3 Types of Knitting or Crochet Businesses: Which is Right for You?

Start a Crafty Business – Ideas for Success with Knitting & Crochet

Starting a Knitting or Crochet Business

For many of us bitten by the knitting or crochet bug, it becomes more than a hobby.  It becomes a way of life – a passion.  Naturally, the dream is to get paid for doing what you love, so many knitters and crocheters think about how they can turn their craft into a business.  The problem is knowing how to go about the process of starting a knitting or crochet business.  The first step in that journey is deciding what type of crafty business is right for you. 

I’ve learned a lot through trial and error about starting and running knitting and crocheting businesses.  I’ve had successes, but I’ve also had heart-crushing disappointments.  There is no one “right” way to go about it, but I do have some suggestions based upon my own experiences and those of others that have succeeded (and not succeeded) at their knitting or crochet businesses.  In other words, this is sort of a “I wish I would have thought of that before I started” piece.

*This post may contain affiliate links.  All opinions are my own, and I only recommend products I love.

Choose Your Path: Starting the Right Type of Business for You

The number one thing I wish I would have really thought out before starting a craft business was what specific type of knitting/crochet business I should have.  What would I most enjoy?  What would bring the best income?  What would fit my lifestyle?  What would fit my budget?  What would be worth my time?

All of these questions were left largely unanswered when I began my first business selling finished handmade knit and crochet items.  Basically, I knew that I could knit and I could crochet.  The only thing I really knew I could do with that was sell my finished items.  So, I signed up for some craft fairs and I opened an Etsy shop.  No real research.  No real plan.  Was this a completely awful way to begin? Yes and no.  I did sell some items, but what I really took away was that this wasn’t necessarily the best business for me.  At least not on in the way I originally conceived.

While part of my business still involves selling finished items, I now use a different platform and it is only one aspect of my business.  What I found is that there are other types of knitting and crochet businesses that work better for my skills and lifestyle.  My goal with this post is to get you thinking about what business is right for you, your lifestyle, and your goals.

So, here are three types of knitting and/or crochet businesses to consider when putting together your game plan for crafty success.

1. Maker – Sell Your Knitting or Crochet Finished Items

Selling finished items is probably the most common type of knitting or crochet business out there.  Makers can be successful with this business type if they have the right product, audience, and marketing strategies.

To succeed as a Maker, I’ve found that online is the place to be.  While you may be tempted to spend your time prepping items for local craft fairs, your audience is much bigger online.  Craft fairs are a nice option if you are just looking to sell on a small scale as more of a hobby.  I’ve invested a lot of time and effort in craft fairs, and while I have sold a lot of items that way, it is rarely ever worth the time and effort put into it.

When you are starting out, it is likely easiest to sell your finished items on an established online community, like Etsy, Amazon Handmade, or Ebay.  There are plenty of places that allow makers a platform to sell their items to audiences seeking handmade products.  The drawback of selling on these platforms is that you pay fees to those sites, and you are competing with a lot of other crafters.  You can also start your own site through something like Shopify, but that will be more of an investment up front as well as work on your part to get the site up and running.

No matter where you sell your finished items, you’ll need to be able to produce, photograph, list, market, and ship them professionally and efficiently to make it worth your time and effort.  The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that it is important to make items that can be created quickly.  Concentrate on only a few items so that you can use the same listings and photography.  It takes a lot of time to make, photograph, and write descriptions for all listings.  So, if you make each listing unique each time, you’ll likely make little to no profit for all the time you put in.

The biggest thing to remember with finished items is that you can only knit or crochet so fast.  So, even if you are crushing it as a photographer, listing writing, and marketer, you will be limited in the number of sales you can get because you can only knit or crochet a limited number of items.  As I mentioned, I still sell finished items, but it is mainly just a couple different items in a variety of colors.  I sell a lot of them, particularly in the Fall, but I have hit a wall in how much I can earn because I can only knit and crochet so much (believe me, I’ve streamlined, and I can whip up these few items really quickly), but there is still a limit.  This is an important consideration when deciding to sell finished items as your business.

2. Designer – Sell Your Knitting or Crochet Patterns

If the idea of knitting or crocheting item after item to build a stock does not appeal to you, or if you are wary of the limitations selling finished items presents, knitting or crochet pattern design might be right for you.

Designing is not something all knitters or crocheters find appealing or excel in, but if you are creative and have a knack for pattern design, you could start a business selling your designs, either as your own business or as a designer for a yarn company.  Many designers sell their patterns through Etsy, Ravelry, Craftsy, or other online crafting sites. Some designers work for a yarn company as a designer.

Having published and sold patterns through online sites as well as worked as a contracted knitwear designer, I have a few tips if you are considering this type of business.  Pattern designing is time consuming, and it requires meticulous attention to detail.  If selling your own patterns, it requires photography, pattern-writing, and marketing as well.  If designing for a yarn company or other business, it requires meeting deadlines and the expectations of the company.  In either case, it will take some time to build up a portfolio of enough designs to generate any substantial income.

The beauty of pattern design, however, is that you can create one pattern that can be sold multiple times.  So, you can earn passive income in the long run.  But, you do have to compete with all of the other designers and the wealth of free patterns that already exist.  If selling your own patterns, it takes unique point of view and a lot of consistency in designing and publishing.  Success will also require marketing skills to get people to see (and fall in love with) your design.

3. Blogger – Write a Knitting or Crochet Blog

I know it may sound odd, but blogging is a job (or at least it can be).  There are plenty of successful knitting and crochet bloggers out there, earning money and blogging about the crafting they love.  While I am relatively new to the craft blogging world, I’ve found a lot of great information provided by successful full and part-time bloggers.

What I’ve learned up to this point is that you need to have a point of view for your blog, and you need to be consistent.  You have to write, write, write, and you have to know your audience.  Gaining an audience that follows your blog is the only real way to earn money through blogging.  To monetize a blog, you can write sponsored posts (where a company pays you to write about their products), and you can use affiliate marketing (where you link to products or services from other businesses).  You can, of course, use a combination of these methods, or you could sell your own product with your blog.

Many businesses use their blog as a supplement to their business.  For example, you may write a blog and also sell patterns or finished items.  However, it is possible to have a business that is just the blog.  As with the other two businesses mentioned, success with a knitting or crochet blog will require you to wear a few different hats – the best bloggers are part writer, part graphic designer, part photographer, part marketing specialist.

Next Steps

Really, there’s no “right” way to go into a crafty business.  What works for one person may not be the best fit for the next.  My goal is really to help people think through some of the decisions I wish I’d given a bit more thought at the start.  However, with that being said, I’m glad to have had all of those different experiences to help me figure out where I truly belong.

Once you know what business is right for you, you can begin the best part of the journey – starting your business!  It is such a fun and exciting thing to do! I hope that you found this information useful and it got the wheels turning a bit as you think about the next steps of your crafty journey.

Check out “5 Websites for Starting a Knitting or Crocheting Business.”

Let’s Connect!

I’d love for you to follow my blog to see what’s new.  You can sign up with your email address on the sidebar.  I also have a Facebook page called “Fandom Knitting & Crochet” which you should, of course, check out. 🙂  If you are a knitter or crocheter, I also have a fun Facebook group called (you guessed it) – “Fandom Knitting & Crochet – Group.”

Thanks for stopping by!