Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
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knittedpixel.bsky.social
Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
@knittedpixel.bsky.social
400 followers 650 following 1K posts
Scottish designer, creator & dreamer. Insatiably curious human being. Typography obsessed. Things I 💜: music, exploring creativity, photography, books, travel, culture & art.

I sometimes write stuff here: https://catmcl.substack.com/
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knittedpixel.bsky.social
Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️ @knittedpixel.bsky.social · Oct 9
I wrote this essay primarily on the Great Tapestry of Scotland, but it also reads as a potted history of Scots, our literature, arts & culture, and contributions to science and industry, amongst other things!

I also embroidered the 🦄 - our national animal!

Enjoy: open.substack.com/pub/catmcl/p...
Making History
The story of Scotland in stitches
open.substack.com
knittedpixel.bsky.social
These folks are drumming up hope across the pond. 🥁 Hi-hats off to them!

mastodon.social/@sheislauren...
sheislaurence (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 video You might think it is meaningless. For me, that's pure #hope, the demonstration that the human spirit cannot be crushed and always moves towards #creativity and #community. #drumm...
mastodon.social
January 25, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
cherylquine.bsky.social
Overnight, he crept to the window with a silver fingertip and a pocket full of old spells, pressing fern-fronds and feathered leaves into the glass like a secret blessing. Each crystal etching, a rune - winter is here.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Cold
#WeekCforCloseUp
#Abstractia
#PhotographersOfBlueSky
January 24, 2026 at 11:44 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
The #BlueSkyArtShow theme today is #Cold ❄️ so here’s a wintery scene from a couple of years ago.

#Galashiels #Scotland #Snow
A wintery landscape in the Scottish Borders with a road curving away out of view in the distance, footprints and tyre tracks imprinted on the snow. The scene is lit by soft January sunlight and the branches of trees are heavily laden after a recent snowfall.
January 24, 2026 at 12:57 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
The story of a long-lost Rabbie Burns portrait - just in time for Burns Night!

Brings back fond memories of “babysitting” some of Raeburn’s most famous paintings during my time working at the National Galleries of Scotland. 💙

youtu.be/StBuAumI-es?...

#RobertBurns #HenryRaeburn
The Lost Portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn
YouTube video by Blackie House Library and Museum
youtu.be
January 23, 2026 at 8:37 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
I have never visited India (yet!) but Yash Sheth’s atmospheric photographs of the monsoon season in Mumbai really bring it to life. ☔️

wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/yash...

#India #photography #culture #monsoon
WePresent | Yash Sheth photographs monsoon season on Mumbai’s streets
Photographer Yash Sheth has spent five years capturing monsoon season on the streets and grasslands of Mumbai
wepresent.wetransfer.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:39 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
One very lovely small copper butterfly, found while walking around Thornielee Forest in the Scottish Borders. 🦋 (Thankfully I had my trusty Canon DSLR with me!)

#BlueskyArtShow #one
A small copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) rests on a batch of yellow daisy-like flowers with forest greenery behind. The butterfly is a vibrant orange colour with deep brown markings.
January 17, 2026 at 2:35 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
I love this. I have lived through a lot to get them, and actually kinda love them anyway. 🩶

#GreyHairDontCare
January 15, 2026 at 11:42 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
Late-night #Bloomscrolling. Working on a gift for someone who taught me many moons ago when I lived in Berlin and went to school in Potsdam. 🌹

#TraditionalArt #Botanical #Rose #FlowerDrawing
Sketchbook page (neutral/creamy coloured bamboo paper) showing a coloured pencil drawing of a pink rose in bloom, surrounded by green leaves.
January 12, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
mad7500.bsky.social
Ready to push your chair back and have a little boogie? I thought so 😎
Posted before😉.. The beautiful #Birds at #SuffolkOwls and their version of: 📷💚✨
🎶🦉 Chuck Berry 🪶🎸🎶
🎶💃🏻’You Never Can Tell’🦉🕺🏻🎶
#Owls #Nature #Photography #EastCoastKin
January 12, 2026 at 10:01 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
@manekinekohub.bsky.social I think these ones mainly came from Hong Kong, as my dad spent time living & working there 😊

#ManekiNeko
A row of assorted ceramic maneki neko (lucky cat) figures in varying styles lined up on a wooden mantle. A larger one on the far left has its right paw resting on a pile of bank notes - presumably to usher in prosperity.
January 10, 2026 at 9:31 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
I always enjoy playing with colour. This is a detail of a meditative painting I made back in 2021. Definitely want to make more art this year!

