knitting club

[jane p]

would love to start a chain of knitting clubs up and down the country and make money? Do you think there is any mileage in it?

 

[Berkshire Business]

This is a tricky one, as most people learn from their grandparents or one way or another. On the other hand it could b a good idea for all those retired and looking for something to do in their spare time, kind of like a social club doing something they enjoy.

- Will you provide be providing the matireals and food?

 

[jane p]

its also a younger person thing now as well?

 

[jane p]

its not just for learning its a social thing where they can knit and natter.

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

We run a knitting club at our shop twice a week; it's very well attended, extremely popular and helps us sell our knitting yarns brilliantly.
generally, the age group is more mature (50+) and they're people who already knew how to knit, although we do have 2 or 3 much younger people who are coming along who didn't get taught how to knit - their mums don't knit and their grans never taught them. It's definitely a growth area, our wool sales have been instrumental in keeping our shop in profit over the past 12 months.
However, we only charge £4 per person for our knitting group (that includes tea/coffee) so there's not much profit in the workshop itself; from our point of view it's all about boosting sales of the yarns - people who can't knit won't buy wool no matter how gorgeous it is!

 

[jane p]

any advice on how i can start one then thanks?

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

Find a venue, work out some costings, do some advertising, get people interested .... network basically.

I'm assuming you are a competent knitter, get yourself a FB page, put pics of your work on, publicise your classes, come up with a series of projects, decide on what ability you're aiming at (beginners/improvers etc) come up with a catchy informative yet informal name for your group (you don't want to put people off by appearing unapproachable or stuffy) and keep your fingers crossed.

 

[ethical PR]

Hi Jane

There are quite a few knitting/sewing groups in London - might be worth having a look at what's already out there.

Helen

 

[OtterBliss]

Doodles, which days do you hold your knitting club, day or evening and how long for? We have tried knitting courses but had problems. I had been wondering if it would have been better to have a day set each week/month for people just to turn up. The only problem is the size of the shop, I could only accommodate a max of 6 at a time. I need to do something, the opening of a factory warehouse in our tiny market town is affecting my sales. My yarn and home fragrancing was the only thing I didn't have any competition here til they came. Otherwise I am not going to be able to survive.

 

[fisicx]

Jane,

There are already a whole bunch of knitting clubs:

http://www.ukhandknitting.com/groups_directory.php
http://www.kcguild.org.uk/
http://www.letsknit.co.uk/index.php/lets_knit_local/

 

[Gecko001]

The whole point of a "club" is that it is for the benifit of the members and not to make profit for the owner. I would seek legal advice before calling it a "club".

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

Doodles, which days do you hold your knitting club, day or evening and how long for? We have tried knitting courses but had problems. I had been wondering if it would have been better to have a day set each week/month for people just to turn up. The only problem is the size of the shop, I could only accommodate a max of 6 at a time. I need to do something, the opening of a factory warehouse in our tiny market town is affecting my sales. My yarn and home fragrancing was the only thing I didn't have any competition here til they came. Otherwise I am not going to be able to survive.

We hold them Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 10am to 1pm. Initially it was just Tuesday, and it did take a while to get it to the point where people were coming regularly. We can comfortably accommodate 8, at a squeeze 10, people at any one time and we have enlisted the services of a lady (formerly a regular customer) who is a brilliant knitter. She "runs" the group (she's just there really, on hand to help out anyone when they're stuck or show someone how to knit from scratch).
We were running it for a good few months with only 1 or 2 people turning up, but it did grow. Eventually, we had more people than we could comfortably seat so expanded to Thursdays too - in reality, although this was designed to cater for a new group, it's the same ladies more or less, they just come twice a week instead of once.

They love it, they all say it's the highlight of their week and they wouldn't miss it for the world.

We advertise on FaceBook, we have a little posted up by the knitting yarns, tell people at the counter what we do, have flyers they can take away with them, have it on our website, have a poster in the local library and a couple of the local church halls.

It did take time to get established but was well worth the effort.

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

I should add that we do call our group a "club" - (Knit Wits) - we charge £4 per time, you don't have to book, just turn up when it suits. Most people do come every week, but some only come once a month/fortnight.
It's very much a social thing - there are few places for more mature ladies to meet up in comfort around our area so many of our attendees really regard it as a day out (most of them live alone) and they've all become good friends, we organise a Christmas do for them, we buy cake if someone has a birthday etc., they send us a postcard if they go on holiday, it's lovely!

