Transcript
Speaker: There more than enough room on here. We are in what you believe in. Listen. Come and talk to a human.
Speaker: Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Where's Your Humanity. I'm your host, Gail Fraser. And I am so excited to be joined by Emma Yeager of Midsummer Knits. She is a knitwear designer who cares about small details so that you don't have to. And as a lifelong knitter, she released her first pattern, the Groovy Tank, in 2023. and has since then amassed over 63,000 followers and had one of your patterns, The Heartless Top, featured on Jeopardy. And this year, and what I'm so excited to talk more about, you left your full-time job to become a full-time pattern designer.
Speaker: Welcome to the show. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Obviously, i see your Midsummer Knits Instagram persona. All of your patterns are so cute and lovely. Tell me more about Emma. Who's Emma?
Speaker: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think you got a really good overview of my knitting persona. So that's sort of my business and what I've been doing, especially the last six months. That's when I quit my job. So that's been a really big part of what I show online. But aside from that, just in terms of me as a person, I feel like knitting is definitely a very huge part of my personality and what I do in my free time. So I feel like that really hasn't changed despite me doing it full time. um But I have other hobbies as well. Like I have a life outside of knitting too. So running is one of my biggest hobbies. I actually just ran my second half marathon earlier this year. Thank you. Yeah, which is really exciting. um I live in San Francisco and I really love exploring the city. i actually have a second Instagram account dedicated to that. So that's something that I do in a lot of my free time is just like going around, trying new restaurants, exploring the city with my friends. And then I also really love going to concerts. So those are sort of like some things that i do my free time aside from knitting and fiber arts. But I think I'm very passionate on the fiber arts side about
Speaker: Not even just, I mean, knitting specifically, of course, I'm very passionate about, but I think one of the things that I really want to inspire people to pursue is just to like pursue your dreams when you were a kid or the things that you really loved from when you were a kid. And it doesn't have to be like the level of quitting your job and doing it full-time the way that I'm doing it because that's a very big leap to make. But I think just like spending more time, you know, focusing on the things that you used to love as a kid that maybe you don't didn't have as much time to work on. I think I really want to inspire people to do that. so
Speaker: I love that. I know you started knitting as a kid. who Who taught you how to knit? Yeah, my mom taught me how to knit when I was six years old. So it really has been like my entire life. And I think that I i really like took to the hobby of knitting very quickly because i I just got really, really into it. I think I was a very like creative and i want to say like entrepreneurial kid. Like I even started my own knitting blog in middle school. So I think I really got into it very quickly.
Speaker: Do you still knit a lot with your mom? Does your mom still knit too? She does still knit, yeah. Every time I go home for the holidays, it's like, we'll hang out and knit together, we'll go to the yarn store. So I feel like that's been a really nice way for us to to bond over the years.
Speaker: That's so fun. I've seen your, she recently modeled one of your Persephone top. And it was so cute. um But I love that story. i know for me, like I never had one thing that I like love to do growing up. I found knitting four years ago and I was like, oh yeah, like I love this. And I think it's so fun to like hear everyone's stories about how they got started and how they got into it and to have that connection with your mom too is so special. Thank you. yeah
Speaker: I want to flip the question on you and hear how you got it into knitting as well. i got into it kind of... Kind of for a practical reason. i like to unwind by like watching a show at night and I would always like double screen on my phone and i work in systems and tech. so I am on my computer all day and then sitting in front of two screens at night. And I was like, need to be doing something else with like my brain, with my energy and do something not more productive, quote unquote, in like a capitalist way, but like more productive than scrolling on Instagram. And
