Do You Dream of Making Money Knitting?

Knitting Possibilities

Is it possible to make money knitting? Yes, it is. But before you get too excited, you need to stop and consider a few things. First, do you want to quit your job and support yourself by knitting? Make just a little extra money? Or, do you want to make enough money to pay for your hobby of knitting? Decide on which business level you want to achieve. Of course, you don't have to jump in with both feet. You can always start small and work your way up as your business increases. Let's look at ways to make money with your knitting.

Find a Niche

Most knitters will tell you, most people can't afford hand-knit items. They don't appreciate how much work goes into the knitting and even if they do, they can't afford to pay you what it's worth. So what do you do? You find a niche that pays what you're asking.

Judy Knits

Judy Parker knits for the stars. After moving to Hollywood, a friend invited her to the set of a TV show. She showed the wardrobe designer her knitting designs. The designer bought them all. Judy knits for TV shows, movies, and celebrities. Many of her designs have made the front cover major magazines. Hollywood and celebrities is Judy's niche.

You too can find your niche. You may not have access to Hollywood but don't worry, there are other niches out there. Consider some of these:

Yarn Companies

Think of all the yarn companies out there - Caron, Lion Brand, and Lily just to name a few. What do they have on their websites? Pictures of knitted items so they can feature their yarns. Visit these sites and click on 'contact us'.

Most of the time, they will have an address or phone number to contact them. Send a brief letter telling them you would like to knit their samples for them. Send them some pictures of your work and see what happens.

Fashion Houses

Fashion houses are where designers create and sell their designs. Their problem? They need knitters to knit the designs for their portfolios. Contact them as you did for the yarn companies.

Sell Your Crafts

You don't have to work for anyone else, although it does pay more. If you have a specialty in knitting like hats, scarves, socks, baby items you can sell those. Where? Some ideas are consignment shops, EBay, Etsy, local flea markets or craft shows.

It's easy to sell your items on sites like EBay and Etsy. You don't have to be too computer savvy to upload pictures of your crafts and these sites get lots of traffic. This increases your odds of being successful.

Teach Knitting Instructions

Do you love teaching or helping others fall in love with your craft? If so, teaching knitting to others may just be your thing. You can talk to the owners of local yarn stores and see if they will let you teach in their shop. This is a win-win situation. You make money teaching and the store draws in extra business because of your class. Don't forget to talk to major craft stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

If you don't have any luck teaching in other's stores, find other places. Your local library or churches will probably let you use space to teach classes in their buildings - especially if you pitch it as teaching others to knit for charity.

You can also teach from your own home. Put an ad in the paper and have class once per week from to comfort of your own living room. This way, people come to you - no traveling.

Knitting Website

You might want to consider setting up your own knitting website or blog. You can feature your designs, sell them, plus, sell other things like knitting supplies, yarn, knitting needles, knitting software, and knitting tools.

Knitting Business Resources

Due to space, this article only gives you some ideas and covers the bare bones of starting a knitting business. For more information look at these books and sites:

Craft Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business

The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and Online

The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success: Turn Your Crafts into a Career

This site, Knitting n Crochet 4 Fun n Profit is an interesting site built by a lady who turned her love of knitting into a business. She tells how she did it.

All of these ideas are legitimate ways to make money with your knitting. Be realistic about setting goals for your knitting business and start gradually. Before you know it, you'll be making money by knitting.