Knitting For Profit

If you love knitting and have ever wished you could make money from it, then make sure you keep reading because I


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Knitting Online Success Story – JJ from begintoknit.com

Monday, September 21st, 2009

This is a great interview to listen to if you are keen to get your knitting or crochet online, and we’ll be following up with the teleseminar on Thursday/Friday to answer all your questions (check out the post below to register). As I mentioned in my last post, I really enjoyed this interview and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you!

Just click on the play button below and you’ll be able to hear the recording which runs for about 50 minutes, or you can read the transcript in the two posts below.

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Posted in Knitting Websites, Make Money Knitting, Success Stories & Interviews | 2 Comments »

Knitting Online Success Story – JJ from begintoknit.com Part 1

Monday, September 21st, 2009

This is the transcript from my interview with JJ so if you prefer reading to listening, or you want to check a resource that is mentioned you’ll find the entire interview here – enjoy!

[Liz]: Today I’m talking to Jenny Vasquez from www.begintoknit.com, or J.J. as she actually likes to be known because that name includes the other half of her team – her husband who is also a knitter. Now J.J. has a wonderful and inspiring story which I wanted to share with you.

Because of the economic conditions at the moment in the U.S. she made the decision to take control of her own future and she’s taken the most important steps towards achieving this by starting her own business. She’s using a combination of strategies in her business; including teaching and the volume strategies. So now she’s using the power of the internet to get herself and her fabulous products and services going.

So J.J. would you like to tell us a bit about your background and perhaps introduce your husband and how you discovered his secret talents?

[J.J]: Absolutely – well my husband whose name is Juan; he’s a wonderful, wonderful man and an incredibly talented man, who was actually quite shy about his ability with knitting. We had been married about a month and we had very much a very quick relationship, so we hadn’t probably known each other more than about seven months all told, after we had been married about a month and I actually pulled out a magazine that had some crochet patterns in it and I said— Oh look I wonder if I can make this and he said well can’t you just make it by looking at the picture? And I said no… I absolutely have to go by the pattern, I’m a good knitter, but I’m not an exceptional knitter. I have to have a pattern to follow. He says well I can do that by just looking at it, and I didn’t take him seriously I thought he was joking with me. And the next thing I knew we started hitting the local discount stores and bulk retailers and getting all kinds of knitting needles and crochet hooks and yarns of all different colors and variations and shortly thereafter I found out we were expecting our first child, we’d only been married a couple of months and here’s my husband with this incredible skill so we started making all sorts of stuff for the baby before she was even born.

[Liz]: Fantastic and were you actually selling some of your products at that point?

[J.J]: At that point immediately? No – mostly because he was just shy about anyone knowing that he did this. And for myself, it wasn’t really something that occurred to me because even though I knew how to crochet, it didn’t seem like something that I would be able to make lucrative because I did it for my own hobby. My husband on the other hand, he was very proficient – I had no idea, but because he’s a man, he’s a Hispanic man and that’s not typical hobby for a Hispanic man, he was very shy about it. It took probably about two years before the cat got out of the bag. That he had this incredible skill and then we started occasionally selling some stuffed animals and the occasional baby layette and stuff like that and I kinda had to take the hit for a while – “Oh yeah I made that”- even though I felt horrible about fibbing about it but he justified it saying— you know the two are one, you’re my wife so it’s just as much you as me. But once the ball started to roll on that- yeah we had people that were very interested in the products that he was making, for purchases…

It started really slow, it wasn’t something that came regular or frequently, it was sporadic just people would see something that they were interested in. Most of the stuff initially that we made was just for our own personal use as family members and as gifts for other people. But this past year we really saw the value of his ability to knit not only is he a creative knitter but he’s a prolific knitter. He knits very quickly, very accurately with a great deal of skill. We could be sitting there watching a movie and he’s knitting away. He could finish a scarf by the time we’re done with the movie!

[Liz: Wow !] Yes he’s incredibly gifted. Now mind you that wouldn’t be something that’s a terribly complicated pattern but you’re basic just switching out colors or something like that- he could do that fairly quickly.