Speaker: like becoming sad by the state of the world. My mother-in-law knits and I was like, I'm going to try that because it looks cool. And there are so many cool patterns that I got so motivated by. like I wanted to knit a sweater. A sweater was my second project. like I wanted to knit one. I love that. yeah And I like the practicality of it because it keeps me motivated. like i really want to wear what I'm making. And even if I don't enjoy the process of like certain patterns, then it's like, but I still get to wear it at the end. And that keeps me going. And so I was self-taught through YouTube and like Instagram. um It's such a great way to engage the part of my brain that's going to get distracted as an ADHDer. Last year, I got rid of all of my not hand-knit sweaters. Wow, that's awesome. Because I got enough to replace them. um And so, yeah it's just been like a really fun, rewarding hobby in that way. And that's why it stuck for me. That's such a cool story. ah I'm glad I asked you that. What made you want to get into pattern design in the first place? Yeah, I mean, I think, like I was saying earlier, i feel like I was just, I feel like I'm just very naturally entrepreneurial, where it's like, if I enjoy something, I'll always be thinking about like, oh, what what's the next step that I could do with this? Like, how would I turn this into a business? And maybe some people might be like, oh, that's like capitalistic, you know, like, that's so sad. You can't enjoy your hobby. But, you know, I think that for knitting, it it kind of worked out for me. But when I was a kid, like I mentioned, I had my knitting blog. I actually made some designs as a kid. There's like, I think I have three designs, three or four designs, which are still Ravelry from when I was like 12 or 13. And I think I just kind of naturally got into that where you start knitting and maybe there's like something you want to make where there's not a pattern and you you think like, oh, it's pretty easy for me to make this up on my own. So I feel like that kind of happened when I was a kid. And then, you know, as an adult, I got back into knitting a little bit more again, like in my early 20s and it just kind of naturally happened again where I would be like oh I saw a shirt kind of like this that I want to make like the heartless top for example I saw a lot of like heart cut out tops or corsets and I was like that would be really cool to knit but you know I can't really find anything like that online so it kind of just became a natural thing if I want to have this object I don't have a pattern for it but let me make it for myself and then you know I don't know sharing that just felt a little bit more natural after I made it for myself so I think it was a natural transition kind of
Speaker: I love that. I felt the same way. I have three patterns or whatever. And one of them I did at a four-day tech demo on site for my job. Wow, yeah. I need something to do with my hands. Otherwise, that I'm going to fall asleep during this training. And was just like, knit up this tank top.
Speaker: um And that was like my second or my first pattern that I ever released. Wow. it was Yeah. kind of like out of boredom. Oh my gosh, I used to do that all, so actually, you see my background right now, I'm sitting in my old office because one of my coworkers is leaving, so I came back to like visit her for her last day. I promise this is gonna come together at the end. But basically, I used to knit in my work meetings all the time, because I was like, i'm you know, what else am I going to do in my work meetings? And sometimes my coworkers, I feel like, maybe had a sense of judgment of like, oh, she's not paying attention, she's knitting. But the irony is I paid more attention when I was knitting because then I wouldn't be like going on my computer, like messaging someone, like I'd be paying more attention to the meeting. So I can relate to that. I think that's so common, especially if you are like me and you have ADHD. I had the same thing. This was an on-site, in-person tech demo. like And the first day, I was like, I'm just going to bring my knitting. And two hours in, my boss, he was just like, you know what? For the first few hours of the day, i thought you were just not paying attention at all. And then he asked a really specific question. I was like, I'm paying attention. much more attention now than I would be if I did not have my knitting in my hands.
Speaker: thousand percent. Yeah. I believe you used to work in tech as well before you quit your job in February. What triggered that decision for you to be like, I'm all in, I'm going full time with knitting? Yeah, I mean, it's kind of funny because I feel like it was a lot of things coinciding that but led me to make the decision. For one, honestly, I'd always loved the idea of like quitting my job to do knitting full time, obviously. For years, since I've been doing designing on the side, I'd always liked the idea of it, but then it's a little bit scarier to do in real life. So...
Speaker: What kind of coincided all at once was, number one, my designs were doing pretty well. Like, I feel like I was getting to a point financially where I was like, okay, this can't pay for my entire lifestyle, but like I'm making more money from it. And like, I was seeing it grow month after after month as well. Two, I'd been working in the same job since I graduated college. So that was...
Speaker: I think like five and a half years by the time I quit. So i was kind of starting already to feel like I need to find a new job, if not, you know, quit to do my knitting stuff. And also at the same time, like generative AI was really big. I mean, obviously it's even bigger now, but a year ago or so when I was starting to consider quitting my job, generative AI was really starting to affect my job because I was a software engineer and like, Claude Code, Co-Pilot, all that stuff where you are just like prompting an agent to write code for you was becoming really, really popular and my my day job was just like changing very quickly.
