Since I started posting, though, I’ve been getting a lot of comments about selling my stuff. This, I’ve managed to glean from the Ravelry message boards, is not uncommon. People see an item that’s really cool and knitted well, their 1st thought is that you can totally turn that hobby you’ve picked up into a 2nd job. I’ll be honest: when I started cranking out fingerless gloves and scarves, with nobody in particular in mind, my 1st thought was to sell them, too. I mean, why not? I’m a fast and reasonably accurate knitter with pretty good taste in yarn and a good eye for color (all things considered); why couldn’t I make my
My idea was to take something that I loved to knit, which knit up very fast and was really versatile, and sell them at a reasonable price. Naturally, my mind leapt to my Cawfee Cozies. I absolutely love making these things because they’re small, portable, functional, and stylish and when people see them they always fawn over them like a yorkie puppy. In the past year and a half, since I started knitting, I must’ve made (at least) twenty of them, either for myself or for other people, in different weight yarns with different patterns or colorwork on them; they’re fab. A few months ago, I even bought an e-book with 33 different patterns for them, figuring they’d be great for busting up my stash and filling my coffers. I worked up a couple, to test the patterns, and they looked great! My idea was, when I had “knitting down time” (read: not working on a specific project for a specific someone), I’d bang out a few (they only take an hour or two to knit) and then sell them. I had no idea where or for how much (or even if it violated any kind of copyright laws), just that I had the next loaf of sliced bread in my hands.
This past weekend, I worked up a pattern that Magenta had sent me, like, a year ago; it was for a cozy with a series of cable knit owls. The people of FB loved it and one of my friends told me I should start selling them on Etsy! It totally struck me that she was right! The timing is perfect since CawfeeMate and I just booked a trip to Disney in 2012! This would be a great boost to the vacation fund! I totally could sell them on Etsy!
Just like 1200 other knitters.
Looks like I’ll go back to working overtime.
6 comments:
The owl cup cozies that you've linked in your blog is my original pattern, and copyrighted. THESE CANNOT BE SOLD.
Please look into copyright laws. If you want to sell handknit anything, please do the knitting community a favour and come up with your own original pattern instead of infringing on the copyrights of others.
ouch. thanks for the heads up :)
no problem, it's just an f.y.i. :) if it's for your own personal use, it's cool though, of course. There's a group in ravelry.com called 'Copyright Matters' - there's some good info there.
CawfeeGuy.... you just expressed a few of the thoughts I have about selling knitted items.
There's also the time/cost problem. I think that if I factor in how long it takes to make, I should sell stuff for a price people wouldn't be ready to pay.
On the other hand, if you like making your own patterns, you could sell them, either on Ravelry or Etsy ;)
Work up a simple pattern, show them around beer bottles call them beer sox and make a fortune also one of my favorite things to make, i typically do them in scraps of cotton or wool and give them away at our Pints and Purls group (weekly knitting meeting at the local brewpub)
thanks for the suggestion, Joe. i'm looking into making a few of my own coffee cozy patterns.
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