Tag: Shetland

  • A Hap for Harriet

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I have a new pattern out today! This is A Hap for Harriet. I recently heard that my friend, former colleague, and doctoral supervisor, Professor Harriet Guest, was about to retire, and I thought it might be nice to produce and name a design in her honour. Before I began, I had some discussion with…

  • Chris’ croft

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    The Spring edition of 60 North is out! And its a great issue. Those of you who have my Colours of Shetland book may recall mention of my archeologist friend, Chris Dyer, whose knowledge and inspiration helped me to develop my ideas for my Scatness designs. Well, Chris recently started to raise his own Shetland…

  • Tenebrae

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I have more posts to come from Iceland, but today I wanted to briefly mention one of those interesting cross-connections which are one of the many reasons I enjoy writing this blog. During a trip to Shetland in September, 2012, I took this photograph of a boat moored near Norwick beach in Unst. I later…

  • Machrihanish

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I was very excited to have the opportunity to design the Machrihanish vest  and always enjoy knitting for Tom, who is its recipient and model. Tom often bemoans the general lack of shaping, and poor fit of men’s garments, so I like to knit him things that are well-fitting. Men’s knitted vest patterns rarely include…

  • finishing a steek

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I have recently been designing and knitting a thing with steeks, which required finishing. This project is part of an exciting collaboration, and I’ll be able to tell you (and show you) more about it in a couple of weeks. When working on the steeks, it occurred to me how many different ways there are…

  • Puffin Post

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    One of the many things that makes me very happy as a designer is seeing different interpretations of a sweater I’ve created. I often learn a lot from the modifications knitters make to my patterns, and sometimes a simple change of shade can make a design look like a completely different garment. The Puffin sweater…

  • Shetland Textiles: 800 BC to the Present

    Shetland Textiles: 800 BC to the Present

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Writing of the worn and mended Fair Isle sweater that Shetland knitter, Doris Hunter created for her fiancé, Ralph Patterson, who spent four years in a Japanese POW camp during the Second World War, editor Sarah Laurenson states: “Ralph’s sweater is much more than a physical object. It is a site of personal and political…

  • a spencer dress

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    It is a grey and murky day, but I thought I’d take the opportunity to show you my amazing Spencer dress! You’ll have probably seen that my Shetland friend, Ella, first scored one of these a few weeks ago in the Lerwick saleroom. She was then put in touch with Margaret Stuart, who originally designed…

  • three sweaters

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I thought I’d show you my three new sweaters! First up is this lovely Fairisle yoke (bought for £16 on eBay). This is a garment of a kind that is still being made in Shetland, and that you can find in Lerwick today in shops like The Spider’s Web. I think its a lovely example.…

  • Tea Jenny

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    So, no prizes for guessing exactly what I was reminded of when, some months ago, I first opened the package containing seven tasty balls of Magnus and Justyna’s Foula Wool . . . TEA! Maybe I was feeling particularly parched or something, but it really did occur to me just how tea-like the familiar Shetland…

  • Foula Wool

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Just in case you hadn’t noticed, it is Shetland Wool Week! I’m very sad not to be there in person this year, but I’ve kept up the tradition I started three years ago of designing a hat in woolly celebration! In 2011, it was Sheep Heid (using Jamieson and Smith Shetland Supreme) ; in 2012…

  • further flitting

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Since my post yesterday, I’ve had some fascinating discussions on twitter and elsewhere about flitting, its modern usage, and its Scandinavian roots. This morning my friend Sarah pointed me in the direction of a wonderful Shetland song – Muckle Osla’s Flittin, which humorously documents a house move from Gulberwick (a village just south of Lerwick)…

  • hat at Hermaness

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I’ve had a lot of queries about Peerie Flooers over the past few days, so here are a couple more photos of the particular hat in question. After being approached by the wardrobe folk involved with Shetland, I knitted up this new sample especially for the production. I remember knitting it over the May bank…

  • Shetland

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Recognise the hat? Yes! Its my Peerie Flooers! This hat, along with a couple of my other designs, will be making their first TV appearance tomorrow in Shetland, a two-part BBC crime drama based on Ann Cleeves’ novel Red Bones. Exciting! You can see some more stills and the trailer here, and, if you are…

  • Sixareen Cape

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    While we were in the Highlands, we took the opportunity to photograph a design I’ve had ready for a while: the Sixareen Cape. I started knitting this Fair Isle wrap last October. You may remember that at that time I’d just designed a hat especially for Shetland wool week (The Sixareen Kep) using Jamieson and…

  • thinking time

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    Well, I had a fantastic time in Shetland. As I was on my own, I stayed in Lerwick. I really enjoyed meeting up with Shetland friends old and new, and pottering about toon. But I was there to work — I have a couple of writing commissions in the pipeline, one of which involves producing…