Speaker: So I think I kind of enjoyed my job more when I first joined it and then in the few months before I quit I was starting to feel like, okay, my job is changing a lot now I'm just like prompting an agent all day and like I'm not super excited about doing this. So all those things coincided and then I think it was also just a moment of like, okay, if I don't do this now, am i I ever going to do it? Am I going to regret not taking that risk for the rest of my life? And it felt like a good time to do it in terms of my age because I was 28 when I quit. not married, don't have kids, don't have anyone depending on me. So I was kind of like, I would rather do this now and take this risk now to try a creative career as opposed to, you know, maybe I wait five years and then at some point I have kids and it's a little bit riskier to quit my job and totally start over. So I think that makes so much sense. And like, yeah you don't know until you try Mm hmm.
Speaker: I mean, I think that a lot of people are grappling with right now because like you said, especially in like software engineering and a lot of those tech heavy fields that a lot of us went to college being like, this is going to be a super secure job. And that's why I'm going to do Whether you like love it or whether you're just like, i just need something secure and stable.
Speaker: And now like so many layoffs have happened and you're in San Francisco, which is like, i am in Minnesota and I'm Obviously, layoffs are happening everywhere, but I feel like the tech environment tech industry in San Francisco is like so much churn. Yeah, it's crazy. It's more unstable than it's ever been. There are a lot more people getting laid off and are like, well, do I even go and try to apply to 500 jobs and maybe get two interviews or whatever. I mean, I know so many people in that boat right now that a lot of people, especially like people listening to this episode or entrepreneurs that I know are like, I might as well just start my business now because I might as well just try you know, whether it's my job's changing a lot and it's feeling less stable than it did you
Speaker: there they got laid off or or they're not enjoying their work anymore. And I think that it's so powerful to be able to like have the courage to make that jump and be like, no, like I'm going to do this.
Speaker: Yeah, it's actually funny because... After I ended up quitting in February, my team had like a giant layoff like two months later. And I was like, okay, well, I'm kind of glad that I made the decision for myself because it's possible that decision would have been made for me anyways. I've seen so many friends in recent months who either got laid off or just decided to quit and do their own thing because it's just, like you said, it's so much less stable nowadays. it doesn't really feel like we're getting the perks that we signed up for in terms of stability. and you know, it's it's tough.
Speaker: Especially when it comes to like having a corporate career. I mean, we're around the same age. We were taught, like okay, you go to college, and if you're in like a STEM degree, you'll have a very stable career. And at least in my household, it was like, creatives are not, like this is not a stable career path. This is like a hobby. And, whatever, a lot of people feel that way. But people would go into corporate jobs and I went into a corporate job to be like, yes, this gives me healthcare and a certain number of days off and, like, a reliable schedule and whatever.
Speaker: But yeah, just with today's climate, I'm like, yes, it still will give you all of those things while you have that job. But I feel like having this ability of like knowing if you're going to have that job is like so much less reliable right now, yeah which is kind of crazy. It's really crazy. It's just it's been such a big change in the past few years that yeah no one saw it coming. I didn't see it coming. Yeah. No, no. And it's a big shift for everyone. and It impacts every generation of employee too, and not just our generation. but Yeah.
Speaker: yeah I'm kind of like, I don't even know what I would tell. Like if you were a kid right now in high school or college or anything, I don't even know what I would tell you you to do in terms of like a stable career because it's like anything can be taken over by Gen AI. So it's like, you might as well just follow your dream, honestly. this Exactly. Follow your dream.
Speaker: go into the trades. Yeah. No, it's so real. And I really feel for students in college or coming out of college right now because it's just a really kind of wild west time to be like coming into the job market, especially when you're like just starting out your career.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, i I graduated into COVID. I graduated in 2020. I think it's just funny because I thought that would be like the craziest work environment that I was ever in. and then, you know, few years later, crazy in a different way. What has the transition been like? Obviously, it's a big shift to go from working to nine to five to working a creative job for yourself. What has that felt like for you as a person?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, i think obviously everyone thinks of the perks first. Like, I think I don't even necessarily need to explain the perks, but I will. Just in terms of like, if you're a creative person, if you're, especially if you're a fiber artist, like the dream is like being a full-time knitwear designer and being able to spend your days knitting and stuff.
