How to Monetize Your Fiber Passions with Mezzo Makes
Kate Gardin is the person behind Mezzo Makes, a knitwear design and indie yarn dyeing business. Kate launched Mezzo Makes just over a year ago and has learned so much about what it means to run a small business. In this interview, she shares her inspiration and growth, as well as the behind the scenes. If you have your own knitwear business or are thinking of starting one, you'll definitely want to give this a read. And even if you're not interested in monetizing your fiber passions, this chat gives awesome insight into what it takes to be one of the small designers or dyers you follow on knitstagram.
Hi Kate! Tell us a little about you.
My name is Kate, and I'm a 24-year-old living in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was born and raised here and have been here my entire life. I actually would consider myself a musician by trade. I played the tuba for about eight years, and then during the senior year of high school, I said, “You know what? I want the lead in my high school musical.” I had always been in theater and I was like, “It is time! I want to do this.”
So I started voice lessons kind of on a whim, and my voice teacher said “You should not be singing musical theater. You should be singing opera.” I was like, “What does that even mean?!” I had never even listened to an opera before. I came to find out my voice type is called a mezzo-soprano, hence Mezzo Makes, which comes later, obviously.
I ended up going to school for music education with an emphasis on vocal performance, and I went into a Master's program in vocal performance after I graduated. However, I ended up dropping out of school this past year and decided to go full-time with the business, so now I’m Mezzo Makes! Dropping out of school is such a hard choice to make, but I feel like if you get to the point where you're thinking about it and you can't stop thinking about it, it's just time to do it and it's not a failure. It's just a shift.
I couldn’t agree more. I started going back to school for a third degree, this one in Fiber Arts, this past fall but recently dropped out. The classes were interesting, but I realized it just wasn’t what I needed. As you said, it’s so important to shift when you find something not working for you.
You’re an incredible knit designer and yarn dyer. How did you get interested in knitting in the first place?
Tale as old as time! My grandma knit and she taught me when I was probably six or seven. Knitting became something that I did every Christmas season to make hats and scarves for people. I learned garter stitch, and then when I learned how to purl, I would make these curly stockinette scarves that no one could actually wear because they ended up being like an inch wide, which kind of led me to think, “Hey, why do I have this problem?” So I went on Reddit and someone said, “Oh, you either need a garter stitch border, or you can block some of it out.” Finding out about blocking led me to different kinds of stitches, which led me to lays, which led me to, you know, on and on and on. It kind of keeps going.
But I’m a very antsy person, and when the pandemic started, I needed something to cling on to like all of us did. Whenever people ask, I always say that knitting was like my pandemic bread baking. I probably did it for like 10 hours a day, every day, just sitting at home. I couldn't go to work, and I thought, “What if I try to do something with this?”
Click here to learn about the amazing impact that knitting has on anxiety.
Oh, and this is so cute: I recently found a post on my personal Instagram from over a year ago that said, “I love knitting so much. Wouldn't it be cool if I could make a pattern and maybe even sell it one day?” And then a year later, it's like a full-fledged business. I can't even believe that this is my life. It's really amazing. I used to look at accounts with a thousand followers and say, "Wow, if I could get to that point, I would feel absolutely amazing." I keep going back to that feeling whenever I'm feeling not good enough or frustrated with the algorithm. I try to find my roots.
That makes me tear up, just thinking about how much growth is behind this whole story.
What interested you in taking it from a hobby to a business?
The Andy Bernard colorway in Mezzo Makes' The Office collection.
When I was a kid, probably in fourth grade, I got a tiny toy-like sewing machine from Target, and I immediately started thinking about how I could monetize what I made with it. I started sewing these awful pencil pouches with leftover fabric that my mom had and sold them at school for $5 each. It ended up getting to the point where a teacher had to pull me aside and say, “It’s great that you're doing this, and we don't want to dim the light, but you can't sell things like that on school property.”