Now winter around here business is not very good, this area is highly industrialized and we’re hit very hard with winter. Because our local economy is so based on the RV industry and mobile homes, in the winter time business drops off, sales drop off and business all over the place in one fashion or another just drops off. Well this past year was particularly bad – there were about three weeks solid that he didn’t work at all. One day I just happened to be wearing one of the scarves he knit me (it’s just something he does every now and then – he’ll come up with something and surprise me – and I really love it I feel so special), and a girl at work came up and said “Oh, I love that scarf – where’d you get it?” And I said well my husband made it for me… She’s like “no way! I don’t believe you” Oh yeah- I’ve got three of them just like it but different colors and different patterns. Well how much for him to make me one? I said well how much would you pay, and it just kinda blew, up from there all of a sudden.

I happen to mention to someone else – oh yeah my husband made this. “Oh really” You know? And it just kept growing like that- and she mentioned it to someone- that my husband was making her one, and I couldn’t believe how fast the orders started coming in. Even with the economy as bad as it is, around Christmas time people wouldn’t think anything of spending ten dollars on a gift for someone. And it’s just really surprising- and they’re very…. handmade high quality and we can do them custom. Around here, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the university of Notre Dame but it’s a big deal around here there’s a lot of Notre Dame fans. And we can do them custom- there’s just all kinds of ways that we were able to really tailor make the business for the area.

It really was tremendous. We actually covered the income that he lost through that time of not working- we were able to almost completely replace it with the knitting orders.

[Liz: Fantastic] I can tell you he was tired, but he worked hard and he was so proud of the work he did. And it felt really good to me because I was able to see other people- see I really did the marketing on it, and I assisted him on picking out the patterns and there were some things that he wasn’t really sure what the best way to edge it may be or something along those lines. I helped him do the tassels and I helped him do the edging on some of them. I basically did the cleanup work because I was still working regularly at that point- I worked for a retailer and Christmas is a big time for us. So I was actually working a little overtime. But it was wonderful for me, because I’m so proud of his skill and his tremendous talent. I was really, really happy to see him really take ownership of that and he was able to say “I did this”, and it really felt good.

[Liz]: What a really fantastic story! So now from there are you going to keep doing that or are you now going to focus on your online business? Give us an idea of what you’re up to now, you have your scarves..

[J.J] That’s one thing that my husband does- he’s actually proficient in both knitting and crochet, so as our business grows we will become more inclusive of other crafts and hobbies of that fashion. He has a wide selection of- he’s actually begun to develop his own knitting and crochet patterns for rugs different kinds of home items- home décor items. He does doilies- he just covered a whole realm of possibilities. We’ve noticed that knitting is a very good seasonal business, we have been put on to a few bazaars in the area, where knitters would actually get together the day after thanksgiving- it’s the biggest day in the states here. Thanksgiving falls on the third Thursday of every November- so it’s the almost the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

So as we go forward he’s been building up his stock, because I’ve been focusing more on the online business, he’s been focusing on what we call the hard products, which are the actual knitted products.

I have been working on developing his information products which are the patterns that he’s creating, and his techniques – the way he learned to knit, because the way he learned was very organic. As a child he would watch his older sister knit and crochet, and he’s a very visual learner. He picked up a huge amount just by watching her and then he actually fell ill for a period of time where he was unable to do physical work, but he didn’t want to just lay there like a lump, he needed to do something- he’s one of these busy bodies that is not happy unless he’s active and he’s a highly motivated individual so he was very frustrated at that point.

He picked up the knitting again and he kinda taught himself some specific techniques, and this is the kicker- he taught me how to knit! Yes absolutely, I knew how to crochet, I was familiar with the idea of how yarn is manipulated but as far as manipulating it with two needles- I felt very awkward with that, I actually tried to teach myself to knit a number of years ago and was just like blahhh forget it, it’s not working for me. But using the techniques that he has developed – he taught me to knit in very short order; I was very impressed as to how easy it was with the methods that he was teaching me. And I’ve actually been working on developing his teaching methods into usable, easy to follow programs that anyone- I feel- can pick up these skills.

[Liz] Fantastic, is that where the idea of begintoknit came from?