Speaker: So I think that's been obviously really amazing. Like I love being able to do what I want to do all day. i can just choose like what my priorities are. And a lot of times it's stuff that I love working on. Like it's like sitting down and knitting or working in my pattern, and working on my social media. And I think that's been so nice because I've been on the other side of it where I'm not able to work on it full time. And, you know, I would be squeezing time in like on the nights and weekends where I was always... trying to like get that last hour to work on my pattern and it always felt like I just didn't have enough time for it. So I think having the full day to work on that has been so, so nice. Like I can't overstate how amazing that's been. i do think now that I'm like six months off of doing this full time, I'm starting to see a little bit more of the cons in terms of the main thing honestly is just...
Speaker: it's not as financially stable. It definitely, i think, has taken a toll on me in terms of sitting down to like my finances each month and being like, okay, it's not going to be stable each month. Like the income's going to change. Actually, August, I just had like my worst sales month this year. So, you know, I think you have to kind of go into it with a grain of salt because the nature of the business is that it's not going to be consistent month to month. Specifically with network designing, I found that it's really seasonal. So it's kind of funny because I actually... have like very summery patterns and my whole thing is like midsummer knits. But despite that, I still have much lower sales in the summer usually. So I think that it's it's definitely like a big mental switch to just understand that that's going to happen and not beat myself up if I have a month where like I'm spending more money than I'm bringing in because it has to kind of be like the good months have to outweigh the bad but bad months in the year. And i you know I think that's been difficult for me to kind of swallow. For me, it's been kind of like the biggest con, quote unquote, And then I think the other thing that's like not necessarily good or bad is just that like, because I'm running my own business now, I have to structure my own days. So it's definitely so much freedom where some days I'll sit down and I'll be like, I don't even know what I need to prioritize today. Like I have to decide myself. And then it can be really hard to kind of force myself to do the things that I don't like as much or I'm not as good at. So I think that's been another challenge in some ways, but also, you know, that allows me to run my business the entire time. So that's really fun too. I think that probably every creative entrepreneur feels that way too, like the pros of working for yourself or that you get to structure your day however you want. And also the cons of working for yourself are that you're in charge and you have the one figuring out your structure. ofha yeah The financials of it. And especially with knitting, even though you have a lot of like tank patterns, I know a lot of knitters and I myself, like I live in Minnesota where it's like, it's light, real late all summer. And then all winter, it's like the sun goes down at five and I'm on my couch knitting. Like I knit just like net so many more hours in the winter than I do in the summer. And I know so many people who are just like, yeah I don't even knit in the summer.
Speaker: Yeah, that's definitely how it is. I've definitely realized that. How many patterns have you come out with since, I guess, since the beginning of this year? Because you have like two or three. Yeah, I think it was three.
Speaker: yeah since the beginning day of this year. Has there and been any surprises to your pattern design process since like, I know you mentioned not having to cram it in your odd hours anymore, but like, have there been any other like changes or things that you were surprised by with your own process as it came to design?
Speaker: i get I don't know if this is really a surprise necessarily, but I think I'm constantly surprised with how long it takes to make a design. Just in terms of, I actually just posted about this on Instagram because i think that people don't necessarily realize just like how much time goes into making a pattern in terms of, you have to really like work backwards. So it's kind of like, okay, you have the final pattern and then you have the test knitting, which takes like at least two months. And before that you have like writing the pattern and getting it graded. getting it tech edited, that can take a couple months as well. Before that you have like the sample knitting. So there's just, there's many steps that go into it. So, and I think it's something that you don't necessarily think about when you're just knitting a pattern. You just see like, oh, this is a new pattern for my favorite designer. Like I'm just going to buy the pattern and make it. But I think as a designer yourself, you have to like work backwards in terms of those steps and be like, okay, if I want my sweater pattern to come out in
Speaker: October, then I need to start doing these steps, you know, like six months before that. So it it very much is like a process of planning ahead. And that's been like a constant struggle for me, I think. That's so real. I came out with my like first pattern in October of last year and it was a tank pattern. And like I said, I had just like...
Speaker: That was the timeframe that I made it and had time to have test knitters do it. And I was like, no one's knitting this strappy tank top in October. but I was just like, I'm just going to release it now because whatever.
