Congratulations Amy H.!

You've got an email, and I'm looking forward to knitting for your little bean!

Newborn Slot Lotto will close at noon PST

:)

I forgot to state a time, and since we'll be heading out for the afternoon I want to close it in time to announce the winner. :)

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas tomorrow! We're headed to my ILs this afternoon (weather permitting) and then tomorrow we'll be celebrating the day as a family. Enjoy your celebrations as well!!

Silly Stripes™ Custom Slots for January

Because I'm going to be working with a new yarn base with a different gauge, I will need to rewrite all of my patterns. In order to do this, I need to knit at least one of each size soon. So, I'm going to work my customs this month around this. :) I'll be doing the very first pair in a newborn size. Now, this slot will have to be a semi custom, because I want to do my standard newborn hip (15") and rise (14")...so no changing those...but I can do your inseam as desired.

I will be offering this newborn slot as a lottery. To enter, please email me at littlebearknitwear@comcast.net. Please put "Newborn Custom" in your email subject. I will accept emails for this until Wednesday at which time I will use a random # generator to choose the lotto winner. As soon as you are contacted, I'd love for you to have chosen your four colors from my new yarns so I can start on then as soon as possible.

As soon as the newborn pair is knit up, I'll do another lottery for the next size I want to work up. So...stay tuned!

:)

New Yarns for Silly Stripes™ Custom Longies

I have decided to switch to Cestari Fine Merino for custom Silly Stripes™ woolies. Cestari is known for it's squishy soft, cottony feel and it's well wearing strength. I am happy to have made this switch to support a small US farm. Now, Silly Stripes™ are 100% made in the USA!

Here are the new colors!

Row One : Zinnia, Mountain Laurel, Lemongrass, Goldenrod
Row Two : Country Lavender, Babies Breath, Spruce Blue, Hummingbird Vine
Row Three : Dahlia Red, Moss, Bluet, Thistle Pod
Row Four : Tiger Lily, Pussy Willow, Spring Pasture, Peony Pink

Black is also available, but not shown.

**NEWLY ADDED** Iron Weed (a deep purple) & Wheat (a darker natural)

Silly Stripes™ Sizing, Pricing & Other Info

	Newborn	Small	Meduim	Large	X-Large
Rise	14”	15”	17”	19”	20”
Hip	15”	17”	19”	21”	22”
Inseam	6”	8”	9”	11”	13”

These sizes are updates to my former size chart.

Longies/Skirty Pricing Using Cestari Fine Merino
Newborn ~ $55
Small ~ $65
Medium ~ $75
Large ~ $85
X-Large ~ $95
ruffle cuffs ~ +$5
extra inseam ~ +$5/inch
pricing is based on largest measurement (hip & rise)

Manpris/Capris Pricing Using Cestari Fine Merino
Newborn ~ $48
Small ~ $58
Medium ~ $68
Large ~ $78
X-Large ~ $88
ruffle cuffs ~ +5
pricing is based on largest measurement (hip & rise)

Your Silly Stripes will be knit using four colors. Two "main colors" and two "secondary colors". Winning a custom slot will entitle you to one pair of woolies. I will only knit additional pairs in one slot in the case of twins, or triplets (or higher order multiples) however, the increased # of pairs of woolies will add to my completion time. Thanks so much!

A *Good* Yarn Day!

I just got a *big* box of yarn!! Look for an announcement in the next day or two! Lots of pictures to take!!

A scary future for all WAHP businesses....

I'm sure many of you are aware of the new regulations going into effect this February. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is trying to improve the quality of good available to all American's age 12 and under. It is a noble idea, and should certainly be enforced against imported goods from countries know to have "less than safe" products. However, it currently will be enforced unilaterally against all products markeded to children 12 and under. This will dramatically effect the wares available from small American companies. As it is currently written, Little Bear Knitwear, and many, many other small WAHP businesses will be closing up shop. The fines are astrinomical. (If fined, I'd lose my house trying to pay the fine.)
Anyway, there are oodles of sites to read more about this...certianly more eloquently stated than I am here.

I was directed to this site this morning. http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/issues/alert/?alertid=12274476 In under one minute, you can email your state elected officials urging them to help to revise this act. It does not ask that the whole act be repealed...certainly I'd love to see stricter regulations against many MIC products. It does ask for the safety process to be ammended to allow wahp to make safe products. You also have the option to print out the letter and snail mail it to your officials' offices. It is quick and easy...you don't even need to know the name or address of your officals. The site will do it for you.

I appreciate you thinking about this....it is scary to all of us wahms....and consumers are afraid too...if it stays as currently written, it will change the way we shop for our children. :(