How to Turn Your Knitting Hobby Into a Small Business

How to Turn Your Knitting Hobby Into a Small Business

By Nancy R Queen

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.

Designer Yarn Sale was founded in 2008 due to my love and passion for all things knitting. I wanted knitters and crocheters, many of whom often knit for others, to be able to find to brand name yarns at affordable discounted prices.

Fast forward to today... fortunately, with the help of a fun loving team of fellow knitters, we strive to provide you with lots of simple and fun to knit projects while creating a welcoming knitting community. Our goal is giving you friendly service, fast shipping, competitive pricing, and lots of project ideas and free patterns on our blog. Happy Knitting! - Nancy Queen

Scrapbooking | Toddler Girl Fall Hayride Scrapbook Layout Idea

Back in Fall of 2010 we took our precious little grand daughter for her very first hayride at a local fruit orchard. The grand-wee-one was 1 1/2 years old and absolutely loved the hayride but her favorite part of this Halloween and Fall adventure was playing in the big bin of straw that they had built for all of the little kids to play in.

I had 4 photos that I wanted to use in my layout and instead of going with traditional fall colors I decided to use purples and lavendar because of the wee-one's fall jacket. I am happy with my decision to go pastel for this layout.

I did the layout in the 12x12 format and my background sheet is a piece of printed plaid scrapbooking paper. I cropped down 3 of my photos so that they were all the same size. From light lavendar colored cardstock I cut a strip that measures 4 3/4" wide by 12" in length and matted all 3 of my photos onto that strip. I then cut from medium colored lavendar cardstock 2 strips that each measure 3/4" by 12" in length and glued them down the long edges of the photo strip. I think it adds depth and interest. I attached the entire thing down the right side of my background.

I cut the 4th photo to the same size as the other 3 photos and matted it onto light lavendar and medium lavendar cardstock so that it matched the other three. I then attached it to my layout on the left side of the page. (see photo). On the right top corner of that photo I added a dark purple daisy fabric flower with a foam adhesive dot to add texture and interest. Underneath the photo is a 3-D embellishment frame that is framing out a piece of vellum that has the words "Our Little Angel" on it.

My husband came up with the title for the page and using a play on the word strawberry he came up with "Strawbaby" which I cut the letters out for my title using my Cricut from dark purple printed paper and I then used the shadow effect and cut the letter out again from medium purple cardstock and layered them together with my Xyron sticker macker machine.

I am the type of person who likes very clean and uncluttered layouts and this one is certainly that. I love that I didn't use any of the traditional fall colors and went with the purples which really frame out the photos nicely since she is wearing a purple striped jacket.

Scrapbooking | Happy First Birthday Grand Daughter Scrapbook Layout

I finally getting some time to do some scrapbooking again and today I am sharing a 12x12 layout that I did that features my grand daughter. The photos were taken at her First Birthday Party which was done in a lavendar, pink and white color scheme so I went with those 3 colors in my scrapbook layout. (NOTE: you can click on the photos in this post to enlarge them to see details).

My background is a sheet of 12x12 pink cardstock. I then used a piece of printed scrapbooking paper to make my border on the left side. (it's a paisley print done in pink, white and purples). The strip measures 2 1/2" by 12" and then I used my Fiskars edger to make a lacey pattern along each long edge. I then glued it to a strip of solid purple scrapbooking paper leaving 1/4" of the purple sticking out from under the printed paisley strip. (left hand side of my layout).

I had 3 photos to put onto this background so I cropped them down and rounded their corners. I then framed them up with solid pink and solid lavendar cardstock, leaving 3/16" border around each frame. (see photo for placement).

I had various leftover 3-D birthday theme'd embellishments and wanted to use those up on this scrapbook layout so I placed a Happy Birthday one at the top left of the layout to serve as a mini-title for the page. I had a ribbon embellished stitcker that says Happy Birthday Princess which I placed under the photo on the left. I used stickers to spell out 1st which is near the ribbon embellishment and just wrote underneath that with a pink marker Birthday.

I had a long word sticker that said "Lots of Love on your Birthday" that I framed up with lavendar scrapbooking paper and ran that along the bottom of the layout. I then added a YUMMY word embellishment underneath the top right photo, a cupcake embellishment on the corner of the bottom photo on the right and a tiny chipboard cupcake is on the Lots of Love on your Birthday sticker on the bottom.

