’s been a lot of new reading and writing for me this year, much of which seems to have been focused on the 1940s and 50s, following some of the directions I began exploring in Mysterious Knits and Colour at Work. Wester Ross club members will have already read a piece I wrote about this extraordinary sketch, drawn by Denys Martin, who served (and perished) in Britain’s wartime Arctic Convoys

. . . and there are a couple of as-yet secret club essays to follow in coming weeks, which have been lots of fun for me to work on. All of these pieces, and several others by our brilliant Wester Ross curator-contributor, Karen Buchanan, will be included together with Tom’s photography and my new design collection in our brand new book, which I’m really looking forward to seeing in print in 2026.

Like many businesses, particularly those, like ours, with a small but highly international audience, this year has certainly held its challenges, due to ripples of US tariff-related uncertainty.

. . . but KDD has continued to ride these waves.

We held a joyous summer knitalong, in which knitters from around the world joined us to make themselves a colourful cardigan.

and we explored some brand new creative avenues, such as KC’s gorgeous hand-dyed yarn.

Back in April, as Tom and I enjoyed ourselves dyeing eggs, I expressed a wish to enjoy more “low-stakes creative activities” that had nothing to do with being productive.

I seem to have taken that to heart, exploring several new-to-me low-stakes fun things from journalling and collage . . .

. . . to instax photography . . .

. . . and making seasonal wreaths for our front door from the flowers growing in the garden.

In 2025, my garden was a source of continual learning and delight . . .

. . . and I’ve loved growing flowers this year, from tulips . . .

. . . to blue poppies.

My best buy of 2025 was garden-related too: a versatile Kadai fire pit / barbecue, beside which Tom and I have enjoyed many tasty suppers.

I would be lying if I didn’t mention that 2025 has held, even for me, an unusually high share of health-related challenges. I spent 6 awful weeks in bed with Covid; a thigh injury necessitated two months of rest and physio; I was knocked over in the street by an enthusiastic dog and hurt my back; I broke some bones in my left foot after crushing it beneath my own body weight as I tried to extricate myself from the unholy embrace of my desk-side kneeling chair. There have also been other painful falls, annoying viruses, and emergency dentistry. 2025, enough already! I would be very grateful if the year’s turn marked an end to this litany of small disasters.

But 2025 was also a year in which I really appreciated what it means to live in a small community. I’ve seen how neighbours help each other out in difficult situations like January’s winter storms, and have come to understand how the fantastic local services we enjoy here in South Kintyre – libraries, village halls, museums, cinema, swimming pool – are completely indispensable. The latter has been a particular boon to me, as I’ve been able to have a daily swim there even when I couldn’t walk. Three cheers, then, for Live Argyll, and especially for Campbeltown’s amazing Aqualibrium: an extraordinarily inclusive and welcoming community space, in which everyone, young and old, disabled and able-bodied, get to enjoy the benefits of a wonderful swimming pool, well-equipped gym, and fantastic library. I am so grateful to have it on my doorstep.

One thing I am really looking forward to in 2026 is becoming more involved with my local community, and I’m very excited to be part of a brand-new project developed by our wonderful local arts and heritage body, CHARTS.

This project speaks directly to my long-time interest in Scotland’s intertwined histories of fishing and knitting, and I’m looking forward to telling you much more about it in coming weeks (watch this space!)

Tomorrow evening, Tom and I will light a fire, bid farewell to the soon-to-be old year, and raise a glass to each other, our KDD colleagues and friends, and all of you. Thank you so much for being with us through 2025, for supporting our work, and sharing everything from your fabulous knitting projects to your favourite garden birds (I loved reading about them the other day). Have a lovely Hogmanay, wherever in the world you are, and here’s to peace and joy for us all in 2026.

love to you all,

Kate