Speaker: Because it does just take a lot of time and steps and math usually. Yeah, it all adds up really fast because I had a very similar experience to you actually where I put out a tank top pattern in December because was just like, well, it's done now. Like, I'm not going to wait, you know, six more months to put it out. And then it did really badly. i was like, OK, this is definitely a learning lesson for for next time. You know, it's just kind of a function of any design process to where there are other people involved and you're working essentially with a team.
Speaker: whether like you're creating the pattern but you're also like you said you have your test knitters you have like tech editors you're like writing and formatting the pattern and there's like design and I think that's like such pretty much every creative who listens to this will resonate with that of like I work a lot with wedding photographers In my business, and they're an industry right where they're like, okay, you pay for six hours of photography, or eight hours of photography, 12 hours of photography for your wedding.
Speaker: And people are just like, that's so much money for like eight hours of work. And But it's like they're also going home and culling through thousands of photos and picking out the right ones and editing them and touching them up. And, you know, like, yeah, there are so many steps to the creative process that the end user doesn't necessarily see. yeah And then with knitwear, it's like each pattern purchase does not give you that much money.
Speaker: oh that's un sure yeah Obviously, you're very active on social media. What have been your like key strategies for getting awareness to your patterns and kind of drumming up enough interest across your platform to get in like that continuous income? Because like, I know I'm like, I get that 583 every time someone buys the something blue tank, like it really adds up real quite slowly.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think I've realized more and more just how important social media is over the years. Like, i feel like even now, seeing that some of my older patterns, like the Heartless Top, for example, will still continue to like sell really well. And I know it's because of social media. Otherwise, i don't know. I just don't know how people would have even found the pattern. But I think that honestly, what I've realized over time is that you have to kind of be annoying on your own social media when it comes to say a pattern release, for example. If I just post about the pattern release once, which I have done in the past, I've just kind of been like, OK, this pattern's out now.
Speaker: Maybe a couple of people will see it, but you can't really guarantee that your whole audience is going to get their eyes on it. And you know if that one post doesn't do super well, then even though you might feel like, OK, I already told my audience that the pattern is out, like I released the information, a lot of people still haven't seen it. So I found that I really do have to be annoying and I have to post like five times and tell people, you know, this pattern's out. And it doesn't have to be just like a pattern announcement post. I think that what I found, especially in the last like six months or a year or so with the algorithm changing all the time, I think that what's been and working really, really well has been more kind of like storytelling posts and reels and things where it's a little bit more about sharing like the journey behind a pattern as opposed to just saying, oh, hey, this pattern is out now. So I think I will try and give myself like a release week schedule where it's kind of like, okay, I want to post like five times about this pattern as it's coming out and kind of have these five different like posts or reels talking about it. Yeah. So I think just being annoying honestly has been my strategy and I think it's been working a little bit better. but You're always going to be the most annoyed by your content being repetitive. Exactly, because you're the one seeing every single post, but most of your audience is just going to see like one of those posts, you know. One of my favorite things, I don't remember where I heard it or saw it, but I can't claim credit to it. But she was just like, if your post flopped, that means no one saw it.
Speaker: and it's such a good reframe because I think when you are creating content with the intention of getting eyes on it and getting people to buy something from you or engage with your content, like it can be so deflating to be like, nobody liked this. yeah And it's just like, no, nobody saw it. Just post it again. like just so literally. You can just... read redo that and like even now I'm on threads for my business and i don't like the repetitiveness of my sales posts and I just have them go out on a schedule and I just have like 15 and they just recur and yeah some weeks like some of them just get like blown up for no reason and it'll get like a ton of traction I'm like this is the same thing that's gone out the last like three months yeah I don't know why today is special. But that's like so much how whether it's threads or Instagram, like some posts just like get a ton of reaction and some don't. And it's not really a reflection on like you or what you're creating in your business.
Speaker: Yeah, a thousand percent. I even will do like if I post a reel, let's say, I'll just like reformat that as a carousel and post that as well. And i I don't even get comments of people saying like, I already saw this. I'm like, you know, usually it's a different audience. And if one person sees it twice, like they'll survive. And they're not going to notice because it's like in their feed of a million things that they're scrolling through. And they're like, oh, I've probably seen all of your Persephone top release posts that have just come up in my feed. and like each time I'm like, oh, yeah, that's so cute. Like, don't even think it's about it being like, oh, she's posting about this again. Like, you're really the only person who thinks that about your own business.
