'Yokes' by Kate Davies

Kate Davies designs have always inspired knitters and wool lovers and her much anticipated book 'Yokes' has been enjoying an enormous success already as Kate slowly reveals each pattern in the build up to the release. 

It is so exciting to finally be able to announce that Fyberspates will be distributing 'Yokes' by Kate Davies across Europe and the US! If you're a retailer wishing to stock this inspiring new Collection, now is the time to get in touch and join our mailing list as we will be sending out more details very soon!

In this exciting new book, writer and designer Kate Davies unravels the tale of one of the Twentieth Century’s most distinctive sweater styles - the circular yoke. From Shetland and Iceland to Canada and Sweden, Kate’s essays and conversations take you on a journey around the North Atlantic, exploring the yoke’s intriguing and often surprising regional narratives.

A garment with unexpected national and political resonances; an important marker of personal and cultural identity; a fashionable barometer of trends and technical transformations from the 1920s to today, yokes have connected the lives and livelihoods of many different women. In this book you’ll hear the voices of those women, from designers to artists, from knitters to entrepreneurs. You will read about Elizabeth Zimmermann’s seamless innovations, learn more of Kerstin Olsson’s knitterly aesthetics, and discover the fascinating influence of the Greenlandic nuilarmiut.

(c) Kate Davies Designs

The essays and conversations are accompanied by a collection of eleven signature yoke patterns. Featuring a wide range of design elements from colourwork and cables to beads and texture, Kate has created a yoke for every knitter. What's more, Kate has included Fyberspates yarns in her design work. Frost at Midnight features the yoke as jewellery with a yoke that is decorated with a stunning necklace of over a thousand glass beads. Worked up in Fyberspates luxurious silk and merino laceweight yarn 'Scrumptious Lace' in the Slate colourway, the garment is worked straight from hem to bust and the simple shape drapes beautifully from the yoke. Short rows shape the neckline, which scoops to frame the face and neck.

(c) Kate Davies Designs

So take up your needles, open up this book, and discover the story of the sweater that changed the shape of modern knitting. To find out your nearest retailer, please be sure to keep an eye on Facebook where we'll be featuring retailers stocking the Collection.