Holiday Season So Far

I don't know about you, but I'm so glad to be into the swing of the holiday season.  I start gathering fabrics and planning for the season in the summer, so it is great to finally be here. It has been a busy and fun season so. 

KnittenKaboodle kicked off the season at Tait's Open House in early November, and is going strong -- I just dropped off another batch of 'spice trivets'.  The knits have been selling well, but the really hot items are the aprons.  I added some child-sized aprons this year, and they are already all gone!

Right before Thanksgiving,  KnittenKaboodle went to Gasper's Garden Showplace for two evenings of special events.  Thanks so much for all the help from Misty Ledbetter and my wonderful friends in Doylestown who came out to support me (and let us stay with you!)  What an interesting experience, taking my gallery on the road!  It was a busy weekend  Ladies Night Out at Gasper Showplace, Nov 19, 2011 .  Business was good and it was a great adventure, taking the show on the road!




Misty Ledbetter hard at work on an original crochet design, in between customers





Featuring Glass Ornaments from Kerry Kaylegian and knits from Betsy Salomon





A quilted shopper tote: our contribution to the charity raffle baskets


The latest from Tait's:




Aprons right at the door!






The Scarves are selling well, but plenty of variety still available



Only these two remain in the back room!



The winter motif apron says holiday in an understated way





KnittenKaboodle Goes On the Road!!

 

As you know, KnittenKaboodle is primarily an eBoutique, but I also sell locally through the wonderful  Tait Farm Harvest Shop .  Recently I was offered the opportunity to participate in some special holiday shopping events at a lovely Bucks County landscape, home and garden center,  Gasper Garden Center.  As a former resident of Bucks County and with many, many wonderful friends there, I decided to branch out and accept the offer.

So, I am about to head out on the road along with the help of my friend and fellow knitter/crocheter/quilter (she does it all well!)  Misty . I will have the items on my website, plus extras that have not found their way to the online shop.  As I discuss in the  'About Us' section of the KnittenKaboodle website, the shop carries one-of-a kind or very small production hand crafted works (mostly wearable!) from primarily myself, but also from some fellow artisans that have trusted me to offer their works.  Previous issues of this blog featured many of these lovely people, so please browse through back issues to learn more about them.  We have contributors from Bucks County, PA; Hilton Head Island, SC; and Davis, CA in addition to selected works Misty will bring with her special for this show. 

Friday November 18: 3PM - 8PM

Saturday November 19: 4PM - 8PM

If you are in the area, please stop by.  Gasper's is in Richboro. PA at 316 Tanyard Road, 18954; Phone: 215-364-2400. 

View Larger Map







From the catalog/mailer sent out by Gaspers in late October




Some more information on the event formats and participants!

 It is difficult for me to believe that the holiday season is just around the corner.  In one sense I seem to think it was just summer yesterday and on the other hand I started shopping for holiday fabrics in July (I knit through the whole year - so that's completely a blur).   Here is a fancy apron I created for Cynthia and Kim at my local yarn and quilt shop Stitch Your Art Out, Pine Grove Mills, PA .  This year I've added some Mother/Daughter apron combos to my line up, both in this show and at Tait's. 



 

If you are in the area, please stop by to say hi!!  

A Tale of Two Wraps









Here in the Northeast, Autumn is in full force and as the mercury drops, staying warm and comfortable becomes a priority.  So, I am very excited about two new styles of wrap-up warmth: a casual fleece and flannel wrap and a lovely over shoulders luxury wrap of alpaca and silky mohair!

 

The Fall Foliage Passes Quickly!






The County Wrap:

This idea came to me on a particularly damp and drafty day -- comfortable fleece on one side and flannel on the other, which is reversible.  I have a wonderful fleece cape that I bought in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA and was very expensive.  It is a reversible fleece and I love it for its flexibility and ease -- just throw it over what ever you are wearing and ready to go! But I find the knee length of it less than perfect for the car, adding bulk to wrap into the seat belt and to sit upon.  So I designed this wrap to be a bit shorter in the front, yet will dip enough in the back to cover up and keep everything warm.  The length is perfect for sitting or walking or wearing in the car, and it can be worn open or closed using the two oversized accent buttons. 

Fleece and Flannel team up for lots of warmth without added weight and bulk



Black fleece with classic blue, green, red and yellow plaid flannel



Grey fleece with traditional green, cream and grey flannel plaid

The City Wrap:

This wonderful wrap is the design of the wonderful Yan Qian at  Forever Yarn, and embodies warmth, style and luxury all is one great piece.  My interpretation knits it in soft and warm alpaca combined with mohair-silk yarn.  It can be gathered in a matching pin and worn asymmetrically or centered, or simply opened up.  The beauty of this design is the ability to cross from casual (jeans and shirt) to dressy (over the shoulder with a party dress).  It could even be worn over a leather jacket for extra warmth, without a lot of extra bulk. 





City Wrap in Neutrals 100% Baby Alpaca with Silk-Mohair and a touch of lux for a little shine





City Wrap in Grey and Neutral 100% Baby Alpaca with Silk and Mohair



More information is available on these cozy covers at our eBoutique KnittenKaboodle





Newest Fall Aprons at Tait's!

