Poppy&Bee

Poppy&Bee is the home of crochet goodies for every member of the family. Natalie started her business by accident, after mucking around with finger puppets and miniature purses over summer, and finding a lot of requests coming in for custom made crochet goodies decided that it might be time to set up a TradeMe account. Fast forward six months, add in a website, blog, a feature in Little Treasures Magazine, three monthly markets and a Facebook Store and Poppy&Bee is fast becoming the go-to name for high quality, New Zealand yarn crochet hats and scarves.

“Luckily I had a lot of nice friends who wanted to indulge my crochet addiction, and I just kept on going from there”.

“I really love being able to crochet, it’s an age old skill that I learnt from my Mum, and I love that it’s passed down from generation to generation. I’ve already started to teach the Bee, he made his first crochet wristband at Easter and wore it for over a month without taking it off.”

With a focus on high quality yarns and a preference for natural fibres - beautiful handmade crochet garments and accessories are Poppy & Bee's specialty.

Add to this top quality finishes and detailing, Poppy & Bee's crochet creations available on-line at www.poppyandbee.com and can be custom made to order – using New Zealand yarns including Merino, Alpaca and Possum. All sizes from Newborn to Adult are accommodated.

“I’m quite particular about what fibres I use, and make sure that I know where they’re from, and how they work with the design I’m doing at the time. It’s been great accessing more New Zealand Possum and Alpaca yarns, they are so amazingly soft and light, and not many people have worn or even felt them before. It’s so satisfying seeing someone wear that yarn for the first time and be so happy and warm!”

Poppy&Bee is named for Natalie’s two children – “It was around midnight and I thought, right – if I’m doing this I’d better get a name, and to make sure I didn’t chicken out I started a blog at the same time – so it became ‘real’ about 1am one summer morning. The bad sleeping habits haven’t changed though, although I can’t crochet anything requiring complicated counting after about 10pm!

Natalie has also started a network for other work at home parents in Auckland, after seeing a need for a space for fellow artists and crafters who work from home in their own small businesses to catch up and share ideas and good coffee once a month. You can find out more about this here.

“I’m so excited to be finally running my own business, and enjoying the challenges unique to being a crochet artist. I am loving winter and the lovely chunky goodies that involves, and can’t wait to see what I come up with for summer – watch this space!”

I know I will be watching what you have in store for use Natalie. I really do love your beautiful work.