Life Partners Knit Together:
My Interview with Bernadette of LunaCabCo
By Stephanie Lynn, age 26, Massachusetts
SDM Editor-in-Chief
"We make all our items with our own two hands, just like the good ol' days: where the heart isn't lost and each item is special and unique in its own way."
I have always liked making things. For instance, I love spending time in the kitchen cooking up recipes from scratch. I think that's why I was naturally attracted to knitting.
Hand knitting is so interesting because you just have this ordinary ball of string and you can literally make it into anything you can think of! You start off with nothing, and you make it into something. I don't know about you, but that just amazes me.
Our style of knitting has always been to try and capture that homey handmade feeling, while also making it modern and appealing to today's young adults. Some people use knitting machines, but we are proud of the fact that every single item from our shop is made completely by hand.
Well, it started off with my husband trying to knit a sweater for our dog in the winter. He's the type that's always looking for some new thing to learn. I was at a point where I really wanted some kind of hobby - just something to work at and build up my skills. So I had him teach me which was great.
We had heard of Etsy before - that's where we got our wedding rings - so one day we just had the idea that it might be fun to open shop together and see what would happen.
I think a major challenge for anybody trying to sell clothing or accessories in general is trying to stay a few steps ahead of what is popular. Trends are always changing and it's important to be able to observe them and plan accordingly. We missed out on a lot of sales because we didn't realize that seasonal products need to be ready months in advance of the actual holiday to really take advantage of the shopping rushes.
When we first started out I thought we would just knit all the time, but there are so many nuances to running a business. Even though a lot of our time is still spent knitting, an equal amount of time has to be devoted to researching trends, developing new patterns, promoting, as well as tracking finances and materials.
But overall, challenges are great. They make us rise to the occasion. For example: having to design new patterns has challenged me to become so much better at my craft, to understand the real nuts and bolts of how it works.
I am just a quiet simple person. When I am not knitting you can find me studying my Bible, hiking, or cooking good food.
Who's to say what tomorrow will bring? Lord willing, we'd like to keep on doing what we're doing now, only better!
Well, I am still learning, but what I have realized is: if you really care about what you are making, then it shows and people are drawn to that. That's why Etsy is so great, because there is heart behind everything that is made - it's never a carbon-copy, factory-made-by-machines item.
You can find our shop at: lunacabco.etsy.com
Our Facebook at: facebook.com/lunacab
And information about the yarns we use at: lunacabco.blogspot.com/p/about-our-yarns.html
