Little Bit Knits by Lil Caju started out as a dream about 10 years ago. Initially it was not about yarn or baby products, but as a desire to start and own my own business. A little over three years ago I learned how to crochet from a dear friend, the basic granny stitch. A few months later I bought my first crochet book and learned how to crochet a baby hat. I made a few and posted them on craigslist, where soon after I had my first official sale - to a photographer, no less. Following the birth of my second child Little Bit Knits became a reality when it was launched on Facebook and later opened on Etsy (as Lil Caju). Little Bit Knits is the home for the crocheted baby line that presides in Lil Caju Boutique. Last year, I set aside one newborn hat for every sale that I made during the month of December. On Christmas Day I donated a bag of newborn sized beanie hats to my local hospital's NICU, the same NICU that my son stayed in for 1 week when he was born two weeks early with pneumonia. While my sales have steadily increased over the last year and a half, I want to give back to my local community and also to the community that my husband grew up in. My husband are I working out the kinks in a program where we will set aside a percentage of Lil Caju's sales to purchase and send children's books to rural villages in the Republic of Benin, a coastal country in West Africa. Literacy is still a huge problem in Africa and it is difficult for children to have access to reading materials. We want to change this through our program "Lis a l'Afrique" (Read to Africa). We are excited and hope to launch the program during the coming year.