Artist Interview: Poppy&Bee

My name is Natalie and I am the 'Crochet Queen' at Poppy&Bee Crochet Handcrafts. I create delicious crochet goodies for wearing and loving. This winter the range is all about hats and gloves, using soft alpaca, possum and merino.

I started Poppy&Bee (named for my children's nicknames) at the beginning of 2011, in order to share the joy of wearing high quality handmade crochet garments with everyone. 

Poppy&Bee is definitely a dream come true, and I am pleased to be invited to participate in the Auckland Art & Craft Fair. Come and say hi when you visit us in June!

What inspires you? Being a practitioner of crochet is inspiring just because quite often I've found that ones is not expected to be able to create anything useful AND beautiful with crochet. I love to say that I have made something with my own two hands that can be both practical and delicious to wear at the same time. 

I am inspired by seeing a new yarn in a store, a glimpse of an interesting hat in the street and my own heritage of handcrafting women motivates me to keep learning in order to continue their legacy.

Do you have any future plans for your work, could you describe them? As winter draws to a close and the demand for scrummy warm hats wanes I want to move into developing a range of accessories as well as summer garments such as mesh tunics, swimwear cover-ups and wraps. 

My goal for this year is to have Poppy&Bee's range in at least two boutique stores that are able to share my vision of high quality handmade yarn garments with a wider audience.

Where are your favourite places on-line? Goodness - I seem to be online all the time! As well as maintainging my own site, my Felt shop, my blog and Facebook page I enjoy reading lots of crochet related blogs, http://attic24.typepad.com being a favourite. I spend a LOT of time on Ravelry (www.ravelry.com) researching yarn and patterns and talking with other yarn artists.

I love Felt and Etsy of course, both for fun and for inspiration.

What do you enjoy doing when you aren't busy making your wares? I try to make time for hobbies, but crochet is so addictive and fun (even when I'm doing it for work!) that I do tend to spend a lot of time doing that. I have recently joined the local Aikido club with my son so that gives me the chance to burn off some energy! I love reading and surfing the net, as well as spending time with my family and friends.