knitting for fun and profit

[steveh2112]

my wife's a keen knitter and i was wondering if there is much of a market for hand knitted stuff in local fairs and street markets, especially in Boulder CO area. anyone know?

 

[Almost There]

I come from a background of doing art/craft shows for over 20 years including 14 years full-time on the road, all of it was selling items that I had handcrafted. I didn't sell knit objects but I've been a knitter since I was 5...oh lord that's a long time ago...

Yes, there's a market at art/craft shows for hand knit objects. And yes, there's probably some shows around Boulder Co.

BUT, BIG BUT!!

It's not something I am going to recommend that you two look at however for the following reasons.

You're coming in from Thailand for 4 months of travelling. Importing enough stock to make it worthwhile that has been made ahead of time in Thailand is going to be fraught with import regulations, brokerage fees, possible import fees etc. etc. As well most of the better shows require that the crafter prove that what they make is made in the USA which you won't be able to do. The craft show business has been so fraught with imposters (claiming it's handmade in USA when it's not) that the good organizers now require copies of invoices for raw material.

To arrive empty handed and then start making enough stock to make it worthwhile to pay the booth fees, acquire booth equipment (tables/table covers/interact machine/display booth etc. etc) is going to be nigh unto impossible. Knitting is very labor intensive, there is no way your wife can have sufficient stock on hand in 4 months to do one show let alone multiple shows. 

If you're only planning on doing a couple of shows when you're in Boulder it becomes even more economically unfeasible to do so and you would definitely have stock left over meaning that any small profit made from a show would all be tied up in inventory. No one does a show and sells everything in their booth.

The better shows are all juried. This means that the show organizers judge from photographs and sometimes in person, the work to determine if it belongs in a show. Even if you started right now, the deadline for the better shows for this summer is likely already past. I booked shows up to a year in advance although some had deadlines that were closer to show date like 4 and 5 months out. The not so good shows that don't jury have a preponderance of non hand crafted products made offshore and misrepresented as being handcrafted. They are more like a flea market than anything else. Despised by true handcrafters and populated by an attendance that is looking for a bargain and a day out, not high quality merchandise that is handmade.

Knitting itself is so very labor intensive that it is almost impossible to make even a dollar an hour of labor on it. While small items sell better, when you take into consideration the material cost and then add the time it takes to make an item times a decent labor rate the item has to be sold for more than what the general public is going to pay for it. To make any kind of money from a craft business, one has to find a product that is fast to make and can be sold for enough money to make it worthwhile.

You are planning on a whirlwind tour of multiple states. As a knitter, I can assure you that you cannot knit and sightsee at the same time. I can't even knit while a passenger in a moving car because of the motion of the vehicle.

Basically, IMO you can either be a tourist or in business, one or the other!

 

[JGwinn]

My husband and I are hoping to do a road trip around the states next year, or more likely the following year. We were trying to come up with ideas of ways to make some money while on the road. I crochet and have been thinking of making blankets and selling them on etsy. I don't know if anyone has experience with this and whether it would be cost effective or make enough profit to even do this. Thoughts?

 

[akrvbob]

I had a friend who made hats and sold them on Etsy and at flea markets while on the road. She did well. But she hand spun the yarn as well so that made it a little more unique. She did some from her dogs fur!

I'd think smaller, they can be made faster, take up less space, you have to carry less yarn and are more in demand. Everybody loses a hat sometime, not many lose their blanket.
Bob

 

[Almost There]

I had a friend who made hats and sold them on Etsy and at flea markets while on the road. She did well. But she hand spun the yarn as well so that made it a little more unique. She did some from her dogs fur!

I'd think smaller, they can be made faster, take up less space, you have to carry less yarn and are more in demand. Everybody loses a hat sometime, not many lose their blanket.
Bob

It's still hard to make a profit from knit or crocheted items. They're so labor intensive that paying yourself even a couple of bucks an hour puts the price beyond what people are willing to pay unless you've got a really unique product that they can recognize the value of like the hand spun items Bob makes note of.

I found that people who were selling knit/crocheted stuff at markets were doing so to keep themselves in yarn so that they could have an excuse to keep on making things..they'd run out of nieces and nephews...

If you want to test the product pricing to prove it, make something up and keep track of material cost and the time spent. Set a value for your labor and do the math. If you start now selling on Etsy, you'll have figured out by the time you get on the road whether it's worth taking everything with you.

 

[grumpygrizzly]

I hit yard sales every weekend and pretty much bring home bags of yard for as little as a dollar a bag. I also pick up the different Knifty Knitter looms so I can make different sized hats. Have a few books on making other things with the looks as well.

I just have one problem.. I can't figure out the dang instructions on the knit one, purl two stuff. I think it's like womens pants sizes.. Men just never understand what they mean..

I do a lot of bracelets made with lacrosse racquet cord and sell them for $5.00. I can tie a bracelet in 6 minutes on home made loom I built out of an artists easel with the drawers and adjustable bar for holding the canvas. Keeps everything handy and works great.

That's one craft I can make a little money with so long as I go to an event that has bikers or runners in large quantities.. I make up a bunch of pink bracelets with pink buckles and donate at least $2.00 to Breast Cancer Awareness.. Usually if there's no cause, I'll donate to no-kill animal shelters.