BobNWeave

Hi! My name is Karen. I live in the Twin Cities and strive to create and supply unique knitting and spinning products.

The order I learned my craft(s): Knitting - age 9, Crocheting - age 11, Counted Cross Stitch - age 14, Drop Spindling - 5/2010, Spinning Wheel - 6/2010, Raising Angora Rabbits - 2/2011, Acid-Dyeing Wool - 3/2013, Natural dyeing - 5/2013, intarsia - 12/2013, mosaic (slip stitch) colorwork - 5/2014

I also enjoy gardening and learning new hobbies. I have a fifteen-year-old son, ten hens who lay fabulous eggs, eight rabbits who provide me with luxurious angora yarn, three cats who cuddle with my husband and I, and a dog that provides me with a good excuse to get exercise.

My mother taught me how to knit when I was young. Since I wasn't coordinated enough to hold the knitting needles, I'd rest the right needle in my hip. I made a scarf but quickly lost interest in knitting. I learned to crochet in high school and did so until I developed tendinitis as a secretary.

My son was born when I was in my late twenties, and I wanted to knit baby clothes for him. I picked up the needles again, bought some yarn and rested the right needle in my hip. Even though it was awkward, I made him a pair of booties.

At some point in my early thirties, the internet was gaining popularity, and I ran across some information about the Shetland Islands, knitting belts and knitting sheaths. I was intrigued, spent many hours researching the technique and ordered a belt from the Shetland Islands. I could only find two sizes of long double-pointed needles (DPNs). I waited patiently for the supplies to arrive and was overjoyed that using a knitting belt relieved the pain in my right hand. Finding a pattern for single-pointed needle mittens was difficult, because I wasn't ready to tackle circular knitting. Despite the seam on the pinkie side, I made my son a pair of mittens.

I'm now in my early fourties, and I've been a little obsessed with making complicated shawls. My largest shawl was for my childhood friend. The shawl spanned three needles, and I knit with the fourth. I put a rubber needle tips on the ends of the DPNs so I wouldn't drop stitches, and I made sure to knit one or two stitches from the "new" needle to prevent the work from stretching between them, creating a "ladder". Unfortunately, since this wasn't a good project to bring with me on short trips, I would occasionally forget to grab the knitting belt on my way to Wednesday knit night. I made a second belt for myself and mentioned my new project on Ravelry. As you know, word gets around, and people started to request that I make them a belt.

I am passionate about providing product quality at a low cost. I don't believe that you should have to exchange comfort for cost. It makes my day when customers take the time to tell me that they can knit pain-free again.

I cut, dye, stitch and rivet the leather knitting belts in my home in Minneapolis, MN. I buy from local vendors when possible but must use a Chinese manufacturer for many of the long DPNs.