How to Turn Your Knitting Hobby into a Small Business
Love to knit? Turn Your Knitting Hobby into a Small Business!
Knitting is a craft that has been around for centuries, but in our fast paced world of being able buy everything and anything, often hand crafting items has gone by the wayside. If you knit, that puts you at an advantage! You have a learned skill that you can pass on several different ways and actually turn a profit!
Teach Others to Knit
If you have the patience to teach others, why not pass on your passion for knitting? There are plenty of places that would appreciate a knitting instructor. Most often, beginner lessons are what is needed for local clubs, mom’s groups, retirement homes, libraries, and social centers. Start by contacting some of the places in your area, you’ll be surprised at how much interest you get. It may even help if you make up a flyer with your class rates and a list of materials the knitter will need to get started, i.e. a pair of 10″ bamboo knitting needles and a skein of worsted weight yarn.
Sell Your Finished Knitting Projects
Almost anywhere you go provides an opportunity to sell your finished wares. For me, the best way to open up the dialog is to just knit whenever you are out and about. The doctor’s office, the hair salon, picking up the kids from school, sporting events, on a train, at the airport, etc. People are so curious about what I’m knitting, they stop to ask. I always tell them and mention that I sell my finished projects and usually hand them a business card. Several times, I have finished a scarf and sold it right then and there!
Craft Fairs, church bazaars, flea markets, specialty boutiques, hair salons, and home parties are also great places to sell finished projects. Find out when craft fair, church bazaars and flea markets are happening in your area – for a small fee you’ll be able to rent a booth, set up shop and sell your finished projects. For those events, I’ve found that quick knitting projects that you can sell for under $25 seem to do best. Ruffle scarves, small knitted toys, and hats tend to sell well.
Contact specialty boutiques and hair salons in your area. Often they are looking for fine quality, unique items to sell in their shop or in a corner of their salon. Selling to shops does require, though that you may need to sell your items for a bit less than you could if you were selling them directly to the customer. When selling to shops, they will usually need to be able to sell the product for twice as much as they paid for it. So, if you sell it to them for $30, they will usually retail it for $60 or higher.
Last, but by no means least, selling online is also another great option. It will require the additional work of maintaining and updating a website, but it allows you to sell to the entire world rather than just in your community.
The Author:
Nancy R Queen loves anything related to yarn, knitting and crochet! I originally started designing patterns, mostly for kids. That evolved into a book, Crochet for Tots. Then I wrote Fabulous & Fun Crochet and later The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet and The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting.
