Welcome to todays post where I’ll be guiding you through how to make money from knitting so you can turn your passion into a potential income stream.
Knitting has long been a popular traditional hobby – who doesn’t love the satisfying feeling of creating a cosy scarf, jumper, or pair of socks with your own two hands?
But beyond just making items for personal use, there’s now a whole world of opportunities to actually generate an income from your knitting skills and products.
The recent resurgence of interest in DIY, crafting, and slow living has seen knitting explode in popularity. A new generation is discovering the joys of the needle arts, flocking to pick up knitting needles and yarn.
And where there is growing interest, there is often opportunity to monetise skills and meet demands.
From selling your handmade creations to teaching lessons to snagging sponsorship deals with knitting brands, there are now more ways than ever to leverage your passion for knitting to also line your pockets.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the most accessible and lucrative ways to start padding your bank account with profits from your products and expertise.
Whether you’re eager to leave behind knitting as just a hobby and turn your passion into a side gig or full-time business, or supplement retirement income while enjoying an enjoyable pastime, this guide covers some of the best avenues to explore.
Read on for an overview of making money by selling your knitwear, offering lessons and services, publishing patterns, promoting brands, and more!
Sell Handknit Items
One of the most obvious ways to make money from knitting is simply selling your handmade knitwear directly to customers.
Thanks to the growing popularity of cute covetable handknits, there’s now strong demand for items like hats, scarves, sweaters, gloves and colourful accessories.
You can also tap into the lucrative baby goods market by creating sweet little booties, soft blankets, cuddly toys and more for expectant parents delighted to shower new arrivals with beautiful handmade items.
When you’re starting out, convenient online sellers like Etsy provide built-in audiences of craft fans eagerly browsing for special pieces.
Consider opening your own online shop if you plan to regularly add new inventory. And for locals, listing scarves and hats for sale on community sites like Craigslist is also a quick way to move handknits.
Additionally, with the revival of interest in small and artisanal brands, lots of boutiques are eager to stock racks with unique handmade goods.
Reach out to stores in your area to see if they accept pieces on consignment. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement – they don’t have to pay upfront for stock and you don’t have to handle in-person sales.
Just make sure to negotiate fair commissions and payment terms.
The key is creating on-trend pieces from beautiful, high-quality yarns that appeal to shoppers looking for everything from statement fashion accessories to precious heirloom baby gifts.
Sell Knitting Patterns
If you want to scale up beyond selling individual handknit pieces, consider selling patterns so others can recreate your original knitwear designs.
This allows you to exponentially grow the number of knitters supporting your work.
Once you’ve created some special stitch patterns or unique garment/accessory designs, write up user-friendly guides that other knitters can easily follow.
Provide clear instructions, stitch counts, suggested yarns/gauges and helpful tips.
Popular sites like Ravelry and Etsy have huge communities of knitters seeking fresh patterns for their next projects.
Upload your patterns as instant downloads to individual shop sections so fans can purchase and access them immediately.
You can also bundle several patterns together, like a series of hat or baby blanket designs, so knitters feel like they’re getting great value.
Producing themed collections is another way to efficiently publish multiple patterns.
And don’t forget about releasing eBooks! Self-publishing an entire book filled with your original knitwear patterns through major retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble is a great way to conveniently package your portfolio.
eBooks have global distribution and represent passive income that can trickle in for years to come.
Through online marketplaces, stand-alone shops and eBook distribution channels, selling your proprietary knitting patterns lets you scale up beyond just crafting individual pieces.
Teach Knitting Classes
Leveraging your knitting skills to teach others is a rewarding way to generate income. With beginners flocking to pick up needles and yarn, intermediate knitters keen to expand skills, and even experienced hands wanting to master new techniques, there’s high demand for structured lessons.
Consider offering group classes for varying levels – introduce newbies to basic stitches, construction and patterns in beginner sessions while advanced classes can cover shaping, fine-gauge work, modifying patterns and other complex methods.
You can also market specialty workshops focused on topics like sock knitting, mastering colourwork, toys and home décor pieces, or accessories and wearables. Teaching focused sessions allows you to share specialised expertise.
Reach out to local yarn stores to potentially host lessons right in-store and tap into their existing customer base. Community Centers, schools, and libraries also often have dedicated craft spaces perfect for hosting casual classes and workshops.
Or for more personalised attention, offer one-on-one knitting tutoring to individuals in their homes or your own. This allows you to structure sessions around each learner’s strengths and weaknesses.
Spread the word about your classes through community listings, flyers in craft-friendly spaces, promotions on your knitting blog or social channels, and word of mouth referrals.
Whether working with groups or individuals, teaching knitting is an immensely satisfying way to share your passion while earning income. Seeing students master new techniques thanks to your experienced instruction is truly priceless!
