Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cathy Riehs. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Cathy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Back in the spring of 2015, a tragic event impacted my family and I. It was devastating and it was very hard to process and cope at that time. (To this day, that tragic event is still impacting one of my family members). I needed a way to deal with what happened. I needed to process and clear the “noise” from my head, regain my strength and lay out steps to move forward. KNITTING was my answer. Knitting allowed me to relax and clear my mind. It was very therapeutic. Knitting allowed me to become stronger as a person and a better mom for my family.

In the fall of 2015 I created i.knit. I do not have employees or fellow knitters in my company, it’s just me. I (me) knit scarves. Everyone needs a scarf and with so many beautiful colorful yarns out there, it makes it fun to knit. Later on i.knit was expanded to i.knitchicago. Rob, a representative from VistaPrint, suggested adding Chicago to give people a sense of where I am located.

Cathy, 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 love to knit. It is fun, relaxing and very therapeutic, I started knitting scarves for women. Why scarves? Scarves can be used to keep warm, stay in style or complete a look. A scarf generally is ONE SIZE. They do not require a lot of time. They make great gifts. With so many pretty yarns out there in both color and texture it is very easy to get wrapped up in knitting. I like to think I am creative. I can express that through the yarns and colors I use on the scarf that I knit.

When showing off my scarves I feel they need to hang (vs. on a table) and they need to be photographed outside. When at shows my scarves are displayed on screen door. Allowing the customer to see the scarf better. I love taking pictures of my scarves outside. Generally women are on the GO and so are my scarves.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I like to think I am a creative person. I like to express my creativity through knitting scarves. A rewarding aspect of being a knitter is looking at a skein of yarn and picturing what it would look like when made into a scarf. I try to “think outside the box” (i.e. using larger needles, mixing yarns together, creating a one- of-a-kind scarf) which allows me to create. The ultimate reward is when a customer buys that scarf. Even better, when that customer becomes you loyal customer and friend. And it’s an added bonus when that customer/friend refers me to family and friends.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I believe it is important to get onto the social media platform and POST. Daily. I’m no expert and many times it’s trial and error. But I keep plugging away. You can not be afraid to put yourself out there and let people see who you are and what you are all about. This allows me to tap into my creative side while inventing new posts. I have three “go-to” apps when creating my posts: 1) Typorama 2) Word Swag 3) Live Collage

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.iknitchicago.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i.knitchicago/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iknitchicago
• Twitter: https://iknitchicago.com

Image Credits
I took all of the photos.