[JJ] Yes, absolutely. I knew I wanted to do something on the internet. Because aside from all the other things that fascinate me, I’m fascinated by interacting with people of all different kinds of cultures, all over the world. And its fun to interact with all these people all over, not only that but if you widen your scope to an internet business, you are not limited to the local economic issues [Yes that’s true] Yes and I mean, why not cast your net very wide? If we have something to offer people, something like the information products- and it’s so easy to provide that to people. And we’re giving them quality information, we’re not just coming up with something hodge-podge and half made, it’s stuff that we’re really putting some effort into creating for people.

We’re excited about the products that we’re developing and the internet really is the best place to do that. So as I began to kind of investigate how can I work this out, what’s going to be the best way to do this, I stumbled on a couple programs that led me in the right direction.

Now understand; I have tried so many different home based businesses. I have been in any kind of market that you would want to try to be in, I think at one point I mentioned to you I did data entry-which is a very nebulous kind of term which basically means filling out data on a computer that completely flopped. I’ve done the multi level marketing that completely flopped, for me- mind you these are things that can work for other people. But for myself- they weren’t working simply because I wasn’t really able to feel comfortable hitting up everybody that I knew individually. I didn’t want to be like- oh my goodness here she comes, she is going to sell me something today- you know? And I personally knew people like that and I didn’t want to be that way, so I just really didn’t want to, I was just completely turned off by that idea. So with all of the things that I’ve tried to do; internet marketing and the way I’ve begun to learn how to do internet marketing really has become the way for me to get the message out there on how wonderful knitting is as a hobby, how wonderful it is as a way to augment your income….it helps so many different aspects of your life, it makes you feel good, you look at something that you created and you’re like wow I did this, you know?

My husband recently taught my nine year old daughter to knit using the program that we developed. She grasped it in a matter of a couple of hours, I mean it was very quick – and she’s all excited, she’s like’ mom look at this’, and she’s making a scarf for herself and she is so thrilled with it and it’s just so awesome to see. And we’re teaching our son to crochet and knit as well. [That’s great!] I think s,o and as I begun to really try to connect with other people on the internet I am really impressed as to how many men are out there unabashedly and unashamedly admitting to their knitting skill and I pull my husband over and I say ‘look honey look I just found three more guys that know how to knit isn’t this cool?’ And he’s like ‘well I guess I’m not alone’, it’s like “no you certainly are not!”.

So that’s why we really decided to go with the internet, because there’s so many more people like you out there it’s easy to relate and yeah. This is my joy I’m the internet person and he’s the creative person and I make his creativity shine.

[Liz]: Fantastic, you’re a great team!

[J.J]: Oh yeah. It’s amazing, I don’t know- I can’t help but think god planned this out; he planned him just for me you know? And it’s so funny because in so many ways we’re so opposite of the normal gender roles, I also happen to home school my children- I have four children their ages are three, five, seven and nine. Yes they are a handful, they’re very beautiful, smart, amazing kids and I couldn’t be more proud of them. But in our family when it comes to the schooling of our children I’m the one teaching them the math, I’m the one teaching them the science; I’m the one teaching them all the nuts and bolts of everything they need to learn. And my husband is doing all of the home economics and the creative teaching- he teaches them the cooking; he teaches the knitting and crocheting. It’s a really amazing teamwork that we put together to teach our kids.

The second part of this transcript will be posted tomorrow…

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Machine Knitting Success Story – Diana from Wizardknits

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Diana learned to knit from her great grandmother, and although she didn't realise it at the time, the skills she developed put her on the path to becoming a true “knitterpreneur”.

Like so many knitting businesses, it started as a hobby and grew over time into a full-time occupation. Now Diana enjoys spending her days doing what she loves to do. Read on to find how she has created a fantastic niche knitting business that grows and grows, with an advertising budget of zero!

Diana's knitterpreneur journey started back in 1975 when her daughter was born. After learning from her great grandmother how to knit complete garments for her dolls, she started doing the same for her daughter. Neighbors noticed her creations and started asking her to knit for their children too.