Knitting Services
Offering your knitting skills and expertise as client services is another potential income stream. From custom fabrication to repairs and consultancy, there are lots of ways to monetise your needle prowess beyond simply selling products.
Opening custom knitting commission services allows clients to hire you to handmake specialty items just for them.
This is perfect for knitters who may not yet have the skills to tackle complex patterns themselves. Take custom orders for delicate shawls, intricate sweaters, heirloom baby blankets and more.
You can also provide knitwear restoration and repair services by mending holes in beloved handknit jumpers, reworking misshaped items, cleaning delicate vintage pieces and more.
Offer finishing services like seaming up and weaving in ends for works-in-progress.
Some knitters also struggle to translate inspiration into tangible patterns for their own original designs. Offer paid consultancy for clients who value expert guidance on planning, charting and writing knitting patterns to make their visions a reality.
Spread the word about your specialty knitting services through your online shop, teaching clients and community bulletins.
Be sure to set competitive rates for custom projects based on yarn expenses, complexity factors and your time investment.
Adding professional mending, commission and consulting services allows you to fully leverage all facets of your knitting mastery for income.
Become a Brand Ambassador
Once you establish yourself in the knitting community through selling popular patterns or providing well-received lessons, you may receive sponsorship opportunities from prominent brands.
Applying to formally represent and promote products for leading yarn companies like Lion Brand, Cascade and Rowan is a coveted role.
As their ambassador, you’ll demonstrate designs in new seasonal yarn lines, share tips for working with their materials, host events and spread brand awareness to your own audiences.
Beyond yarn, knitting accessories, tools and gadget brands like ChiaoGoo, Knitter’s Pride and HiyaHiya also sponsor influencers.
Rep their innovations by featuring them in your product imagery and videos or writing reviews. Some may pay you or offer free product.
Getting to attend prominent craft fairs, trade industry shows or beloved fan gatherings like wool festivals or stitch ‘n bitch groups also builds exposure and authority in the community.
Inquire about paid sponsor packages that support travel and lodging costs in exchange for local promotions.
Leverage your growing social media and internet prominence to attract sponsorships that give your income a strong boost while aligning with brands you genuinely enjoy using – just ensure transparency around paid promotions.
Share YouTube Tutorials
An incredibly popular way for modern crafters to establish themselves is by starting a YouTube channel sharing free knitting tutorials and project ideas.
You can film detailed video guides walking beginners through their first scarf or sweater, demonstrate new techniques like cabling or double knitting, or showcase quick tips for common issues.
Once you build a loyal subscriber base who regularly tune in for new videos, you can monetize content through the YouTube Partner Program.
This allows you to earn a cut of the ad revenue earned on your videos. With some channels pulling in tens of thousands per clip, it can quickly add up!
YouTubers also supplement video income through channel memberships, allowing fans to pay a monthly fee for perks like bonus videos, special access, free patterns and merchandise.
Some also leverage their free platform to promote paid lesson series, events, pattern shops and more.
While launching a successful channel does require consistent effort, quality content and patience to grow an audience, YouTube ads and memberships can eventually lead to a nice passive revenue stream for knitters willing to get on camera.
Utilize Affiliate Marketing
If you already have a knitting blog, pattern site or YouTube channel driving web traffic, another online money maker is affiliate marketing through supply shops.
Affiliate programs allow you to share tracked links and promo codes for leading craft retail brands like Wool Warehouse, LoveCrafts or KnitPicks.
You’ll earn a small commission each time someone clicks your link and completes a purchase.
Most major retailers offer generous affiliate programs that make it easy to embed trackable links across your web presence. Just ensure transparency by clearly tagging affiliate links as ads according to guidelines.
Though the income per sale may start small, affiliate links require virtually no added effort from you while still monetizing your web traffic and loyal audience.
Over time and scale, commissions can stack up to a nice chunk of change!
Conclusion
As you can see, there are so many exciting ways to generate income from your knitting skills beyond just gifting handmade items to friends and family.
From direct sales to lessons and services to sponsorship opportunities, consider which pathways best align with your own talents, interests and goals.
We’ve covered some of the most popular and accessible options like selling finished pieces in online and local markets, publishing your original patterns for global distribution, hosting community classes and workshops, taking on specialty commissions and client work, and partnering with prominent brands.
And there are even more potential avenues to explore if you want to get creative – some knitters have found success sharing free tutorials on YouTube and monetising video content, utilizing affiliate marketing links to profitable supply stores, or even publishing insightful craft books.
Wherever your strengths lie, rest assured there is likely a matching income stream.
The possibilities are truly endless when you think strategically about how to most effectively leverage your personal passion while meeting customer needs and demands.
With a bit of business savvy, you can absolutely transform your lifelong knitting hobby into a thriving side or even full-time hustle. Why not put those needles to even more productive and profitable use?
