Following My Heart, My Latest Business Strategy

I had a bit of an epiphany the other day. Well, my friend, Aimee, actually hit me over the head with my epiphany, but that’s what friends are for, right?

She surprised me with a visit, so I put down my work and we went for a walk. I must have really needed to talk to her because it all came blurting out. I was not really happy because I was making the hats that I felt people wanted to buy and squeezing in the hats I really wanted to make when I had the time.

In about a two minute time frame, she set me completely straight. Aimee is a straight talker. ” Why the hell would you be self-employed if you are not doing what you love? You may as well get a job and at least have some security. Do what you love and the money will follow!”

I have always known that . Those words have guided me for so many years, but sometimes fear of not being able to pay the bills can make you forget. So, I found myself making the same hats that I have been making for so many years and feeling like my creative wings had been clipped. It got to the point where I avoided going in my beautiful studio and instead would sit at the kitchen table and knit. I have really never been very good at doing what I didn’t feel like doing. Instead of putting my nose to the grind stone and cranking out my best sellers, I became the master of procrastination. Just one more row of knitting, I kept saying, and then I’ll get back to work.

Somehow, Aimee’s sledgehammer over my head made me realize that it was time to be brave and have faith that if I let myself follow my creativity and inspiration that my customers would come along with me. I needed someone else to give me permission to do what I needed to do. Shut one door and open another one. And that’s what I’m doing. I have talked about phasing out my fleece hats, but I have decided to speed up the process. There will still be fleece hats available in my Etsy shop, but I will slowly be replacing them with the hats I truly love to make. I know that I won’t be making everyone happy, but I need to first make myself happy. That means working with natural textiles, working slowly and enjoying all the fine details of slow fashion.

The amazing thing is that when I brought my new knitted and felted hats to the Lunenburg Farmers’ Market, the ladies went right to them. I think people can feel how much I love them. This beautiful mother and daughter duo bought these two berets. And incase any of you out there tell yourselves that you are too old to wear a hat…Joyce is turning 90. She was wearing gold sparkly shoes and wouldn’t let me take her photo until she put her lipstick on.

All these hats take a really long time to make, so my plan is to just list them in my shop as I make them and write a blog post when there are enough to talk about. Here are the knit hats that are currently available in my shop. You can click on the caption to purchase if you feel like you can’t live without one.

I have also been having a blast diving into the scrap pile. Here are two Scrappy Charlottes.

Thanks so much for spending some time with me. See you all soon.