Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Toews.
Hi Erin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a South Dakota girl turned East Tennessean who has a bit of a yarn habit. I am a wife, mama to 3 littles, a NICU nurse, and an active member of my church community – and an avid crocheter. Some call me the crazy yarn lady.
My mom taught me how to crochet when I was young. Then high school friend reignited my creativity with yarn when she founded a crochet & knitting club at my high school in South Dakota and I haven’t put my hook down since.
In college, my residence hall crocheted hats for cancer patients and while I took breaks from studying for my nursing degree, my buddies and I would crochet blankets while watching Gilmore Girls. I have always found crocheting to be a great way to bring in a bit of income through craft fairs or personal sales. Almost 3 years ago I officially started my crochet business called “Juniper & Oakes.”
These days I have transitioned away from selling finished crocheted items, and instead started focusing on selling my original crochet patterns to other crocheters around the world. I have designed pillows, wall hangings, and blankets. This past winter, I hosted a collaborative “crochet along” on the internet that went viral.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s really not easy running this creative side hustle while being a busy mama and nurse and wearer-of-so-many-other hats.
Demands in the home, in my job, in the world keep me busy and unable to accomplish all that I want to do. Plus! I am not a businesswoman, I love to crochet, but don’t know how to do bookkeeping and run a marketing strategy. I think we creatives set lofty creative goals, yet forget about the important behind-the-scenes work that goes into running our creative business.
Luckily, I found an amazing online community of other crochet business owners and we support each other and push one another to reach our goals and do the necessary work to get there.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I run an online crochet design business. My patterns tend to be home decor items like wall hangings, pillows, and afghans. I believe your home should make you feel cozy and at ease. I design & create pieces that bring comfort and invite conversation. It is my desire that my patterns add to the personality and peace in your home. I tend to use complicated stitches in my designs – it’s hard for me to keep things simple.
Last summer, while I was breastfeeding my newborn in the middle of the night, I daydreamed about the Nordic Winter Afghan CAL and a few months later this huge project come together. I would definitely say it is the project I am the proudest of. I had set basic goals for the project, and at the end of 2021, those goals were far exceeded! It is a red & white Christmas blanket with 12 different squares sewn together.
Each square was designed by a different crochet designer and the squares were released slowly over a few weeks. Crocheters from around the world worked up this blanket as the designs were released. I am still getting images and messages and sales for this blanket.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
If you are wanting to get your hobby business or side hustle off the ground, I really encourage you to believe in yourself, communicate to your spouse and family about what your goals and plans are, so many times I thought “It’s just crochet, it’s not important” or “Who am I to make any money on this little yarn business?”
But once I told myself and my family that crocheting is important to me and that I know I can build a business on it, things started to really move forward for Juniper & Oakes.
Contact Info:
- Email: erin@juniperandoakes.com
- Website: https://juniperandoakes.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juniperandoakes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juniperandoakes/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JuniperOakes
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JuniperAndOakes
