Mompreneur life – How it all came together

Mompreneur Who? – Craft as Therapy

I learned how to knit in 2010, around the time my father passed away. When I think back, I realize that it was a big part of my healing process. I am so grateful I had my aunt there to teach me the basics. I found it so peaceful knitting row after row and somewhere in between I accepted that my dad was in a better place. At this point, knitting was for healing and I never thought I would become a mompreneur.

As time passed, I honed in on these skills by watching a LOT of YouTube videos! I also tried my hand at crochet. Although it requires just 1 hook, I found crochet to be more difficult. I took a break but never entirely gave up. When I came back to it, I got the hang of it and improved over time!

Mompreneur Life – My First Design

Fast forward a few years and I got awesome news: I was going to have Bubs! This meant I could finally make something for my own tiny baby! Being a Spring baby, he became my June Bug and I decided to make a bug-themed blanket for him. I designed the caterpillar applique because I didn’t like any of the designs online. When I was done, I loved how he turned out! I know there are a ton of mistakes which show up here. For instance, my circles were messy as I hadn’t perfected the magic circle technique. Also, I could have done a better job in sewing on the applique. Despite all that, I loved that I was able to take something that was in my mind and make it a reality. It was a one-of-a-kind caterpillar made for my June Bug to come!

This little guy, #noorsknitapillar is what inspired me to become a mompreneur! He's the very first thing I designed for my own June bug!
My caterpillar applique, my first ever design made for my lil‘ June Bug to come! Here, I used Lion Brand’s Pound of Love in Honeybee, Antique White, and Bluebell and used Lily Sugar’N Cream in Warm Brown 

This is when I knew I wanted to share my talent with the world beyond making gifts for my loved ones! It worked out perfectly because I wanted to stay home with Bubs for the first couple of years. I opened up my Etsy shop in October of 2017, just a few months after Bubs turned one!

Mompreneur Life – Growing with My Business

After almost a year of having my business and learning from the maker community, I decided it was time for a change. I wanted to focus exclusively on design. Read more here about why I chose children’s pieces as my design focus! With this shift in my business, I really wanted my story to show in a way that people would know my why as soon as they saw my logo. That’s where my Knit-A-Pillar and Hooker-Fly come in. The Knit-a-pillar represents the caterpillar applique which was my first design and the crochet hook butterfly adds to my focus on clothes and accessories for lil‘ bugs till they become butterflies!

Mompreneur Life – Noor’s Knit-a-Pillar

In honor of my blog launch, I created a free pattern for this little guy. You can find the free pattern below or head to my Ravelry store for the pdf. The PDF includes written instructions and a full video tutorial for how to make the caterpillar applique and how to sew it onto a finished project! You can access this pattern and video tutorial on Ravelry by clicking here! If you end up making it, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and use the hashtag #noorsknitapillar and link back to my blog! I can’t wait to see which projects he’ll be cutely crawling into!

Noor’s Knit-A-Pillar Applique Pattern:

With Color A, make a magic circle and dc 12 into the circle, sl st into the top of the first ch 2. Pull tight and close the circle. Leave a 15 in. tail and cut. Repeat once.
With Color B, make a magic circle and dc 12 into the circle, sl st into the top of the first ch 2. Pull tight and close the circle. Leave a 15 in. tail and cut. Repeat once.

Sew on the 4 circles to your finished knitted or crocheted piece by aligning them as shown in the pictures above.

With Color C, add the antennae, eyes, nose, mouth, and legs as shown in the photos above.

If you would like the inexpensive printable PDF with the full video tutorial, head to the pattern on Ravelry.

If you’re a mama and/or POC knit or crochet designer – I would love to feature you on my blog! Head over here to find out more!