As part of our Scottish Wool Producers Showcase this year we wanted to shine a light on established and emerging knitting and crochet designers who are based on our shores.
You will find our designers in the Hay Room between 1pm and 4pm
CS Knits
Calum has been knitting for 5 years. A dentist by day, he finds knitting a good way to decompress and get creative. His first designing experience was back in 2020 with a Doctor Who Christmas jumper. His designs had been one off items for himself and his family, however, he has now taken the plunge into pattern writing to allow others to enjoy his designs. This started with The Scottish Yarn Festival Hat which was released in October 2023, and has quickly snowballed into writing up patterns for previous projects along with new design ideas. His patterns are mainly inspired by popular culture and geometric images.
Beverley Dott
Originally from Hertfordshire Beverley Dott moved to Scotland in 1996. Obsessed with the possibilities of colour and knitting traditions of Shetland she is the two-time winner of the annual Jamieson & Smith KAL competition – as voted for the public – with her own fantastically colourful fairisle designs.
Get Yer Hook On
Abi McIntyre – Get Yer Hook On – is a mosaic crochet designer and textile artist.
In 2018, as she was stepping into her 40s, she embarked on a crochet adventure guided by YouTube videos that sparked a newfound love for the craft. The turning point came a couple of years later when she stumbled upon mosaic crochet, an enchanting technique that captivated her, and she was from then on hooked – quite literally – on the endless possibilities those patterns offered.
Soon after, fuelled by her passion for her craft, she took the plunge into designing her own patterns, and the rest, as they say, is history. Abi’s first design, The Berber, was a nod to the wonderful patterns she saw on her travels to Morocco. Since that first pattern, she has found inspiration in that famous muse the Scottish landscape, Celtic origins, and intricate patterns found in nature.
Journey Through Yarn
Rebecca is a knitter, knitting podcaster, and emerging knitwear designer from Scotland. You can find her on YouTube as @JourneyThroughYarn where she shares all her makes.
Rebecca learnt to knit as a child, taught by her very patient Nana Irene (although she didn’t get much past a garter stitch scarf.) Knitting came back into her life during the 2020 pandemic and she hasn’t looked back. For Rebecca knitting is a mindful and relaxing process and has truly become a way of life. Her first sweater pattern – the Irene Sweater – is currently in the testing process and will be released in March 2024.
Marta Mitchell Designs
A true champion of crochet design, Marta graduated with a BA Hons Fine Art, Sculpture from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in 2000. Finding that she needed something creative and portable she took up crochet and in 2014 began writing her own crochet patterns. If Marta’s name looks familiar it’s likely that you’ve seen her designs featured in Inside Crochet, Cosy Life Boxes, and Crate Crochet in Australia. She also has a regular podcast on YouTube.
Amy Palko
A life long and enthusiastic knitter, Amy launched her podcast The Meaningful Stitch in 2020 as a way of bringing together her love of story and her love of yarn. Each episode is introduced by the drawing of a card from one of her many tarot and oracle decks, as a way of encouraging self reflection and deep thinking as a core component of our making practice.