The page that I am working on now to match this one will have a bigger title block and a journaling block so I will post that scrapbook layout next week. Enjoy!

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Scrapbooking | Bubble Blowing Girl 12x12 Scrapbook Layout Idea

Today's layout was done in the 12x12 format and features photos of my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter playing with my hubby (her grandpa) outside and blowing bubbles. The color scheme is pink, dark pink and mint green and the background is a sheet of 12x12 printed scrapbooking paper done in an all-over paisley print which I just love because it is so girlie!

I had 2 photos that I cropped down and matted onto dark pink cardstock and I left a 1/4" border around each one. I used a piece of pink scrapbooking paper to make a journaling pocket which measures about 2 3/4" by 4 1/4" in size. I glued a paisley cutout onto the front of the pocket and threaded some coordinating fiber through 2 holes that I punched at the top of the pocket and tied a bow.
I had a round coordinating flower punch out that I cut in half and glue half under the top of the pocket and most of it is sticking out the top of the pocket to add interest. The other half I glued under the top of the photo on the right side of the page. I placed foam adhesive dots under the dragonfly cut out and put that on the top corner of the photo on the left.

I then took a letter G (also says girl) on it piece of vellum and cut it down into a rectangular shape and matted it onto dark pink cardstock to frame it out. I then used 2 chipboard letters I and A to spell out my grand daughters knickname and placed that at the top right of my page using a glue pen. Underneath the bottom right photo is a small tag with their names written on it which I attached with a dark pink flower brad.

Overall, I really like the layout and it only took me about 45 minutes to make. Quick & Easy!

Learning to Play the Game of Golf

My 45th birthday is coming up in June and this year I decided that I wanted to do something new for my birthday. Since I am trying to become more healthy and get more physical activity, I decided to learn how to play golf.

My husband has been playing golf for 15 years now and I am hoping to join him out on the golf course once I complete a few necessary lessons. Last weekend my hubby took me out shopping to look for a good set of golf clubs and after trying out a few in the store, I finally decided on a nice set that is specifically made for women golfers.

While we were at the sporting goods store my husband treated himself by purchasing two new golf drivers for himself. In addition, the store had this little kid's golf club set with the cutest little golf clubs and balls that we picked up for our Grand-Wee-One who will be celebrating her third birthday later this month. We think she will love it!

Now that I have my new set of golf clubs, I will have to find some time to sit down and crochet some golf covers to fit over my new golf clubs to protect them. After all, golf clubs are expensive and I want to keep them looking nice for as long as I can.

Do any of you play golf? If so, what is your handicap? In addition, do any of you have any crochet or sewing patterns for golf club covers or know where I might find some patterns for them? Thanks for your help ladies!

Scrapbooking | Beach Paradise Scrapbook Layout Idea

Back in September of 2011 hubby and I went down to the condo for a one week vacation at the Jersey Shore so these photos are from that trip. This layout was done in the 12x12 size. The background is a piece of printed blue scrapbooking paper done in a tropical floral print in muted blue and orange colors. I tore a piece of coordinating striped paper and placed that down the left side and used chipboard letters to spell out the word "Beach" for my title.

**NOTE** You can click on the photos in this post which will enlarge them for better details.

I cropped 3 photos and did not mat them onto paper but I did accent them with photo corners. I used a pre-purchased chipboard tag and pocket for my journaling and added some orange fiber to the tag (right side of the layout between the 2 photos). I accented the top photo on the right with an orange colored tab and on the left side is the words "Soak up the Sun" which is a sticker that I matted onto teal blue cardstock.
On the bottom is a piece of chipboard that says "Paradise" which I accented on the sides with more orange fibers. Under each of the smaller 2 bottom photos are stickers (one says ISLAND FUN and the other one says WARM BREEZE).

This was a super quick and easy layout to do since I used prepurchased chipboard letters (for title), chipboard tag & pocket, chipboard word accents and a few stickers. You can purchase the page kit and stuff that I used from a great online store called Scrapbuck.com

Do-It-Yourself Nautical and Beach Home Decor Craft Projects

I love coastal home decor and I have a lot of it in my own home. There is just something peaceful and calming when you live in a home with beautiful beach decor. Today I thought I would share a few easy craft project ideas with you to spruce up your own home if you love nautical beach decor.

