If you subscribe to my News Update (subscribe here), then you were party to a wee secret a couple of weeks ago.

Knit Now Magazine announced the winners of their Knitter of the Year awards and I am thrilled to say that I am one of the winners of New Designer of the Year 2017.

It was very hard to keep this a secret until the publication of Knit Now’s Issue 70 and so far it’s been a fairly low key announcement but I’m very excited about winning and I’m looking forward to the opportunities that I hope may arise from my win.

My win follows on from two designs that I’ve had published in Knit Now: Sycamore and Snow Blossom , (both Ravelry links) and a submission for a new shawl design, which will be featured later in the year (you might be able to spot a sneaky peak in one of my photos here).

As part of the prize, all the winners (there were four other categories: Designer of the year; Online Innovator; Local Superstar and Charity Hero), including fellow Edinburger Jessica James proprietor of Ginger Twist Studio, are going on a day out to Sirdar HQ in Wakefield. I’m very excited about this, as I’m keen to see how they approach the design process within a large yarn company, and I’ve also been told there will be a lot of yarn to ‘oooooh’ over. Watch this space for lots of photos and blog posts after the event.

If you’d like to be one of the first to find out what’s happening with Maddie Harvey Designs in the future, including new pattern releases before anyone else and special coupon codes, sign up for my News Update (click here).