Author: Kate Davies Designs
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of raglans and being human
How are you Yorlin knitters getting along? While a few lovely cardigans have already appeared as finished projects, many of you are knitting at an appropriately leisurely summer pace, familiarising yourself with the lace panel while working the upper body. A couple of knitter’s questions regarding the raglans have prompted me to tell you about…
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the rose is obsolete
Some more rose poetry for you today. These verses are taken from William Carlos Williams’ famous collection Spring and All (1923) and it is fascinating to me that all of the poetry I’ve included in these posts date from the first couple of decades of the twentieth century. In poetry, this was a time when…
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Sea Rose
In spring and summer, the lanes and field margins of South Kintyre are awash with flowers: primroses and bluebells, cow parsley and campion. Each is lovely, and each has its season: midsummer being the time for nodding ox eye daisies and fragrant roses. Because I’m thinking a lot about roses at the moment, I’ve noticed…
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I see you, Rose
Perhaps for no poet did the rose serve as a more powerful motif than Rainer Maria Rilke. As he lay dying in 1926, he composed the epitaph which was later inscribed on his gravestone: rose, oh reiner widerspruch, lust,niemandes schlaf zu sein unter soviel lider rose, o pure contradiction, desireto be no one’s sleep beneath…
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The name of the rose
We inherited several roses in the mill garden and, never having grown them before, I’ve been trying to identify and learn about roses and their needs. In some cases this is quite simple. “Rhapsody in Blue“, for example, is an immediately recognisable cultivar, not only because of its its open blooms of a most unusual…
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pink pink!
I really enjoyed the discussion of yesterday’s rose / pink post. In the comments, we heard about different words for this colour in Dutch (Titia), Armenian (Annie), Finnish (Helen) and Hindi, Tamil and Gujarati (Deepa). Rebecca told us about how she’d been instructed that the liturgical vestments worn on Gaudete Sunday are definitely rose, and…
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Roses and pinks
It is rose season here in the mill garden, and I have the colour of roses on my mind. Because it is so loved, and because it has been so widely cultivated for such a very long time, perhaps no flower has the ability to soak up cultural meaning quite as much as the rose.…
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evocative ermine
I find our responses to colour endlessly fascinating. It’s amazing how, by simply looking at an object, we can so immediately use its palette to visualise another object that might share the same distinctive colouring. And there’s much more to this process than the brain simply using colour to awaken a neural association between two…
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Meconopsis blue
Those of you who enjoyed seeing the emergence of my Himalayan blue poppy in 2025 may be interested to know how it has fared this year. The poppy began flowering on May 18th (almost exactly the same day as 2025) and is still doing so today, June 9th (carrying its final bloom alongside six healthy…
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Cranachan Yorlin
We have one final lovely Yorlin to show you today. This cardigan was made by top-notch knitter, Sarah, who has helped us in the development phase of many patterns, and who always finds a lovely landscape in her home county of Norfolk in which to photograph her knits. Today is no exception. Here’s what Sarah…
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Foxglove Yorlin
Over the past few months, behind the scenes, the KDD team has been busy with Yorlin knitting. The four cardigans we have shared with you so far have all been rather subdued in tone, but Claire definitely brightened up our mini-KAL by selecting a bold, hot pink shade of Milarrochy Tweed in which to knit…
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Gloamin’ Yorlin
Good morning, we have another lovely Yorlin, in a rather different hue, to inspire you today. Here’s Maylin, in her natural habitat on a Cumbrian fellside (by Angle Tarn), wearing her Gloamin’ Yorlin. Maylin says: “I don’t wear a lot of purple, but I chose the Gloamin’ shade of Milarrochy Tweed for my Yorlin as…
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You see grēne where I see grœg
Your responses to yesterday’s piece – in which I introduced KC’s fabulous Chingly Yorlin – really interested me. In both the Ravelry group and newsletter comments, many of you suggested that you do not see Chingly as I do – as a greenish-grey – but as very definitely green. Others described Chingly as sludgy, brown,…
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Chingly Yorlin
Good morning! It’s time to show you another lovely Yorlin. This one has been knitted by KC, in Milarrochy Tweed shade “Chingly.” Chingly is an interesting shade, and one with which I’m slightly obsessed. We introduced it into the Milarrochy Tweed palette in 2023, and it is one of a handful of shades that we…
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Ooskit Yorlin
Good morning, and welcome back to the mill garden! Here I am to show you another Yorlin, which has been knitted in a rather different yarn to the Milarrochy Tweed Ardlui version I was wearing yesterday. This cardigan has been knitted in our Ooskit 4 ply. The yarn’s name is Ooskit “4 ply” to distinguish…
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Ardlui Yorlin
Good morning! Welcome to all knitters who are joining the Yorlin KAL! And a very warm welcome to all readers to my home, here in Kintyre. Today I’ll be showing you some of my garden, while introducing my brand new Ardlui Yorlin. If I had to pick one, single shade of Milarrochy Tweed from the…