Diana offered a very personalised service, with her customers able to choose colours and adjust styles and sizing, and very soon she could hardly keep up with demand. Even after moving interstate and starting her knitting business over, her customer base quickly grew as word spread about her unique and high quality creations including children's clothes and layettes. Even today she knits for the same customers, but now it's for their grandchildren!

The Switch To Machine Knitting

It was at this point in her business that she realised she just couldn't keep up with hand knitting alone, so Diana invested in a knitting machine and hasn't looked back. After figuring out how to use the machine herself, she also began teaching others. This included demonstrations in yarn-stores, craft shows, school events and adult education classes.

Throughout her knitting career, Diana has used every one of the five “Knitting For Profit” strategies. She has done contract knitting for designers to test patterns and correct mistakes, she taught others how to knit, she has re-created vintage knitwear for a Parisian couturier, she has designed knitting patterns of her own, and also created unique made-to-order garments for theatre, vintage and historical costuming. She never tires of knitting, because something new and interesting is always available!

How Diana's Son Changed Her Whole Business…

Diana's knitting business now includes a great niche market and whole new marketing strategy, all because her son wanted to go to a convention dressed as Harry Potter in a Hogwarts uniform. She knitted up a woollen scarf and school sweater for him, and suddenly there were requests from friends and other fans for the same. Her son posted the items on the internet, and they got more orders than they could fill – the scarves selling out in just 3 hours!

Diana's knitting service had always been so personalised she hadn't thought that she would be able to sell online, but after the success of the scarves and sweaters she created wizardknits.com and found that her high quality garments and personalised service were a winning formula online as well as off.

She has not spent a cent on advertising – all her traffic and orders come from word of mouth and referrals. People from around the world now know her name and will seek her out to get their knitted wizarding garments.

The secret she says, is authenticity. When you buy from wizardknits, you get a quality product of 100% wool that has the most authentic design and colours available. And the second most important factors are customisation and service. She tailors each sweater to suit her customers and always maintains communication with them. She will answer each and every email because “If you want to get a sale, you need to act like you are interested and respond to questions. Working on the internet is not the same as being live in front of someone, but you still need to communicate with people!”

The Problem Of Pricing?

Every knitterpreneur has to contend with the issue of pricing – valuing your time and skills can be hard – and Diana was no different. “I have spent sleepless nights trying to figure out what is a fair price for me, but also working out how much someone would be willing to spend, and I know I would pay almost any price to get something that fit me and looked great. In the end, you need to look at it that way, get the best materials and make it as something you would buy yourself”.

She has found that her most expensive products actually sell just as well (if not better) than her lower priced ones, which shows that people are willing to pay more when they are getting a high quality niche product that they won't find anywhere else.

Stock Control And Minimising Costs

Diana has some great advice for keeping costs down. Once you find your niche and know what knitted products you are going to provide you'll be able to order your yarns in bulk and from yarn wholesalers rather than retail. Diana has found that by knitting to order (and having virtually no stock) she can order only the yarn she needs, so she doesn't have costly leftovers lying around and she doesn't need lots of space to store stock.

Diana's Advice For Starting Out?

“The first thing you need to do is decide whether you are ready to spend the time to make your knitting into a business. You can be knitting furiously all day but it doesn't make a knitting business, there are a lot of things that go with it. If you spend the hours to start the right way, and if you set it up correctly then it pretty much runs itself.”

And Her Advice For Starting Machine Knitting…

“There's a big learning curve with a knitting machine, in my opinion you need to spend the money and get a good quality machine. So you need to decide if your knitting business is ready for it – do you have enough orders and business to warrant it? A knitting machine is an investment, I take it off in my tax return, and my business did not warrant one in the beginning, but it came to a point where I just couldn't keep up with demand and it really helped.”

“There are many different kinds of knitting machine so you need one that suits your business and the kind of knitwear you produce. Stay away from plastic machines, and get one with accessories because once you have achieved the learning curve and are comfortable with it, you want your knitting machine to be able to grow with you as you are able to do more complex designs.”

