For almost 20 years, I've been running a small business called Knot By Gran'ma. It kept itself afloat, but never made enough money ultimately to scale to the next level. I closed it down this year, and I thought I'd have more feelings about it.
Knot By Gran'ma really started because I needed to feel more useful. I was a stay-at-home mom navigating motherhood and my role as a wife. I was very creative and artistic before I got married and had kids. Crocheting was wonderful because I could put it down when my attention was called elsewhere in my life, and then pick it up right where I left off. I wasn't able to do that at that point with drawing or painting. I needed something to do, and it helped that it was a business because now I was financially contributing... at least that was my plan.
And I never really got there.
I had a few years where I paid for Christmas and contributed here and there, but it never really took off. I was a housewife for 21 years, and I never felt like I was worthy enough because I couldn't even make my (very hilarious) business of crocheting cat butts profitable enough to feel the benefits.
Collage of available cat, pug, and chicken butts for wholesale
The truth was, I was never going to be able to scale the business to the point that when the kids left, I'd have my career in crocheting a successful cat butt business. I think I knew this reality for a long time, but I was completely in denial about it. I was just going to hustle hard enough until I made it. It was that simple.
Tapestry Crocheted Skull Pillows - Supervised by Nina, of course
But man, what a ride. I'm the woman I am today because of everything I learned while trying to get this business booming.
Pug Butt Keychain - Product photo and the inspiration for us getting a pet Pug.
Knot By Gran'ma started with me crocheting poorly fitting cotton hats, crochet thread flowers, and tapestry crochet patterns. (What?! I know. Mad skills, yo.) I soon moved from making dolls to designing more crochet patterns, into a full-blown crochet pattern-designing phase, paired that with monster art dolls, pivoting to spinning yarn, and finally landing on cat butts (pug butts and chicken butts too).
Crocheted Cat Butt Coaster - Product photo featuring a very nosy Ollie.
I learned about marketing and social media and joined Etsy in its first year, taught myself how to build websites, started selling on Amazon handmade, went from vending at craft fairs to running them at the same time, I joined business associations, networked, mastered my product photography, wrote killer descriptions, and was the member of more than one paid group that would continuously grow my skills. I did this all while being the sole creator of all the merchandise, shipping, and branding.
Chicken Butt Ornament - Original prototype... didn't even have the pink butthole yet!
The family, the house, and countless volunteer PTA and band hours somehow mingled in with all of this, and I cooked dinner from scratch 6 nights a week. Did I mention the giant garden that we grew, the constant gardening, and more time in the kitchen canning and fermenting food for the winter? I was very busy.
Great White Shark Hat Crochet Pattern - Helpful photo from the crochet pattern
It's pretty obvious why I couldn't find the time to truly profit and scale Knot By Gran'ma into something amazing, now that I look back. I couldn't see it at the time, and I was so mean to myself for not being able to get KBG where I wanted it to be. I wish I could have seen how truly awesome I was, because I was fricking rocking it. I had a lot going on, and I still got everything done... just not the part where I made Knot By Gran'ma profitable while still ruling at life.
Beaver Girl - One of the very first crocheted art dolls. She was sold in Germany while featured in an art show.
And if I'm being honest, I think I finally saw that I'd never reach the goals I had set for myself with Knot By Gran'ma during the Covid shutdown. I added cloth masks to my inventory, and they were adorable with all sorts of cats, pugs, and animals. They took off, along with the cat butts, and before I knew it, I was pulling 8-hour work days just to keep up. I was also donating a mask for each mask sold. I think I made something like 400 cloth masks and 100 + cat butts in the span of a month.
Manta Ray Scarflette - Crochet pattern and piece that lives in my fall and winter rotation
It was glorious, and then it wasn't.
The house fell apart. And there were arguments. And I didn't sleep. I was miserable, and I couldn't swing keeping both parts of my life working together at the level needed. I understood then that even if Knot By Gran'ma hit all the goals and I could spend my days creating and continuing to grow the business, it would ultimately be a failure because I couldn't juggle it all with the demands of my life. I just wasn't ready to accept that at the time.
Quarter Note Weaving - I love this medium. I need more time. This was a piece I made and donated to the local band boosters during a fundraiser.
I vowed to give it one more year, now as a single mom and working full-time. And I really, really, really tried for about a month. Then I stopped trying, and I let it go. I spent my first holiday shopping season in forever, not stressing, crocheting to fulfill my open orders while trying to get the life parts taken care of. I didn't stress out about running out of yarn and shipping supplies. My hands and shoulders didn't hurt constantly.
Aggie (Agamemnon), Nina, Ollie, and Freddie (From left to right) - The crew featured in all KBG-related social media. I had to Photoshop the cats into the picture of Aggie and Freddie because... cats.
I thought I'd miss it.
Instead, I'm inspired. I feel lighter. I'm ready to put Knot By Gran'ma aside and learn how to be an artist on my own terms. Maybe it's fine art, music, or even fiber arts. I have no idea, but it's been very nice dabbling in all the things I enjoy for a change.
Cloth Masks - Some of the fabrics I couldn't keep in stock
What's next?
Right now, I miss designing crochet patterns and spinning yarn. If I can find the time, I'd love to get back into doing both. We'll see. Anything I end up creating will be here in the Adventure Diggity space. I'm making t-shirt designs over at Graphic Nonsense and messing around with learning new ways to art. Life is very good right now.
Priscilla - My angora rabbit. Her wool was featured in a lot of my spinning. ♥
The first item available here at Adventure DIggity is my full catalog of Knot By Gran'ma crochet patterns, for sale as a bundle. I designed some really cool stuff. You should try to make some of it.
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