This week we added a few new aprons at Tait's Harvest Shop !  Stop by when you are in Happy Valley or in town for a Penn State football game!  We are very proud to be part of their artist line up. 



Manager, Deb models her personal choice! Thanks for your support and encouragement



Leaves and a little flair





Full Fall Foliage



Butterflies!



New! A Sampler of Items Hot Off the Sewing Machine and Knitting Needles



Lots of new items coming up for our various venues: the KnittenKaboodle website, Tait's Harvest Shop and (a new addition!) Gasper's in Richboro.  Here is a small sampling:

Posh Aprons for the fashion forward!



A series of new zip bags, including some new sizes in addition to the 6" x 9" and 5" x 14"; 5" x 10" and

7.5" x 8.5" .

From the wonderful Betty Sebastian we have a line of adorbable 100% cotton wash cloth sets in charming color combinations!

And looking forward to the holiday season, I'm already deep into cutting mode for much in demand spice trivets and aprons.  These are just a few of the new fabrics and color schemes for this season.

And last, but certainly not least, a few new aprons for late fall!

Neck Warmers and Heavy Manufacturing

Once upon a time I used to work for a very large (Fortune 5) multinational corporation, with the primary mission to manufacture and sell high volume, large scale durable goods.  I accepted the position upon my graduation from my MBA program, because I wanted to learn and work in manufacturing, a discipline completely foreign me at that time.  As I learend the business and rotated through different assignments, I came to love the amazing (and extremely complicated) process of converting materials and labor into a product that we all need and use every day, and  for years and years.  

Hooray for me, but what does this have to do with neck warmers? Well, today I sit in my little workshop with pretty much one of kind hand craft items and it could not possibly be a more different business enterprise except for my favorite part -- convertng raw materials into something amazing.

Take for example a neck warmer I recently completed.  I wanted to use this wonderful yarn that has been in my stash (knitter terminology for what manufacturing types call raw materials!) from Shaefer Yarn Company  http://www.schaeferyarn.com/yrn_about.html , producers of lovely artisan yarns. It is a soft 'handpainted' wool, utilizing a specialized dying technique that produces truly a lovely and unique variegated yarn, which is spun with a touch of poly thread that produces a very smooth-to-the skin and refined wrapped texture in yarn. The combination of the texture and rich colors really challenged me to come up with a design that highlights the properties of the yarn and works into the line of smart and upscale knitwear I am developing for fall.  I chose what is called a linen stitch, which produces a woven appearance to the fabric. Button selection came together easily, which isn't always the case, ending up with a perfectly blended matte purple button.  Happy with progress so far I had only the edging trim yarn to further consider. 


Finding the perfect yarn for the border is the last decision in the creative process, and I considered a number of different types of yarn as well as colors of yarns before I settled on this lovely and soft linen/rayon yarn from Classic Elite Yarns, known as Firefly  http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/product_page_detail.php?category_id=1&item_id=77 .  In addition to the softness, it has a slight sheen that lends some elegance and brightness to dark motif it surrounds.  Design process complete!

The result: conversion of balls of fiber and a button into a one-of-a-kind piece of wearable art!  Not nearly as complicated as heavy industrial manufacturing, but a lot more comfortable under a coat and easily affordable as gift or something fresh for the cool weather accessory wardrobe.

Working on Autumn -- Ready Soon!

Hi to All,

Time really flies by and autumn is nearly upon us.  Here in Happy Valley, the sure signs of autumn are the return of the Penn State students and the revving up for the upcoming football season.  At KnittenKaboodle, it means a whole new assortment of fabrics and designs.

This is a quick posting as I am deeply in the middle of autumn production, both sewing and knitting.  I have a few samples on the sewing side to share today, with quite a bit more on the cutting table.  The first deliveries will be ready for Tait's Harvest Shop next week!  I will post more at that time. 




Three Aprons, three styles. There will be assorted styles and decorative touches!




Lavender 'trivets': Release the light essence with a warm teapot or serving dish, or just through handling.




More trivets under construction

 I will have more news on the knitting side of the business very soon! 

True Blue

We are so excited to have a new creation from contributing artist Betty Sebastian!  Drawing her inspiration from the lovely surroundings and warm climate of South Carolina, Betty focuses on using highest quality alternative fibers, which especially appeal to people with allergies to wool and wool blends. 

She has crafted a take-anywhere wrap that is as sturdy as it is pretty, and sports a wonderful sheen indicative of silk (but without the special care concerns!).  A great way to ward against overly chilly air conditioning or to throw on once those evenings begin to cool off. 

The stitch work is so pretty, yet contemporary it works well with anything from sundresses to denim.

Crochet is not just afghans and granny squares and I invite you to indulge in Betty's lovely wrap.  http://knittenkaboodle.com/handknits.htm

I will write more about crochet in future blogs, as I am continually impressed by the depth and variety of stitches and uses for this particular craft form.  For me personally, I am far less experienced in this craft and am proud to offer works from other fine artists.  To learn more about crochet, please check out    http://www.crochetyourway.com/  by Misty Ledbetter.

A final note today: a small journey to South Carolina!




Deck chair view




Low Country View




Sunrise on another lovely day