In my first picture above you see a beautiful wooden photo frame/shadow box. I purchased a wooden frame aka shadow box and painted it white (2 coats of white paint). I then purchased some 1/2" by 1/2" abalone shell tiles. I simply hot glued them in a pattern around the opening of my frame (2 rows). You want to butt them up against one another and try to not leave any gaps in between them. In the top right corner is a 4x6" photo of my husband and I at the beach. I then took a star fish and 3 pretty sea shells and hot glued them inside the shadow box to add to my beach them. On the backside of this shadow box my hubby added a saw tooth hanger so I could hang it on my wall. Isn't it pretty? I think so!
The photo above shows a large vintage glass canister which I have been slowly filling up with pebbles, rocks and various sea shells that hubby and I pick up everytime we are down at the beach. I have a few pieces of sea glass in there too! One of these days I will have it completely filled up. We call it our "Beach Nature Jar" and it proudly sits on the corner of our nightstand in our guest bedroom.

I went to the dollar store a few weeks ago and purchased a clear glass star shaped candy dish or candle dish (not sure what it's true purpose was) but I filled it 1/2 way with sand that I brought home from the beach in a container and then made a nice sea shell and sea pebble arrangement on top of the sand. That peace sits on the back of our toilet in the guest bathroom. I will try to remember to take a photo of it and update this blog post with it.

If you are really crafty pick up a slew of various sized sea shells while you are walking the beach. Bring them home and wash them up. Have your hubby drill a tiny 1/8" hole into each shell and thread/knot them onto clear fishing line. You can hang them up via hooks off your deck to serve as a single or double strand windchime. I actually have a few indoors in our Florida sun room hanging up and they look super pretty. (need a photo of that one too ~ note to self).For the pen and pencil holder above this would be a great craft project to do with kids. You simply use a tin can from a can of soup and hot glue twine or rope around it. Once dry you hot glue some colored or white sea shells on the front and let it dry overnight. Great beach theme'd holder to hold your pens, pencils, makeup brushes, paint brushes or other small items.

The whole purpose of this blog post is to tell you that you can make a lot of your home decor beach accents all by yourself and you can do it for FREE, nearly free or very cheap! Enjoy!

Flood.com :: The Wood Care Specialists

This is a partnered post written by me on behalf of Flood Wood Care. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am really excited that Summer is almost here! Hubby and I have been super busy lately planning some new outdoor projects for our backyard. This year he is going to attempt to make a new wooden swing set, sandbox and little table and chairs set for our grand-wee-one. In addition to that, he wants to extend our wooden deck by another 10 feet or so and build a nice wooden fence around it. If he does a great job with all of that work, I am thinking about having him build me some rolling planter boxes for some of my big tree-type of plants.

With all of those projects going on, we have been doing some research into finding a good outdoor wood stain to treat all of our wooden backyard projects. We found a company called Flood® Wood Care who has been in business since 1841. The company was started by a family of painters so they definitely know their wood care products!

The Flood® brand earned the reputation as being "The Wood Care Specialist" because they understand the time and care that you put into your projects. They know that once it has been completed and looks beautiful that you will feel great pride in your work and completed projects. When it comes to getting the job done well, it all begins with the quality products that you use. They totally understand that and I look forward to trying out their products this summer.

You can trust Flood® brand products to simplify the process and to deliver the results that you want. Flood® wood stains have been recognized in the wood care industry for delivering quality results, reliable protection with long-lasting performance. In addition to all of that, their customers rave and rave about how beautiful their projects look after they have used the companies products. Gotta love customer testimonials!

Now that hubby and I have planned out our new projects for the backyard we need to get busy shopping for all of our supplies. I am hoping hubby can get our projects completed before the end of summer because in the fall I want him to work on some additional projects for our front yard areas.

Have any of you ever used the Flood® Wood Care products? If so, we would love to hear your thoughts. Do you have any projects planned for your outdoor living space this year? Who will be doing those outdoor projects?