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

KnitToMyLou , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Early on in 2022 I had an idea and I started to do research to find a reference, just to endlessly search for nothing. If I wanted my idea to come to life I would have to create the steps myself. After a lot of trial and error I finally got it right. I created a new technique in the fiber art community. I released my reversible baby blankets and the first video I put up hit 1 million views within two weeks.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Taylor Louise Cox Clark, I recently got married in March of 2023! My business KnitToMyLou is based on my name, Louise. KnitToMyLou is a handmade business that is both black and woman-owned. KnitToMyLou aims to create handmade heirlooms that will be cherished for many years to come. I specialize in making custom reversible baby blankets, large handmade blankets, heart pillows, bling tumblers and more. KnitToMyLou was founded in March of 2020. I learned how to knit when I was in the fifth grade, so this dream has been a long time coming. I was born and raised in Atlanta, GA and moved to Austin, TX two years ago. While knitting and crochet are my specialities, recently I’ve branched out and started giving energy to my other artistic talents.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn the hard way in my business was underpricing my art. When I first released the video of my reversible baby blanket, it went viral I had a lot of potential customers reaching out asking how they could get one of the blankets. While I was so excited to finally have people truly invested in my business it was hard to rise to the challenge of making 100+ crocheted and hand sewn blankets BY HAND. I had not timed myself to see how long it took me to to make one blanket, factor in cost of supplies and cost of other factors like shipping cost. I sold reversible baby blankets at a price point of $85. After going back and doing all the calculations I should have been charging closer to $175 for each blanket, with shipping included in the price. No surprise, I lost money but I also learned valuable lessons. It is so important as a handmade artist to accurately price your work. Some people don’t see knitters and crochet ears as artists. People interested in buying something handmade tend to devalue the work of the artist and question the pricing of items. And that’s okay, it’s simply out of their price range. I learned that as an artist: 1. price your items for what you believe they are worth, 2. stay firm on your prices, and 3. don’t let people talk you down or ask for discounts. You are an artist and you deserve to be paid for your beautiful work.

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

First things first: BE AUTHENTIC. Growing my Tik Tok account from 100 followers to 23,700 followers took three things: authenticity, consistency, and doing trends that mesh well with my brand. We want to meet you, hear your story, and follow along with your projects. All it takes is you being you! Secondly, consistency is key! When I was starting out I would post a video and if I checked back later on that day and the video didn’t have many views, I would delete the video. That is the opposite of what I should have been doing. Posting consistently is so important, regardless of how much engagement you get on each post. Don’t delete that video that has low views, leave it and watch the magic happen. Lastly, trends can be helpful and more importantly fun. Have you ever scrolled on TikTok and keep hearing the same sound repeatedly or you see the same format video from multiple creators? These are called trends and while I wouldn’t recommend hoping on EVERY trend, I recommend participating in the trends that make you smile and laugh. Use the trends to show potential customers you, your brand, and what you have to offer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://knittomylou.myshopify.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tayytimestwo?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089084383453