|
|
|
| ABOUT | ||
| ||
| ||
| SMALL BUSINESS TRENDS brings you daily updates on trends that influence the global small business market. | ||
|
||
 |
|
Anita Campbell, Editor |
|
||
| Past life: CEO, corporate executive, tech entrepreneur, retailer, general counsel, marketer, HR ... (more) | ||
| email me | |
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||
|
||
| FREE BUSINESS MAGAZINES | ||
|
||
|
||
| Trade publications FREE to qualified professionals. No hidden offers and no purchase necessary. | ||
|
||
| |
On Wall Street The Deal Computing Canada |
CIO Employee Benefit Oracle Magazine |
|
||
| 100+ additional titles. Click to browse. | ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ARCHIVES & SEARCH | |||
|
|||
|
|||
| |
Previous Small Business Trends articles can be found at the links below: | ||
|
|||
| |
October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 |
||
|
|||
| |
Or, use the search box below to find a specific post: |
||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
||
|
|
|
| NEWSLETTER |
|
|
|
| Sign up for our FREE Small Business Trends newsletter. (View Current)
We publish regularly and promise we won't share your email address with anyone. (Privacy Policy) |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| SMALL BIZ INFO & RESOURCES | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| BLOGS TO READ DAILY* | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * Don’t have time to read several dozen blogs a day? Pick two or three. Your brain will thank you for it. | |
|
|
|
|
| ONLINE COMMUNITIES | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
| BLOG DIRECTORIES | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
|
| THE BUZZ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SPECIAL RESOURCES | |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Small Business Trends Radio Tuesdays, 1:00 PM Eastern U.S. time on Voice America network Click to listen November 1st: Torsten Jacobi, CEO of Creative Weblogging, joins host Anita Campbell. Sponsored by Six Disciplines. Show details. |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friday, June 04, 2004 | |
|||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Knitting Shop Boom | |
||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|||||
|
|
Knitting is officially cool. Movie stars like Cameron Diaz and Nicole Kidman are said to knit between scenes on the movie set. Knitting clubs are popping up on college campuses. Teenagers are taking knitting classes. And knitters no longer limit themselves to sweaters and socks -- they actually knit works of art.
There are more knitters, they are knitting more frequently, and they are spending more per knitting project. Today, 38 million Americans knit. And the nature of knitting has changed, going upscale. It's not your grandma's ball of yarn anymore. Now it's a ball of hand-dyed, natural-fiber, luxury yarn that can go for as much as US$50. All this has meant a business boom for knitting shops. The traditional sleepy yarn shop run by Mom and Pop (or, typically, just Mom) is looking different these days. Yarn shops are being expanded as the owners ride the trend. Several cities have knitting cafes, melding together the coffeehouse and the knitting shop. In California, the center of this hot trend, knitting shops that once pulled in US$100,000 now bring in ten times that. An interesting aspect to this trend is how the Internet and even blogs have helped fuel the boom in knitting. Like many other hands-on hobbies, the Internet plays an important role as an information source, an extension of community, and a source of supplies. A quick Google search reveals dozens -- possibly hundreds -- of sites selling yarn and knitting supplies online. And online forums and blogs re-create online the community gathering place that the yarn store serves in the physical world. The knitting blogs even manage to duplicate the homey feel of a small local yarn shop -- for instance, the Morcatknits blog. |
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
| |||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
More news... more trends... more insight... | |
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|||||
|
Home | Privacy | Terms | SmallBizTrends |
|
|
|
|
|
(c) Copyright 2003 - 2005, Small Business Trends LLC. All rights reserved. |