Is it possible to make money from a hobby?

milliejon

Hiya.

I really want to start my own business, but wanted to find out what thoughts anyone has about this.

I've been hand knitting since I was 8 (:eek: that's 26 years - I wish I'd never worked that out!!). I want to make hand knitted items to order. Because of pattern copyright laws, I'm unable to knit items and then sell them (although loads of people do this on ebay :mad: ), but I am able to knit to order.

Would anyone (hypothetically) be interested in this? I'd have a website with pictures of the patterns I own (this is OK by copyright as it's the pattern that's protected) with details of sizes, colours etc so people could choose what they want knitted.

What do you think?

black-saturn

Its a good idea. Is there much call for knitted stuff though these days apart from baby clothes?

milliejon

Apparently, because of superstars(!!) like Madonna and Catherine Zeta Jones taking up knitting as a hobby hand knitted stuff is fashionable! not that I'd know though - I had to be told! Anyway, it would probably be baby stuff anyway. Adults stuff take way too long.

BlondeHeadOn

Can you post the link to the website so we can have a look at some examples? Hand-kitted baby stuff is a nice idea - I think people might be prepared to pay for that. You could maybe do a poll on MSE, and see what sort of reaction you get? Kind of "action market research" ...

milliejon

BlondeHeadOn wrote:

Can you post the link to the website so we can have a look at some examples? Hand-kitted baby stuff is a nice idea - I think people might be prepared to pay for that. You could maybe do a poll on MSE, and see what sort of reaction you get? Kind of "action market research" ...

No web site yet - I didn't want to take the time to set it up etc until I know what kind of response I'll get. The poll is a good idea - thanks I didn't think of that. How do I do that?

Savvy_Sue

Another thought is if you can do themed jumpers. My mum's always done this: you see a picture, and she transfers it to a knitting pattern. (Actually I think my dad does that bit, with squared paper and coloured pencils, but maybe there's a computer programme does it now!) She did me a beautiful owl jumper when my kids were at a school which had an owl for its logo! (Though she may have had a pattern for that one!)

milliejon

Thanks Sue - that's a good idea. I knew it was worth posting on here. Anyone with any more ideas, please post.

Now ... where's that thanks button gone? I think it must get shy!

Gingham_Ribbon

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: For legal reasons I have to discourage swapping, buying and selling on the forum (please see this rule). While it can be a very useful way of saving money it relies on a certain amount of trust between members and as such can cause problems (and has in the past). If you have any questions about this policy please email abuse@moneysavingexpert.com.

milliejon

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: For legal reasons I have to discourage swapping, buying and selling on the forum (please see this rule). While it can be a very useful way of saving money it relies on a certain amount of trust between members and as such can cause problems (and has in the past). If you have any questions about this policy please email abuse@moneysavingexpert.com.

I'm sorry I was trying to drum up business - I was just asking if anybody might be interested in this kind of service before I do some work into setting up and doing proper advertising. It's an idea at the moment - no work has been done I'm just trying to gauge a reaction to the idea.

Again, sorry if it looks like I'm trying to breach any rules.

BlondeHeadOn

Re Poll: there is a 'Post a poll' option at the bottom of the screen you get when you start a new thread. Never tried it so don't know how it works, but it may be worth a try?

milliejon

BlondeHeadOn wrote:

Re Poll: there is a 'Post a poll' option at the bottom of the screen you get when you start a new thread. Never tried it so don't know how it works, but it may be worth a try?

Thank you. I will try that one day very soon!