Location: Barnsley, South Yorkshire
Salary: Up to £30,000 per annum full-time equivalent
Hours: Full-time preferred; part-time applications will be considered
Contract: Fixed-term maternity cover
Start date: September 2026
Reporting to: Founder and Lead Designer
About Wool Couture
Wool Couture is a leading craft business creating contemporary knitting, crochet and craft kits for customers around the world.
We design products for our own Wool Couture and Stitch & Story brands, as well as developing bespoke and white-label collections for leading retailers and independent businesses.
We are now looking for an exceptional Knitting & Crochet Designer to join our creative team on a maternity-cover contract. An early start will allow time for a comprehensive handover before our current designer begins maternity leave in February 2027.
About the role
Working closely with our Founder and Lead Designer, you will create beautiful, commercially successful knitting and crochet products—from the first idea through to the finished kit.
This is a varied, practical role requiring excellent knitting and crochet design skills. You will write technically accurate patterns, answer customer pattern queries and help customers learn new skills through our live online workshops.
You will also represent Wool Couture through video, social media and television appearances, demonstrating our products and helping customers feel confident and inspired.
As part of a small and entrepreneurial business, you will need to be adaptable, proactive and willing to roll up your sleeves. One day you might be designing a new collection; the next, you could be helping a customer understand a crochet instruction, packing a order in the warehouse and running a live Zoom workshop or presenting our products on television.
Key responsibilities
- Design original, creative and commercially appealing hand-knitting and crochet products.
- Develop products for Wool Couture, Stitch & Story and our retail and white-label customers.
- Interpret creative and commercial briefs and turn them into suitable product concepts.
- Produce sketches, mood boards, colour palettes and design proposals.
- Select suitable yarns, colours, stitches and construction methods.
- Make samples and prototypes as part of the development process.
- Write clear, technically accurate knitting and crochet patterns.
- Create patterns for beginner projects through to more complex garments.
- Write and grade garment patterns across a range of sizes where required.
- Test, check and amend patterns before publication.
- Ensure patterns are accurate, accessible and consistent with our house style.
- Respond to customer questions about patterns, stitches, techniques and projects.
- Investigate pattern issues and provide clear, friendly and practical solutions.
- Host engaging live Learn to Knit and Learn to Crochet sessions on Zoom.
- Demonstrate techniques clearly and confidently to complete beginners.
- Appear on television to demonstrate and sell Wool Couture products.
- Present products and techniques in videos and social-media content.
- Work with colleagues on photoshoots, product launches and marketing activity.
- Manage product-development projects from initial concept through to launch.
- Ensure collections are delivered accurately, on time and to an exceptional standard.
- Work to agreed product costs and consider commercial viability throughout the design process.
- Liaise effectively with customers, colleagues and suppliers.
- Monitor emerging craft, colour, fashion and lifestyle trends.
- Present new product ideas to internal colleagues and external customers.
- Support the wider team and contribute wherever needed within a busy small business.
Essential skills and experience
You will need:
- Excellent hand-knitting and crochet design skills.
- Advanced practical knowledge of knitting and crochet stitches, techniques and construction.
- Demonstrable experience of designing original knitting and crochet projects.
- Strong experience writing clear, accurate and easy-to-follow patterns.
- The ability to design both beginner-friendly projects and more technically complex garments.
- Experience creating garment patterns across multiple sizes.
- Strong attention to detail and the ability to identify and resolve pattern errors.
- The technical knowledge and patience to answer customer pattern queries.
- A warm and approachable teaching style.
- Confidence presenting knitting and crochet techniques to groups of beginners.
- The confidence and willingness to appear on live television, Zoom, video and social media.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Good organisational and project-management skills.
- The ability to manage several projects and deadlines simultaneously.
- A commercial approach to product design.
- The ability to work collaboratively while also using your own initiative.
- A flexible, hands-on attitude and willingness to help across the business.
- The ability to work from our Barnsley workplace and attend in-person filming, television and customer commitments when required.
Desirable experience
The following would be helpful but is not essential:
- Experience producing technical drawings or product specification documents.
- Previous experience teaching knitting or crochet.
- Experience hosting live online workshops.
- Television, video or live-presenting experience.
- Experience working with retail or white-label customers.
- Experience managing product photoshoots.
- Knowledge of crafts beyond knitting and crochet.
About you
You will love transforming creative ideas into products that people genuinely want to make. You will combine outstanding technical ability with creativity, commercial awareness and an encouraging manner.
You will be equally comfortable concentrating on the detail of a complex pattern, helping a beginner who is struggling with a stitch and enthusiastically presenting a product to a television audience.
Most importantly, you will enjoy the pace and variety of a small business. You will be practical, resourceful and happy to get involved wherever your skills are needed.
Hours and flexibility
This role is available on a full-time basis, although we will consider part-time applications from candidates with the right skills and experience.
The full-time equivalent salary is £30,000 per annum, with part-time salaries calculated pro rata.
The role is primarily based at our workplace in Barnsley. Some flexibility may occasionally be required to accommodate live workshops, filming and television appearances.
Pay: £30,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Application question(s):
- Have you independently designed and written original patterns in both hand knitting and crochet?
Please choose from the answers below:
Yes, professionally
Yes, on a freelance or self-employed basis
Yes, for personal projects
No
- Have you written knitting or crochet garment patterns in multiple sizes?
Please choose from the answers below:
Yes, including calculating and grading multiple sizes
Yes, but I have not personally calculated the grading
I have written non-garment patterns only
No
- How would you describe your current knitting and crochet ability?
Please choose from the answers below:
Advanced in both knitting and crochet
Advanced in knitting and intermediate in crochet
Advanced in crochet and intermediate in knitting
Advanced in one craft but a beginner in the other
Beginner or intermediate in both
- How many days per week would you ideally like to work?
- Please describe one original knitting or crochet product that you have personally designed. Tell us what you designed, which parts of the pattern you wrote yourself, whether it involved multiple sizes, and how you tested its accuracy. Please include a link to your portfolio, Ravelry profile, website or examples of your work where possible.
Work Location: In person
