Knits for Kate

My third grand-girl was born this summer. After hearing my daughter was in labor, I made it from rural North Carolina to downtown Chicago in time to see her take her first breath and to be wrapped in the knits I'd made for her.

Her newborn gifts were a combination of pricey and practically free. The reversible cable blanket is made from Venezia Worsted (pricey) but the cashmere vine lace hat and booties were made from a 100% cashmere sweater that I found for $4.00 at Goodwill.

I tripled the lace weight yarn into a fingering yarn while working with just a single strand. It's a very useful technique called Navajo knitting or Navajo plying. You can see it here. Or, check out the video at the end of this post.

Good Kate, sweet Kate.

I just finished her very first winter hat (the Inca Snowflake from Itty Bitty Hats)...which she's already had the chance to wear in Chicago. It was made from unraveled J.Crew sweaters in two shades of gray that my daughter found at a thrift store.

My favorite part is the organic cotton fleece lining that I found at WorthyGoodsTextiles. It's soft and thick and luscious.

She likes it!

My Sweet Daughter

Allie precious . . .

Nothing's sweeter than my grandgirls . . . 

and baby Kate. 

But their mommy surprising me with 56 wool, cashmere, angora, and camel hair sweaters was pretty daggone sweet.

My Blue Italian Lake of a daughter has a two-month old but still managed to scour thrift stores to surprise me on our last visit to Chicago.

She had them in two big piles--one on the
couch and one on the ottoman. 

I couldn't stop laughing as I sorted through them. It felt surreal to see so many luxury sweaters in one place.
God bless the well-dressed people of Lincoln Park.

A sampling . . .

55% Merino, 45% Alpaca. Now in my Etsy shop.

100% Merino. Now in my Etsy shop.

100% Wool

Arriving in my Etsy Shop

and in Phat Fiber Sample Boxes in mid-October.

PhatFiber Secret Site Contest!

Welcome to Taddie Bee Knitting! I'm excited to be a first time contributor to Phat Fiber!

I'm especially glad to start with August because of the theme--AFRICA! My family has a special connection to a beautiful country there that will be the focus of TWO contests this week. I will be giving away a hank of yarn to two smart and creative winners   . . . or the same person could win both!

CONTEST #1  Be the first person to answer FOUR questions about Africa correctly and you will win your choice of any hank or ball of yarn in my Etsy shop (free shipping of course).

CONTEST #2  Rename ETSY and I'll choose another winner of a free hank of yarn.

This handwoven basket was made in "The Gem of Africa."

The yarn is from an Ann Taylor sweater, 100% cashmere, 

now available in my Etsy shop

CONTEST #1
FOUR QUESTIONS Be the first person to answer these four questions correctly: (Type your answers in a comment box.)

1. Name a certain country in Africa. Here are three hints:

• My son-in-law grew up there. (ok, not so helpful for most of you)
• A popular book series about a lady detective takes place in this country. HBO also produced a TV series based on these books.
• This country is called "The Gem of Africa."

2. Name the fictional detective who lives at #5 Zebra Drive in this country's capital city (Be very specific; use her given first and last name.)

3. What is this fictional detective's favorite drink? (Use the name that she calls it--not what it is called in America.)

4. In this country's language, the word for money is the same as the word for rain and blessing. What is this lovely word?

Since all those answers can easily be Googled, and since Phatties are so creative, I want to add another contest that offers a chance for some creativity, and that won't necessarily favor the first visitors to the contest.

CONTEST #2 
RENAME ETSY  In the book and HBO series mentioned above, the shop names (and the name of the detective agency) in this African country all have charming, unpretentioous, straightforward names. Names like:

The Last Chance Hair Salon

The Go-Go Handsome Men's Bar

Speedy Motors

The Double Comfort Furniture Shop

Rename "ETSY" in this style, and I'll award a free hank of yarn to the creator who, in my opinion, comes closest to the quirky, fun-loving spirit of these shop names.

The creative and knowledgeable (or Google-savvy) winners will be announced on Wednesday, August 18.

Have fun!

My Phat Fiber Sample on YouTube

I became a new "phattie" this month!!....by contributing for the first time in the PhatFiber sample program.

Phat Fiber Sample Boxes are sold on Etsy. They are a mystery box of samples from independent fiber artists that include artful yarns, bits of roving, small batts, stitch marketers, original patterns, and now . . . luxury recycled yarns from Taddie Bee Knitting! I think I'm one of the very first upcyclers to participate in Phat Fiber.

Phat Fiber bridges the gap between online artisans and consumers hungry to support independent small businesses.

If you go to YouTube, you can see Jessie talking about Taddie Bee Knitting at minute 5:15. 

On this embedded video, my sample is about exactly halfway through the 10 minute video.

August PhatFiber Samples "AFRICA"

I'm so excited to be a new contributor to PhatFiber! It's perfect for me because from each sweater I unravel, I usually have several small balls where the yarn breaks or I have to cut it. My limit is one join per 100 yards, so I've just been stashing these smaller pieces or sometimes even tossing the smaller ones out.

My 50 Samples for the August Box

These samples include sixteen cashmere hanks, thirty wools, and four silk/cotton blends. These yarns came from sweaters like Ann Taylor, LL Bean and J Crew. 

I put each sample in a baggie with a tea bag from Africa
and a tag (business card) that notes fiber content on the back.

I'd like to thank Galia of Galia's Spindle Designs for telling me about PhatFiber! She lives in Israel and makes the prettiest and most unique spindles I've ever seen.

Galia not only told me about PhatFiber, she was so sweet to help me get started--answering many questions and taking the time to give me advice about samples, yarn tags, and other things. Thank you, Galia! 

Each of Galia's lovely spindles are point balanced, tuned and tested.

Galia also makes other beautiful things for knitters at her PurlyPurl Etsy store. I plan to do some Christmas shopping at her store. My friends would love handmade items from Israel and her shipping to the US is very reasonable--only $2 shipping for these stitch markers!

Galia's bamboo stitch markers with heart-shaped rings.
She also makes these as earrings using sterling silver instead! Gorgeous, huh!