News
A Little Story About My Hot Mess
💥Hot Mess💥 There’s a story behind this one. We all know the cliche about artists being temperamental. There happens to be some truth to it. At least there is for me. Because my website offers so many colorways & bases, and yarn orders are almost never the same ones in a row, I tend to dye to order. I pride myself on being able to repeat colorways: whether it’s 6 in a batch or just 1 and no matter how long it’s been since I dyed a particular one. This method also prevents using up inventory for a smaller business. ...
New Year, New to KittyBea!
Bea's Beading By the Sea Florida Hand-Dyed Yarn Knitting The Knitting Barber Yarn
Sayonara to 2021! Happy New Year to my family, friends, and followers! 🎉🎉🎉 May the New Year be prosperous to you in health and wealth. Who doesn’t love a fresh start? I’m working on something new, Kitty's Faves. These are items I personally use (and love) and they are now conveniently found on their own page on the KittyBea website. There will be products added as I find new loves. This is not intended to be a full notions or needles selection. Kitty's Faves is simply that, those few and far between products that I enjoy using and make my knitting...
Meet Floyd!
  So, THIS is what I’ve been working on, in between dyeing nearly 250 skeins over the last couple of weeks. One sleeve to go! I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to block a design. This Ritual Dyes Elder really comes to life when blocked. Rambouillet is my favorite wool and this Quartzite colorway is just gorgeous. I wanted to use Primrose Homestead in From London with Love simply because I thought they looked great together. But what about the weight discrepancy? Elder is light worsted and Homestead is sport weight. After blocking my swatch, I realized that...
Whitetip Masterpiece
   When it comes time for a new Purl Diver colorway, I usually look over a few pics that Susan has narrowed down from Murray’s files. We discuss what base we intend to dye, what color(s) we haven’t done in awhile, the season and/or a theme for that shipment. For the final shipment of the 2019 Purl Diver Club, Susan preselected a photo and she had a clear idea for the yarn. She’d chosen Murray’s photo of a Whitetip Shark and said she’d like one bare spot and the rest tonal gray. I did the test skein in...
Linen: My First Knitting Love
   I'm in LOVE with linen. So far, I've written four patterns (three have been published) and each one uses linen. I've written a pattern for two of Quince & Co.'s yarns, Sparrow and Kestrel, Louet's Euroflax Sportweight and Shibui's Reed (the Reed pattern is still going through the test knit phase). Especially for my native climate in Florida, linen performs amazingly well. It also works as a three-season fiber in other climates. Many people think of cotton for warmer climates. The biggest difference between linen and cotton has to do with humidity. Linen doesn't hold onto humidity the...