3KCBWDAY3 Knitting Hero

Welcome to day 3 of the Knit & Crochet Blog Week! Thanks to all the commenters and visitors who have been stopping by. It's been a while since I've blogged regularly, so this has been a real treat. I've also enjoyed reading other people's posts and seeing their projects.

So, a knitting hero. This topic is actually pretty easy for me because when I saw it, I knew immediately who I would write about.

 If I say "owls sweater" what do you think of? This?:

Owl Sweater

Yep, me too. With over 5,000 projects in Ravelry, I should say we do! Did you also think of the designer Kate Davies? Yep, me too. And that's who I want to talk about, Kate Davies.

By the way, I will put a link in the captions of the photos, linking back to her website.

Kate (I feel as if I know her well enough from her blog to call her Kate) is a talented designer, writer and teacher in Scotland. Her blog Needled is a window into her life, and she shares so much with her readers.

Let me talk first about her designs. Stunning. She has everything from sweaters, whimsy ones like Owls, to lovely wardrobe staples like Decco,

Deco

 to intricate and beautiful color work such as Perrie Flooers Mittens and Hat
 

Peerie Flooers

 and the project that is my favorite and the one I hope to do some day, Rams & Yowes.

Rams and Yowes

Isn't it amazing? I'm still a little intimidated by it, but I will knit this blanket and hat.

I also said that Kate was a great writer. I've learned so much from her posts. Go to her blog and you can read everything from a post of tips for knitting one of her designs (Boreal Tropic)  to a post from her dog Bruce about a walk he went on (River Almond Walk). She's a great teacher, writing about historical textiles, such as "from Muhu Island."

As wonderful as these posts are, it's the writings about her recovering from a stroke that really stand out. Maybe I'm more sensitive to these posts because I have MS and many of the things she deals with are similar to what I have to deal with. Kate had a stroke at a young age, but she is persevering and designing and writing about knitting in her historical e-magazines, Textisles. She's honest about her struggles, but there are good days and you get to enjoy those with her too, like when she rode a bike for the first time since the stroke in "Machine."

I could go on and on. I haven't even gotten into the fact that she's in Scotland, one of my favorite places in the world. So not only is the blog a glimpse into the life of a designer but also about living in Scotland.

But this has to be enough for now. I'm struggling with some fatigue right now with the MS, so I need to knock off and rest a bit. I hate to just cut this short, but I'm sure Kate would understand.

Go to her blog. Read the posts, admire the pictures, drool over the patterns, and learn something about historical textiles. You'll see what I'm talking about.

Enjoy reading about others' heroes. I'm going to do that later today, so I'll see y'all later.