Interview with Heather of niftyknits

1. Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start crafting.

My name's Heather, I'm a primary teacher but I'm not working at the moment. I started knitting again a few months ago when I'd been off sick for a while - someone suggested it was a really good way to relieve stress, and they're quite right. I used to knit years ago when my kids were small, but hadn't knitted for so long that I'd actually given all my needles away to a charity shop so had to start my collection all over again! I've been an ebay seller for years, so at first I just added my knitted items to my ebay listings.

2. What do you sell in your etsy shop and how long has it been open?

My son's girlfriend is an occasional Etsy buyer, she told me about Etsy and said I should open a shop. When I first looked at the range and quality of goods available on Etsy I wasn't sure I was up to it...but she persuaded me to give it a go, and my shop opened on April 28th this year. I sell knitted toys, collectibles, noveltie...even knitted jewelry! I've recently picked up crochet again to add to my repetoire, and have produced a few amigurumi collectibles.

3. What is your favourite item in your shop?

It changes (my favourite is often the one I am working on at the moment) but overall it wold have to be my fuschias. When I first started knitting again I worked from patterns, but the fuschia was the first time I knitted something from my head without a pattern. I'm very proud of it!

4. What other craft would you like to try?

Well - I'm not quite sure what this is called, but it's something I've been meaning to have a go at for a few weeks now. On a day out I saw the piece of artwork in this photo, I think I'd call it weaving? It was very simple, and very efffective. I've got as far as collecting some long straight sticks (!!!) and thought I'd try to do a gardenscape using my knitted flowers.