We are so excited to share with you these new Beekeeper Cowl Kits in our shop! I want to tell you a little about how these kits came to be. Bear with me, I have a lot to say about these. They’ve been a long time in the making, so to finally have them out in the world is such a good feeling! In 2018, Marie Greene, of Olive Knits, published her Beekeeper Cowl pattern featuring WoolyMossRoots toggle buttons. It was such a lovely pattern, and I was so delighted to see our buttons on there. I was inspired. I reached out to Marie asking about creating kits for the pattern and she said yes. Yay!
Then I reached out to Brooke Sinnes, of Sincere Sheep yarn, to ask about providing the yarn for the kits. (Any of you longtime blog readers have surely heard her name here before since I’ve shared quite a few projects I’ve knit with her yarn and written about how amazing her naturally dyed yarn is many times.) She also said yes, and had a new yarn base that would be perfect for it. At that point I was getting pretty excited about these kits, already dreaming up fun yarn color and wood button combinations. Brooke had a Beekeeper Cowl knit up with her yarn and our buttons, I was in love. I asked my fiber friend Valerie (who is incredibly talented by the way, she makes her own clothes, spins, a true maker extraordinaire) if she would be interested in being my model and she said she would be happy to. We had a lot of fun doing a photo shoot together.
Jeff made a handful of sets of beautiful toggle buttons for the cowls, and in 2019 we brought our first-ever kits to a fiber festival to sell, hooray! 2019 had other plans, though, and after some health stuff that came up in our family (long story), we decided it was time to stop traveling to fiber festivals and start working from home. (Which was our goal anyway, we just upped the timeline.) I was organized for the kits to be sold in-person, so tweaked some things for selling them online. Our business kept us busy at home, which was a blessing, and the kits got put on the back burner for awhile. In between orders, Jeff made a big variety of toggle buttons for the kits and bit by bit things came together for us to have the kits ready to sell online. And now, finally, here they are!
*I want to say a big thank you to the people who helped make this happen! We are grateful to Marie Greene, of Olive Knits, for featuring our toggle buttons in her Beekeeper Cowl pattern, and also for giving us her blessing for creating kits with her pattern. We want to thank Brooke Sinnes, of Sincere Sheep yarn, for providing the amazing yarn for these kits and for all the love and care that went into each and every skein. We also want to thank Valerie, beautiful inside and out, for being our model in these pictures, for her patience and for making me laugh and smile so much throughout our photo shoot.
And now let me tell you about the kits themselves…
Each Beekeeper Cowl Kit comes with two skeins of yarn to knit the cowl, and 5 handmade toggle buttons. *Also, the first 10 people to purchase a cowl kit will receive a free pattern with their order! We ordered the patterns directly from the company that sells them to yarn shops, each pattern is printed on high quality cardstock and we put each one in a page protector. Each pattern has a Ravelery PDF Download Code on the back also. (If you miss the chance for the free pattern included, you can simply purchase the pattern at Olive Knits here. We wish we had one for each kit, but that’s just how the numbers worked out. If we had planned to sell them solely online originally, I would have just had people purchase the pattern digitally, rather than sending the actual patterns, but the patterns on cardstock are really nice to have!)
About the pattern: The Beekeeper Cowl is such a lovely pattern, and is so cozy to wear. Here is what Marie wrote about it: “Beautifully textured cowl – a companion to the Beekeeper Cardigan! The ultimate multi-season accessory, the Beekeeper Cowl is both playful and refined. With decadent yarn, vivid textural details, and a button closure, this quick cowl is the perfect weekend project. If you love the Little Bee texture in the Beekeeper Cardigan, this will give you another way to play with it!” “Skill Level: Intermediate, Sizes: One size fits most, Finished Measurements Approximately 11 in/27.5 cm tall, 30 in/75 cm wide (buttoned).” (P.S. Here is a link that includes videos on how to work the little bee stitch.)
About the yarn: Let me just tell you how amazing this yarn is! Brooke’s Covet (DK weight) yarn is a blend of Rambouillet wool, Huacaya alpaca, and silk. It’s so soft and such a joy to knit with! Add to that, Brooke uses natural dyes to dye each and every skein. I love all the colors she has created, and had so much fun picking out a variety of colors for these kits. Here’s more about the yarn from the Sincere Sheep site:
“Covet is our luxurious, custom-spun DK weight California yarn made with 60% Rambouillet wool from Double R Farms in Marysville, CA, 25% Huacaya alpaca from Alpacas of Marin in Nicacio, CA and 15% silk. It has a lovely hand feel, with some variation that lends a little rustic quality in appearance.
We had the Rambouillet wool blended with black and gray Huacaya alpaca to create a lovely, heathered naturally gray yarn that we then over-dye. The colors that are listed “over gray” are dyed on this naturally gray Covet base as opposed to the white Covet base.
Double R Farms consistently raises award-winning Rambouillet ewes and rams on their ranch in Marysville, CA and won Supreme Ram at the 2017 Mendocino Co. Fair.”
About the buttons: These wooden toggle buttons were created by Jeff in a wide variety of woods. Our handmade buttons are truly a labor of love! He sands and polishes the buttons so smooth, you’ll love the way they feel. All the sanding and polishing also brings out the beauty of the wood, and makes it glow. Full of handmade character, these unique toggles make a fun addition to handknits. So much love goes into making these buttons for you to enjoy on your special, creative projects!
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We have six yarn colors for you to choose from: natural grey, yellow, burgundy, light blue, blue, and green. It was so much fun pairing the yarn and buttons! Anyone else geek out on the yarn and wood combos? I’m really curious to hear what you like most.
The kits with green yarn come with toggle buttons in Oregon myrtlewood. So fresh, earthy, and beautiful.
The kits with light blue yarn come with toggle buttons in cherry wood. This combination has a gentleness to it that I really love.
The kits with natural grey yarn come with toggle buttons in reclaimed purpleheart wood. I don’t know about you, but I feel like the purple and grey really suit each other.
The kits with burgundy yarn come with toggle buttons in reclaimed mahogany wood (that wood has a fun story, you can read about it at that link.) When I saw the rich colors of the burgundy yarn and the mahogany wood together, I felt like they were meant to be.
And finally, the kits with blue yarn and yellow yarn have two different wood button options because I liked them with both so much and wanted each of you to be able to choose. The kits with the blue yarn come with the option of either toggle buttons in Oregon madrone, or toggle buttons in a mix of woods. (I did a few mixed sets, I think they are so cool. The woods are: sustainably farmed leopardwood, Oregon myrtlewood, reclaimed purpleheart, cherry, and reclaimed mahogany.)
The kits with yellow yarn come with the option of either toggle buttons in cherry wood, or toggle buttons in reclaimed mahogany. The cherry and mahogany give different looks depending on whether you are wanting the buttons to blend in and be more subtle, or you want them to stand out and pop more.
You still with me? I know I’m writing a book here. The price of these kits is a really good deal! And you get free shipping too. Your purchase of these kits supports our family’s handmade business, as well as other artists’ work, and we are so grateful for your support! Thank you all & Happy Knitting!
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