Workshops
Rachel Illsley from Unwind Knitwear
9 - 14 May 2027
Rachel is known for her distinctive colourwork designs, combining thoughtful motifs with a clean, elegant style. She also enjoys working with cables, lace, and unusual constructions, always approaching design with curiosity and a focus on learning and refinement.
With a background in teaching, Rachel has spent years understanding how people learn, which in turn has shaped her approach to writing patterns and leading workshops: she builds new skills on solid foundations, adapts to different learning styles and tailors levels of challenge to suit individuals with a friendly, encouraging manner.
Rachel is very detail-focused and cares deeply about helping knitters achieve a beautiful, professional finish. She believes every garment should fit well and feel personal, and she designs her patterns and workshops with that in mind. Rachel equips knitters not just to complete a project, but to understand it, building confidence, skill and pride in the craft.
Marie Wallin, 12 - 17 April, 2026
Marie is a highly accomplished, independent knitwear designer, celebrated for her distinct handknitting and crochet patterns. She launched her own design company in 2013 while still serving as Head Designer for Rowan.
In 2014, Marie suffered a heart attack, which brought her time at Rowan to an end. During her recovery, and with Rowan’s support, she focused on building her own brand, self-publishing beautiful pattern books that showcased her signature designs using Rowan yarns.
Today, Marie works entirely independently. She produces her own exclusive yarns, British Breeds and British Breeds Aran, and publishes her own pattern collections and kits.
Marie lives in an old farmhouse, halfway up a hillside in glorious Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. She is happily married and the proud owner of two wonderful German Pointers, Nelly and Flora.
Taylor Tomson
1-6 october 2025, Austria
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Jemmy Smith
13-18 july 2026, Austria
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.