I just had a revelation this week, that I started my Knitwear Design business exactly 1 year ago this month. It was April 12th that I launched my first pattern, “Country Kiddie” when BG was just 7 months old. I think I worked on it for about a month before getting it out the door. I hit some sort of stride being home when BG was 6 months old. I was settled in, happy with things and ready to “get to work” on something fulfilling and fun without too much stress behind it.

BG modeling a Country Kiddie, size 18 Months – Knit for Stitches South, Cast on Cottage

In the past year I met both of my beginning goals, the first goal being I wanted release 4 patterns in the first year (Done! 3 purchasable and 1 free) and then I had my dollar amount that I wanted to reach, and that goal was also met. My patterns are in several yarn shops around the country, all of whom have re-ordered more patterns from me. I was asked to speak at the Atlanta Knitting Guild (how totally fun was that?) and then later asked if I would be interested in being “featured” at a booth at stitches south, complete with 5 samples on display and kits being sold. I am so very proud of my accomplishments for this first year being in business. It has honestly been very hard to focus as much on things as I have wanted to these last 6 months. I work full time now, and the part that really has derailed me is how sick BG has been, and then I have been and then of course being pregnant again is a huge energy and time suck.

With all that going on I still met my goals and I could not be happier. Now entering the second year of my business I have of course set up another set of goals. I want to triple my income, and I have a marketing plan for how to reach that goal. I still have been considering submitting to a magazine. I have to pick which magazine to submit too, and which design I am willing to submit. That design of course would only be available via a magazine that once that season is over is more or less gone and that idea doesn’t sit so well with me. There is the whole nasty business of making sure you retain copyright and working out at which point you get the rights back to once again sell your pattern and if so in what manor. That all makes me a bit nervous, but it really would be lovely to be printed up in a national magazine or even better a worldwide magazine. So I may or may not do that in this second year, and of course you have to submit the design several seasons ahead and there are much longer wait times when publishing that way vs self publishing. I would like to learn more about that whole process and make some more decisions around that.

BG modeling a Country Kiddie, size 18 Months – Knit for Stitches South, Cast on Cottage

The most pressing goal for my second year is to get more organized from a taxes/legal perspective, and to make at least 4 more designs (4 being more conservative knowing I’ll have a newborn and then be learning to handle 2 children, I would like to say 6 but I want to be realistic). So basically beefing up my line and getting more creative and learning more about garment construction is the focus. All of this comes with time and patience so I just have to “keep on keeping on” and really this is a business I know very little about. I know about self-publishing, I know about self-marketing and online marketing and how to create a pretty PDF template but there is lot I don’t know and I am excited to learn.