Speaker: Yeah, totally. What advice would you give to somebody who's kind of in your position that you were in, in February, where you're just like, okay, I'm, I'm gonna try this. Like, what advice would you give to someone who's getting to that point?
Speaker: I think that it's a little bit easy to see what I post on social media and maybe think that I like rashly quit my job because I don't really necessarily talk about like all the time and all the thought that went into the decision. So i I do worry sometimes that I'm like encouraging people to randomly quit their job and just do what they love and not necessarily think about the finances of it. So I do want to say before I say anything that I definitely thought about you know, the financial decision. Like I looked at my finances and was like, okay, if I don't make any money for a year, like I'm set, which, you know, I'm very lucky to be in that position. Like I was saving money um the whole time working in tech, which is a very well-paying job. So super lucky to be in that position. But I spent a lot of time like thinking about like, is this a good decision? is this something that I'm going to be doing rashly and like regret?
Speaker: And I eventually kind of came to the decision of like, OK, I'm going to do this, give myself one year and see at that point, like reevaluate if I want to do it full time. So I think honestly, just in terms of like advice I would give, A would be like to make sure that you're in a position to to make that decision, that you feel confident and that you feel like you have a backup plan if things don't work out and, you know,
Speaker: just make sure you've done your due diligence in terms of looking into quitting your job and deciding that you want to do it full time. But then i feel like once you have made that decision, it's very important to like make that decision 100%. And really, at this point, I'm not thinking at all about like, am I going to go back to corporate someday? am I going to is it going to work out? I think I'm just giving myself the full year to like really 100% in on this decision and commit myself to working on this full time and really like loving that journey.
Speaker: And yeah, sometimes people do ask me, they're like, are you going to go back to corporate? Are you going to come back to this job? And I'm like, I'm not even thinking about that. And I really hope not. yeah, so yeah I don't know. I think that would be my advice is just to really like fully commit if you decide to commit and then, yeah, give yourself that opportunity. And I'm i'm really glad that I did.
Speaker: It's so, so important to have stability, but also to have have the confidence in yourself to say, like, I'm going to commit, like, it's gonna work. But like, but what if it all works out?
Speaker: Instead of like, what if everything goes wrong? Or like, what if I fail? Yeah, I think it took me a while to like think about it that way. Like I i remember when I was telling my friends that I was going to quit my job, I would always say like, oh, i'm I'm giving myself a year and then we'll see what happens. And I feel like now at this point, I'm like, I barely even think about the fact that I gave myself a year. Like I'm just fully, you know, locked in on this.
Speaker: Can I ask you about your business? Yeah. Yeah. Wait, could you, I guess I'm curious as well, since you said that you run a business outside of your work, I'd love to hear kind of a quick TLDR of what you do there.
Speaker: Yeah. so my business called Work Simple, i have been in kind of eight different careers in eight years, all over different industries, all over whatever. But most of what I ended up doing in all of my jobs was like figuring out how can we do this better? Ultimately, I implemented systems in most of the places that I worked.
Speaker: And I was just like, I want to do this. but I don't want to do it in corporate forever. And so i was like that the small business owners in my life and the creatives in my life, they needed that because they're running, as you know, like you're the person that's doing everything in your business.
Speaker: Most of my clients are service-based clients. And so it's like having a CRM to track all of your clients and to get paid and to be able to track your projects in a meaningful way, whether that's through project management or CRM automated workflows. So sending out the thanks for inquiring and the, oh, you're 30 days out from your wedding or whatever, sending some of those out. emails out and having the templates set for your proposals and invoicing and everything so that you're not just recreating the wheel every time because as business owners, we don't have time to recreate the wheel every time.
Speaker: It's been super rewarding and I started it about a year and a half ago and I'm hoping to jump in full time in the next few months. So super, super exciting. But I'm also doing the same thing of like looking at the numbers and seeing seeing what's possible before I'm like fully jumping in. But then I feel so much the same of what you said of like, then I'm just going to be done, done. Like my backup plans do not involve corporate.
Speaker: That's really cool. i'm i'm been really interested to hear like where things go with you. and say I feel like you almost invented your own job. Oh, 100%. I was like, this is what I want to do. And now I do know other people who do it, but it is kind of a niche.
