Tot Toppers by Kate Oates

Tot Toppers by Kate Oates was the topic of the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird today. Mostly just the ooo and aaah that comes with ‘cute’.

Kate says she learned to knit in middle school. As the oldest of three, feeling competitive, her sister learned to knit from an aunt and Kate felt compelled to learn, too. She says her sister is an awesome knitter and sews. Her boyfriend (now husband) loved to watch football so she did an big afghan, which was not a stretch in techniques. When she was pregnant with her first son, she learned more techniques and it became a hobby which morphed to designing.

Kate says the aunt that taught her, gave her the basic stitches but the majority of what she’s learned in techniques is from books. She started publishing her first pattern in Ravelry, but it’s all kind of a blur with her each family addition! Her patterns focused on her own needs, creating patterns for boys that people would want to knit and the wearer would want to put on. In fact, her four handsome young men often are seen modeling the pieces in the patterns.

Knits for Boys was kind of a dream book for Kate, that she envisioned for a long time as ‘something that needed to be made’. She included a Grow With Me section, so that modifications can be made as the child grows, she mentions things that can be done if the child grows while the project is in progress. That book is published through Stackpole Press as of just last spring.

Since then, two booklets, available through her website, New Girl and New Guy, are layette collections for brand-new additions to your family. She also creates designs for adults, too, which are just as fun and cute without being childish.

You can follow Kate Oates at her website www.tottoppers.com where she has a blog, too, also a page in Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and be sure to check out her designer page in Ravelry.  There is also a Ravelry Group for Tot Toppers.

You can listen to Kate’s previous visit to Yarn Thing podcast in 2013.

If you missed getting to hear this live, it is available as an archive where it aired orignially  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2015/10/08/tot-toppers-by-kate-oates or in iTunes.

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