A woman jailed for life for stabbing her de facto husband 37 times, skinning him and cooking his body parts as a meal for his children has lost an appeal against the severity of her sentence.

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal today dismissed an appeal by former abattoir worker Katherine Knight against her life sentence for the February 2000 murder of her partner John Price.

The NSW Supreme Court in 2001 sentenced Knight to life in jail after she pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Price at the home they shared at Aberdeen in the NSW Hunter Valley.