Altrincham, Manchester

classes: Print Making

5.0 (2)

Women-owned

Hi, I’m Debbie, and I’ve been obsessed with yarn and colour for as long as I can remember. I learned to knit as a child, sold my first designs when I was 14, and I’ve basically had pointy sticks in my hands ever since (with a brief detour into Classics at uni and a dozen years working as a tax specialist — but that’s another story!).

These days, I spend my time writing, teaching and designing around all things textiles. I’ve written a handful of books, including 250 Knitting Stitches and Complete Knitting Skills, and for years I’ve written technique features and answered readers’ trickiest knitting questions for magazines like Knit Now and Simply Knitting. I also co-run DT Craft & Design, an online and mail-order textile arts business.

Teaching is one of my big passions — whether it’s running workshops in knitting, crochet, dyeing, felting or screen-printing. I’ve taught at places like Manchester Museum, the Knitting & Stitching Show, and guilds across the UK, and I love watching people discover just how creative they can be. I am also the tutor for our distance learning City & Guilds accredited design and handknitting programmes.

Along the way, I’ve popped up on BBC Radio Manchester, featured in Craft Business, and even appeared on BBC One’s Glorious Gardens from Above to talk about natural dyeing. I’ve also been involved in research projects, like recreating an 1815 dyeing manual with Leeds Industrial Museum.

And when I’m not teaching, writing or experimenting in the dyepot, you’ll still usually find me knitting — it’s both my work and my happy place.

Classes