We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristen Long. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristen below.

Alright, Kristen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

My mother is an illustrator, so art has always been a part of my life. My siblings and I would get a new sketchbook at the beginning of summer, learned the color wheel, and visited art festivals frequently from a young age. She encouraged creativity in all aspects of life, and didn’t shy away from letting me and my siblings play with playdough, paper mache, cross stitch, perler beads, and paint. We went to the craft store frequently, and to this day, whenever I walk into Michael’s the familiar smell brings me back to being a kid.

I learned to crochet on a cross-country RV trip with my grandparents when I was eight. Since I can remember, my grandma would always bring a bowler bag of yarn with her when they came out to Colorado and I was fascinated, wondering how she could create a blanket with only a hook and yarn! I asked her to teach me, and since we had 3 days to fill in the RV she decided to teach me on that trip. She had made me a granny square to start and we sat at the little table while she explained the basics. Over the trip, the little blue square slowly grew as Fiddler on the Roof and National Velvet played on the TV in the background.

When I was eleven, my grandparents were visiting again, we were on another day trip to the mountains, and she taught me how to knit. At fourteen, my family moved to a ranchette and visited a wool festival, where my sister and I learned how to drop spindle spin and spent hours working together (ironically on a different RV road trip) to craft a very uneven hank of yarn.

I’d pick up and put down the needles and hooks over various periods in middle and high school, but I was terrified of sharing with my peers that I loved crafts. I was already the quiet and bookish girl, and to add yarn to that felt like the ultimate “uncool” thing. At various points I would learn a new technique like usinb double-pointed needles for mittens, fair isle for Christmas stockings, or different types of granny squares to make for new babies, but it always remained an at-home thing.

Fast forward to my last semester of college, and I had continued my nerd trajectory and signed up for basic intensive Latin to fill some last remaining credits. The adjunct professor was an elderly lady who came with her knitting every day and would work on various projects as we learned about declension and stumbled through the vocabulary. She offered a knitting night at a local coffee shop; if we attended, we would get extra credit. I had noticed that she was cable knitting (the raised twists and braids) and asked if I could learn that since I already knew the basics. She said yes and taught me during some office hours. I was off to the races and have yet to put down the needles, 10 years later!

Kristen , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started a blog and Etsy shop in early 2016 to attempt to clear out the number of hats and scarves I had amassed since my love of knitting had been re-ignited, and I was hoping to make enough to buy nicer yarns. It was during my first year of marriage and we were young and poor and lived in a dingy duplex, so I using cheap acrylic yarns and using free patterns found on Pinterest or in library books. It took a LONG time to start getting sales as I had a lot to learn about Etsy and selling online, as well as social media in a business sense rather than just random photos. Our wedding photographer added me to a group on Instagram of other female small business owners in Colorado who would learn from and create engagement for each other, and I learned a lot from them about social media marketing.

A few years after I started Knifty Little Thing, I branched out from selling only finished objects using other artists’ patterns to writing my own patterns. When I create new designs, it’s my goal to make something fun to knit and guides the knitter to a finished product that doesn’t scream “handmade”. I love to design patterns that feel modern and classic at the same time.

I think what sets me apart is my sense of color – what I learned from my mom growing up is that color can make or break your project! I rarely use a flat color but usually use colors that play with different hues and depths to create something more interesting. My current best seller is a luxury knit pumpkin that uses hand-dyed merino yarn to create a pumpkin with a different depth of color than your typical “construction cone” orange.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I think the most essential thing in growing the business has been learning that creating your products and selling those products are two separate skills and both are necessary for success. When I started I thought that all I had to do was snap a few pictures, list the item online and voila, people would come to me…if only it was that easy! I’ve had to learn about photography, SEO, social media, branding, pricing, demand, and the fiber arts community. I learned a lot from webinars, from youtube (you can learn literally anything on youtube), and from library books. Keep going, keep trying new things and applying what you’ve learned.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I went into college and until my very last semester, I had planned to go to law school. However, as the season for taking the LSAT and starting to consider what kinds of loans, time, and job prospects were out there, I started to waver. After taking on an internship with a defense attorney and reflecting on my health and hopes for my future family, I realized that a career in law probably wasn’t going to be the best fit for me. Unfortunately, your last semester of college is not the best time to decide this. I graduated with a BA in History and minors in Spanish and Criminology, not knowing what I wanted to do next. I was still interested in the legal field so I took a job as a legal secretary/paralegal and volunteered at the local Domestic Violence Shelter. A few months into my legal job I was laid off, just as I realized that there was an opening at the shelter in their marketing and development department. I had applied for their part time intern position the day before I was laid off, thinking I could do both. When I went in to interview for the internship I let them know that despite my limited experience, I would be interested in their actual associate position. I had an email from them before I got home. I’ve worked in non-profit marketing and communications for 8 years and I love the work that I do – it allows me to use a different facet of creativity to connect people with the resources that they need. My knitting and fiber art is very much a side job, and while I could potentially make it my main source of income with a lot more time and effort, it’s just not in the cards right now. Getting laid off and entering the non-profit world was one of the best things that could have happened, and I am often reminded how glad I am that I didn’t become a lawyer!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kniftylittlething.store
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kniftylittlething
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kniftylittlething
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kniftylittlething6005

Image Credits

Diana Coulter (Main Image)
Kristen Long (remainder)