Speaker: It's a small group of us. I feel like that's almost better, though, because it's like you're providing something that people need that doesn't really didn't really necessarily exist, you know, a few years ago. So that's really cool. Yeah, no, I love it. i think it's super fun.
Speaker: ah One thing I did want to talk about with you is on one of my episodes a little bit ago, talked about kind of this analog renaissance, turning to this like wanting to be with real people and do things that are like very analog. tactile, that aren't just being in a screen looking ah in-person community and events are like kind of coming back now post, like finally post COVID, I feel like they're starting to get their footing again.
Speaker: at least for me, it's like such a huge, that's such a huge part of my own story with knitting is like, I need to like do something that's not screen. Yeah. And I'm curious what conversations you've been having with your peers or your friends or like seeing online around just people wanting to like get into knitting because they're like, i i want to do something that's not screen.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, i guess I haven't really had many conversations with people about it. Maybe that's not true. Okay, I was gonna say I haven't, but I think I have because I actually run my own knitting slash fiber arts meetup as well. So I've talked to some people there about it. And I think me even running a meetup is definitely like a product of the last couple of years of people really wanting to be more in person again. And especially with like knitting and fiber arts,
Speaker: They can be very solo, independent hobbies. So I feel like people have such a desire to take that hobby and make it into something more social where you can connect with other people through, you know, in-person events and do it together. But yeah, I definitely do feel like this has been a really big kind of like knitting renaissance in the past year or so. think actually like the biggest one before that would have been COVID was when people were just like sitting at home and they wanted to have something that they could do to spend their time and knitting became really popular at that point. And it's funny because it's almost like the opposite of COVID in some ways where it's like people now are really interested in like an offline hobby and connecting with other people through this hobby. So I think That has been really kind of lucky timing in terms of like when I wanted to quit my job and do knitwear designing full time because i feel there's so many more people who are interested in knitting now and are getting into knitting. And, you know, obviously, luckily for me, that also means like potential customers, but also just I think seeing it happen has as a knitter and as a fiber artist myself has been really, really heartening and really cool to see people being interested in it. Because I do remember like,
Speaker: When I was growing up, I kind of was embarrassed of knitting at times because I was like, oh, it's not like a cool hobby. It's kind of like associated with like grandmas and stuff. And I think that honestly now it's become more popular. But I also think that we should we should associate it with grandmas in like a positive way, you know, in terms of like my grandma knit. I think that's really cool that we're passing down that hobby. And it's really cool to see that that more people are interested in it. yeah.
Speaker: I don't know. I love the analog renaissance. I think it's very exciting and very good timing, especially for me, but just really cool to see people being more into that. I saw something that I really liked that was just like, how do you think those grandmas got so good at knitting? It was like they started when they were your age.
Speaker: Yeah, that's so true. And I thought that was really sweet. And like hearing about your own relationship with your mom and knitting too. It's like it is a generational hobby and something that we can pass down to the next generation. And it's like such a special thing to be able to make your own clothing and express yourself in that way. Yeah. And I mean, I think it's awesome that it's a trend right now, but I'm also like, regardless its if it's ah if it's a trend or not, you know, I think it's really cool that it's such a generational thing. And, you know, we should kind of pay respect to that part of the hobby as well. yeah
Speaker: Tell me more about your in-person knitting meetup. Yeah, I mean, I've been wanting to do it for quite a while because, like I said, I feel like knitting can be very isolating and kind of like a solo hobby. And so honestly, for the first few years where I was getting back into knitting as an adult, it was kind of like COVID times. So I did do it a lot more just by myself, like sitting at home and knitting. I still do that sometimes, but I think as time went on, I would kind of develop more like knitting friendships with a couple of people in my life. And then we'd go and hang out at a cafe and knit together. And that was really fun. And I love doing that, but I was kind of like, I have so many like online friends who are knitters, especially in the Bay Area. I actually knew a lot of people based in the Bay Area, same as me, who were knitters or fiber artists, crocheters.
Speaker: And I was like, I would love to like take this concept of just like hanging out and knitting together in a cafe and expand it to a bigger audience. invite people in to to join that. So that's why I started doing my knitting meetups. I call it Craft Cafe. It's basically the concept is we'll usually like rent out a cafe and then people will come hang out at the cafe. They get a ah free drink with their ticket and they also get to just like hang out and knit or crochet or whatever fight or fiber arts they want to do and make friends with people. And I feel like it's been really fun. It's been really special to get to meet more people in person and get to meet people that like I never would have met otherwise. Yeah, and it's been it's been a lot of fun. I've basically been doing it since I quit my job in February. So it's been like six months at this point. And it's been such a fun community getting to to meet people in person.