“Remember its a learning experience, you shouldn't assume that you can buy a knitting machine and instantly have a sweater, even the knitting on a machine takes a long time to learn. It will speed things up in the end, and if you are knitting the same things over and over again then its perfect”

Her Favourite Part Of Knitting For Profit?

“I just enjoy the knitting, and knowing that the person on the other end just can't wait to get what I'm making for them. You would think I would get tired of knitting these, but they are all different – different sizes and colours. I knit hundreds of sweaters and scarves a year, so you can't do that without really loving it!

And it's the unsolicited testimonials and that they are always pleasantly surprised when they open their package from me, that's what I enjoy hearing”

Visit Diana's website at www.wizardknits.com and if you would like to know more or ask any questions you can contact her by clicking here.

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A Quick Lesson In Speed Knitting

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

If you want to make money knitting, then being able to knit faster not only means you can get more done in a shorter space of time, it also means you are being paid more per hour of work – so it’s worth taking some tips from the worlds fastest knitter!

Miriam Tegels is in the Guiness Book of World Records for completing an amazing 118 stitches in one minute!

KnitPicks has released this video with tips from Miriam for increasing the speed of your knitting, and it’s really fascinating to watch her in action. Miriam knits in the continental style for competition, but her tips are still useful even if you knit in other styles.

To really get your needles burning, Miriam suggests:

• Don’t tense up – make sure you shoulders are relaxed

• Keep all your movements small, your hands should move as little as possible

• Keep your left index finger low, almost in line with the needle

• Drape yarn over your left index finger and down through the middle and ring fingers of your left hand. Keep tension by clamping down on the yarn with these fingers

• If you want to compete, practice continental style on size 8 needles with DK weight yarn, once you can knit more than 200 stitches in 3 minutes you’re ready!

If you’re not interested in competing, stick to your preferred style and just keep practicing! When you are knitting for profit it’s well worth the effort to increase your speed and productivity.

Another way to speed up your knitting is to choose projects that are simple and fast to knit. There are some good books available that specialise in fast projects, and remember to have a look at Ruth’s projects which are designed to be fast and easy too.

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Knitting Business Success Story – Jill and Susan from Y2Knit

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Susan and Jill have brought together their love of knitting and yarn, their skills, life passions and experiences to create www.Y2Knit.net, a knitting business with a difference!

They are a wonderful example of the many paths that a life in knitting can take you down, and how being creative with your approach can set you apart and make your knitting business a success.

Both Susan and Jill have been knitting since they were young children, and both have been teaching knitting for many years now. Their knitting business, Y2Knit, has evolved over the last few years to include not only the yarn store, but also knitting workshops (online and live), an extensive pattern collection, two published knitting books, two more books on the way, and of course their famous knitting retreats!

“Jill and I both loved the idea of combining a relaxing experience with knitting workshops, good food, yoga, massage and fun conversation. Our most recent knitting getaway was in Tuscany” says Susan.

This is a great example of finding a niche and doing something that really sets you apart.

Both Susan and Jill attribute their success to determination and hard work, as well as flexibility and being able to capitalise on each others skills. “We tend to have different strengths, so we can balance each other, and we are also able to bounce ideas off one another” says Jill.

They both had some experience in business when they started out, and now have a knitting business plan which helps keep them moving in the direction they want to go. “We are constantly looking at how we can excel and succeed in our knitting business” says Susan.

And they have some great advice for anyone wanting to start teaching knitting:

“I think the first step is to identify if you are a good teacher. Try teaching your friends and see what it’s like. If you find that you can’t stifle your impatience, then teaching knitting isn’t for you!

Jill and I both love to teach knitting, and I think that our enthusiasm shows through. To start, develop some lesson plans, find a venue, and work at getting people to sign up. To be an entrepreneur, you must be able to do your own marketing.”

They freely admit that their hours are long, and it can be challenging to embrace the rapid changes that have occurred in this industry over the last few years, but both Jill and Susan show a wonderful passion for knitting and teaching knitting, and live life surrounded by the people and things that are most enjoyable for them, a dream come true for many of us!

If you have found Jill and Susan’s story helpful and inspirational, or would like to know more about how to start teaching knitting, please leave a comment!

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