We also run a card making club along the same lines - they bring their own projects with them although there are always products for them here to play with too so they can try before they buy.

The clubs have helped us to become regarded as very much a community facility. They don't in themselves generate anything really in the way of income (our ladies all drink an awful lot of tea/coffee which we provide free of charge) but it has fostered a loyalty that I think we would have struggled to achieve without them.

 

[british steve]

Local coffee shop does this each week, they have what they call "a Stitch and *****" session, just an informal meet up in the coffee shop! Does seem to be a whole variety of ages and I have seen several blokes knitting and sewing away at these get together's while whizzing through to pick up daily coffee fix.

 

[SourChocolate]

The whole point of a "club" is that it is for the benifit of the members and not to make profit for the owner. I would seek legal advice before calling it a "club".

Football clubs must be surely missing the point then

 

[ethical PR]

I should add that we do call our group a "club" - (Knit Wits) - we charge £4 per time, you don't have to book, just turn up when it suits. Most people do come every week, but some only come once a month/fortnight.
It's very much a social thing - there are few places for more mature ladies to meet up in comfort around our area so many of our attendees really regard it as a day out (most of them live alone) and they've all become good friends, we organise a Christmas do for them, we buy cake if someone has a birthday etc., they send us a postcard if they go on holiday, it's lovely!

We also run a card making club along the same lines - they bring their own projects with them although there are always products for them here to play with too so they can try before they buy.

The clubs have helped us to become regarded as very much a community facility. They don't in themselves generate anything really in the way of income (our ladies all drink an awful lot of tea/coffee which we provide free of charge) but it has fostered a loyalty that I think we would have struggled to achieve without them.

What a lovely concept, a great resource for the local community and great for brand loyalty.

You may have already thought about this, but is there a room for you to make up a package of wool, pattern and needles, so that you have a 'knit of the month' that your club members could do and you could also promote in your shop and through your social media/communications etc.

Might also be worth inviting some local journalists to come along for a session and do a review? Perhaps from one of the glossy area lifestyle mags? Might even be worth a punt to one of the magazine programmes on regional TV - usually on about 6.30 p.m.

 

[ethical PR]

Jane and Otterbliss

This link will give you some ideas for what works in terms of knitting groups. I don't think they are a money spinner per se, but as Doodles mentioned great for creating brand loyalty and getting people to use your shop.

Otterbliss - you could perhaps run a group during the day for those who aren't working and a weekend/after work group for those who are. You could run special offers on materials for group members and recruit a local enthuiast to lead the group.

Good luck

http://www.ukhandknitting.com/groups_directory.php

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

What a lovely concept, a great resource for the local community and great for brand loyalty.

You may have already thought about this, but is there a room for you to make up a package of wool, pattern and needles, so that you have a 'knit of the month' that your club members could do and you could also promote in your shop and through your social media/communications etc.

Might also be worth inviting some local journalists to come along for a session and do a review? Perhaps from one of the glossy area lifestyle mags? Might even be worth a punt to one of the magazine programmes on regional TV - usually on about 6.30 p.m.

Thanks for that, excellent idea - really should have thought of that myself!!! I'll do a press release and some photos & invite some journos over .... nothing to lose!

 

[OtterBliss]

Doodles and Ethical,

Thank you, that is brilliant. Some goods ideas there.

I might start with a Tuesday as that is our market day, although sadly, that is dying too, 7 stalls compared to nearly full at 16 when I left it nearly 2 years ago. Will try Sat too and see what happens.

 

[ethical PR]

Doodles and Ethical,

Thank you, that is brilliant. Some goods ideas there.

I might start with a Tuesday as that is our market day, although sadly, that is dying too, 7 stalls compared to nearly full at 16 when I left it nearly 2 years ago. Will try Sat too and see what happens.

Happy to try and help.

Market day sounds like a good idea. Perhaps you could ask the stall holders to hand out some flyers? in return for you promoting the market?

Perhaps check out with your customers and see what days/time suits best before finalising when you will run the club.

Have a look at your local media - websites, local press, broadcast, and lifestyle/family media and see if you can get a listing/mention.

As mentioned previously do be prepared to invest in running the club for a few months or more before it really gets off the ground.

You can also look at contacting some groups like your local age concern, parenting groups etc to see if they have members who might find it of interest.