Speaker: That's so awesome. And I love the like making friends aspect of it because I think we it gets kind of overshadowed by the like, oh, we have a shared hobby. We're getting together and not just like knitting at home. But those types of in-person communities where you do have that shared hobby is like such a good opportunity to Whether it's having social interaction to have social interaction, which is good for all of us, or making lifelong friendships. Like I've met some of my knitting friends that I hang out with through some of those bigger knitting groups and such an opportunity to be like, oh, like,
Speaker: We're friends now. Yeah. No, I feel like it's been really cool because I've had some of the same people come back to every single event and it's like, yeah, we're friends now. Like we'll see each other and and catch up at these events. And I know people have also like hung out outside of the events and like made actual friends. So that's like what the coolest thing to see, honestly. And to be able to facilitate that is so awesome.
Speaker: Well, as we wrap up here, i like to give my guests an opportunity to stand on their soapbox and share their humanity hot take.
Speaker: Okay. okay've I've been thinking about this a bit. think we should all be more open about our finances. um okay I don't know if that's what you expected, but the reason that I've been thinking about this is actually because I, when I worked in my tech job, I, you know, realized at a certain point after talking to some of my coworkers that I was making around like 20% less than some of my male coworkers. And the only reason that I realized that is because I asked. In this case, it kind of like didn't even get resolved by the time I left my job. But I do feel like at the very least knowing that information gave me the ability to like advocate for myself and talk to my manager and say, I know that I'm getting paid less. Can I, you know, can we do something to fix this? And I think that was a really important opportunity for me to have. So I personally think that it's really important to be able to like talk about these things. I think that some people find it uncomfortable or like tacky to talk about money. But personally, I think that as long as you're
Speaker: approaching it in kind of a graceful way and you know you're open to people either sharing numbers or not sharing numbers you're just kind of like graceful and polite i think that it's totally fine to talk about and personally i think that we all should talk about it more because it just gives you more opportunities to you know make more money, address the pay gap, etc. Nowadays, obviously, i don't work a traditional nine to five, so it doesn't quite app apply in the same way. But I do talk to other people about brand partnerships, for example, if I want to work with a brand, I'll reach out to people and say, hey, how much did this brand pay you if you're comfortable sharing? And I think that really helps to be able to advocate for yourself and just come from a place of like,
Speaker: knowing where you stand. And I think it's really important. So personally, I think that a lot of people are a little bit uncomfortable about it, but I think that we should be less uncomfortable about it because it's not such a big deal. And, you know, it can really help people to be in a better place to discuss money more.
Speaker: So that's my hot take. Thank you. agree. I love, i think i also agree. We should be talking about money more, especially if you are a woman or a woman of color in corporate, like you're getting paid less and you got to address that.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly. And I feel like, I don't know, people just think it's so taboo. And at the end of the day, when I've had these conversations with people, yeah, sometimes people will say, I'm not comfortable sharing that, you know, sorry. But people are generally pretty open and pretty willing to share, even if not the exact numbers, at least like the experience. So I think it definitely is worth worth a try to ask people.
Speaker: I love it. Well, Emma, thank you so much for being here, for having this conversation. i know that a lot of people are going to be so interested in hearing more about your story. So I am so excited to share this episode with them. And yeah, thanks for being here.
Speaker: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun. To learn more about Emma and see all of her amazing patterns and buy them, you can go to MidsummerKnits.com at MidsummerKnits on Instagram and TikTok. and you can go and see all of her patterns and designer info on Ravelry.
Speaker: Thank you so much for listening. You can find this episode and more wherever you listen to podcasts. And you can follow us on Instagram at whereisyourhumanitypod. Our lovely theme music is created by Emily Bjorki. And you can listen to her new single, No Angel, out now. And her upcoming album, Are You Going to Heaven or Hell, out on October fifteen For more information about me, Gail, and the work that I do, you can go to worksimple.io, my website, or you can follow me on all the platforms, Instagram, TikTok, threads, also at worksimple.io. See you next time.