#Vibrant #BlueskyArtShow #Painting #AbstractArt #MakeArtNotWar
Detail of a lager abstract art painting. It features vibrant paint colours, with lots of “swooshy” brush marks and energetic mark-making on a neutral-coloured cartridge paper. Art by Cat McLaughlin, March 2021.
January 10, 2026 at 5:03 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
I loved this #vibrant splash of light at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

#BlueskyArtShow
Vibrant multicoloured light creates a mosaic of colours on a textured wall.
January 10, 2026 at 10:37 AM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
Sharing these beauties again 😍

#BlueskyArtShow #vibrant #Bloomscrolling
knittedpixel.bsky.social Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️ @knittedpixel.bsky.social · Jun 7
Another #vibrant offering for the #BlueskyArtShow - saw some absolutely stunning peonies at Priorwood Gardens near Melrose Abbey today. 🌸

#BloomScrolling #PeonySeason #Flowers #ScottishBorders
Close-up shot of some show-stopping bright pink peonies flowering in all their frilly glory. In the background are other paler pink peonies and plants climbing the brick walls of Priorwood Gardens in Melrose, Scotland.
January 10, 2026 at 1:56 AM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
How’s this for #ThickTrunkTuesday?! 🪾

A glorious sequoia, or giant redwood tree, one of a few that stand guard at the entrance to a local woodland here in the Scottish Borders. (I like to visit them regularly and pay my respects 💚)

#Arboreal #Tree #Scotland
View looking up at a giant redwood tree trunk, with its branches spreading outwards. Golden hour sunlight is glinting through and illuminating the tree with a warm glow.
January 6, 2026 at 10:31 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
Happy new year! I hope 2026 is kind to you all.

I went for a brief Ne’erday walk and found some flowering quince - proof that even in the dark days of winter, there are little glimmers of hope if you look out for them. 🌺

#Bloomscrolling #Blossom #WinterWalk
Branches of flowering quince punctuated with pretty pink buds and some blossoms in various stages of opening.
January 1, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
theweeowl.bsky.social
That's the bells!!
A very happy New year to all of you from me in Scotland. May 2026 bring great things to you. Lang may yer lum reek.
This is an oil pastel painting of Edinburgh Castle.

#HappyNewYear #Scotland #EdinburghCastle #Painting #OilPastel #Art
An oil pastel and white colour pencil painting of Edinburgh Castle on Castle Rock with a blue sky.
January 1, 2026 at 12:01 AM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
Betwixt one year and the next. A strange, yet oddly familiar, liminal space.

#Edinburgh #Scotland #FromWhereIStood #LiminalSpaces
View through some enormous windows, framing a scene looking from central Edinburgh towards the Leith skyline at sunset, with a clear sky. You can see rows of elegant Georgian buildings (made from light-coloured sandstone) in the “New Town” style that the city is famous for.
December 31, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
rina2012.bsky.social
The tender-hearted
have to cover themselves up,
layer by layer.

Wishing you a happy new week 🫶

#MacroMonday #ColorADay #PinkMon #photography #flowers #photohour #MinimalMonday #bloomscrolling #nature #thelittlethings
#Poetry #Poem #Haiku #MicroPoem #FreeVerse #ImageAndVerse #EastCoastKin
Close-up of a daisy. Only the flower head is visible, which is only slightly open. The very delicate petals have pink tips and lie in layers. The background has a green bokeh.
December 29, 2025 at 7:07 AM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains.

Hole’s “Live Through This” remains one of my favourite records of the 90s. 💟
Album cover art for Live Through This by Hole, released in 1994. Photography by Ellen von Unwerth, inspired by a scene from the 1976 horror film Carrie based on a Stephen King novel. A dishevelled prom queen clutches a bunch of flowers, and her mascara is all smudged around her eyes as if she has been crying.
December 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
knittedpixel.bsky.social
#BlueskyArtShow #Holiday

A little red cardinal has decided to perch on my tree. 🐦‍🔥
Small red cardinal bird decoration made from scarlet feathers sits on an evergreen tree branch. A constellation of silver and gold stars pepper the little tree, and a red felt decoration in the shape of a heart can just be seen in the background.
December 27, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
samcannonart.bsky.social
Those we love don’t go away they walk beside us every day.
Unseen, unheard but always near.
Still loved, still missed and very dear.

This can be such a hard time of year.
A huge hug to you if you need it, whatever the reason.
December 27, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
tomduffinphotos.bsky.social
Tonight’s Christmas Eve moon with a favourite unicorn standing atop the Mercat Cross on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.

Making this a Moonicorn - see, when you have a mythical beast as Scotland’s national animal we can make up all kinds of shit.

May Christmas be full of love peace smiles & happy memories.
December 24, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
racheldeering.bsky.social
Poem of mine published in the latest Christmas / winter anthology from @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social
www.blackboughpoetry.com/news
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen A wren alights, wing weary, a tiny pilgrim for a winter solstice, gatherer of tidings of frost that lend the darkness a glitter still. By pearls of mistletoe yet not rejoicing, she warbles for gods and devils and merry men on a wind that paces and searches the bitter sharpness of fields. This season unrolls its whispering mists, Wolfish across unsettled flocks who twitch with a new vigilance - this land of fragile joys. No prayers, no kneeling here, but hold tight to your branch and sing, sing anyway, sing loud, and do not dismay, little wren, do not dismay. Rachel Deering Wren on snow laden branch, Theo van Hoytema
December 24, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
julia-laing.bsky.social
#ArtAdventCalendar
Day 23
Think this is one of my favourite drawings of the year.

#tabbyandwhitecat #cats #drawing #charcoaldrawing #catart #catdrawings #monochromedrawings #art #visualart #womenartists #sleepingcat #expressiveart #figurativeart
Charcoal drawing of a sleeping cat. Drawn on white paper. The cat is a tabby and white. He is facing right and has his legs extended out in front of him.
December 24, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Reposted by Cat McLaughlin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
tomduffinphotos.bsky.social
Remembering that time the Ross Fountain froze

#Edinburgh @edinburghcastle.bsky.social
December 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM