About Me and A Bee In The Bonnet

Thanks for stopping by! I’m Lauren Rad. I design soft, romantic knitting patterns for stitchers who want to escape the everyday. Most mornings, you can find me curled up in my pink wingback chair with a hot mug of tea and some handknit socks on my always-cold feet. 

I’m primarily a knitting pattern designer. My designs focus on elegant simplicity and lots of texture, with an emphasis on stitch patterns that can be easily memorized and smaller projects that are super portable. They’re heavily inspired by Edwardian fashion, rococo interiors, and the 19th century novels I read over and over when I was younger (and the romance novels I devour now!).

I also blog about knitting and photography, and I teach classes to help makers embrace their desire for softness and beauty. That’s because I believe everybody deserves a place of safety and warmth, a place where they can let down their guard and be vulnerable for a little bit. Knitting, and making more generally, is a door into that space.

And having that space is freeing. We exist every day inside systems that tell us we don’t matter, that we’re cogs in a large machine, that our wants and wishes should be set aside. We’re told that vulnerability is weakness and that loving beauty is shallow and frivolous. Humans have an innate desire for beauty, though, and embracing that desire gives us freedom from social pressures that tell us we only matter when we’re producing things to sell.

When I’m not knitting up a storm, you can usually find me puttering about in my rose garden, going on small adventures with my elementary schooler, or hunting for sea glass at the beach.

If you’ve read this far, I’d love to hear from you! Send me an email at abeeinthebonnet@gmail.com, and I’ll get back to you asap.