Ultimately, I think I just have an entrepreneurial bone. It seemed like a natural step from knitting commissions, which I think are amazing, but you can’t get paid fairly for your work. It's absolutely impossible. I mean, to this day, I take some commissions, but it's usually for very close friends who I want to give a discount to anyway, because no one's going to pay $2,000 for a sweater. And that's what you deserve to make. So pattern design was the next natural step. And then obviously it moved on to yarn dyeing.
What made you transition from just knitwear design to yarn dyeing? What got you into that?
I've been playing a long game with that. I released my first pattern a year ago in mid-February, soon after I started the business. I thought, “You know what I'm gonna do? I'm going to design all these patterns over the course of a year.” My plan was to gain a comfortable following, however long that took. I had a number in my mind. I was like, “Once I reach 5,000 followers, I'm going to start dyeing yarn,” because you know, you gotta do that forefront work to be able to have a customer base who you trust and who trust you.
But then I lost my job before I got to that 5,000 mark and August 2021 was basically the most tumultuous month of my life. I dropped out of school, which was a good decision, but it was a lot. My boyfriend of four years moved away to grad school. My car broke down. I got super sick and had to miss a bunch of stuff right as gigs were coming back (being a musician and all). And this all happened within a three-week period.
I was talking to a lot of my friends on Instagram, my yarn dyeing friends specifically, and Katie from @thescrantonstitcher, who is an amazing person, was so kind and helpful. She said, “You know what? Okay. I know you've been thinking about this for a while, and I think this is a sign. It's time for you to start.” I was going to give it six more months to a year to start dyeing yarn, but I agreed with her and I was like, “You know what, it is time.” Katie was a huge part of me starting this, so I'm very thankful for her.
That's the beautiful thing about this community. People who should be your competition are your support system. It's so wild that everyone just kind of agrees that’s how we’re doing it. They are more collaborators and colleagues rather than our competition. I've never seen an industry like that ever.
“That’s the beautiful thing about this community. People who should be your competition are your support system. It’s so wild that everyone just kind of agrees that’s how we’re doing it. They are more collaborators and colleagues rather than our competition. I’ve never seen an industry like that ever.”
I mean, as a musician, things are very cutthroat. You know, you can be friends with musicians, and I have several close friends who are musicians, but when it's audition season, it's one person who is getting the role. But in the knitting community, everybody can win, which is amazing.
And regarding the knitting community, there are obviously issues. For example, rampant racism in several facets. However, it seems like the majority of people are aware of when something wrong happens, and we encourage each other to speak openly about it and why it was wrong. Like, if there's a major dyer who hasn't said anything about an event that happened, people pressure them to either speak out against it or show their true colors.
Absolutely.
So you kind of mentioned this earlier, but could you talk a bit more about Mezzo Makes’ transition from a part-time to a full-time business?
I lost my job in late August, and my first launch was October 15, so it was a super quick turnaround and there was a lot to learn. I think I dyed 80 skeins of yarn one day, just to figure it all out. I really get like “argh!” if I don't have something exactly right the first time I try it, so it was a quick but grueling process. But six months later, I'm so thankful I did it. It's just insane how quickly things can just flip on their head. I told my mom this time last year that my biggest life goal was to work for myself, and I'm already doing that. Eventually, this business is going to give me the freedom to move where I want, which is invaluable, especially because my boyfriend is an orchestral musician. So if he gets a job in Wyoming, we’ll just have to go to Wyoming, and I'll be able to do that.
What are some things you’ve learned since you’ve started monetizing your passions?
There is definitely a balance that you have to strike. I still enjoy designing, which I think is the most important thing, but when I'm designing patterns, I have to make sure I ask myself, “Do I actually want to design this? Will I actually wear this? Or am I just following a fad?”
For example, chunky roving yarn is a big fad right now. I love it, it's great. I don't wear chunky knits a ton when I make them, but they're super cozy. They look beautiful, especially those pastel colors, which are so pleasing to see on your Instagram feed. However, if you want to get into designing and you make something that isn't your style, I think people can smell that. Like, if you're really forcing something that isn't you, people can pick up on that lack of authenticity. And that idea applies to dyeing as well. Finding your style is really difficult, and being as authentic as possible in an age of social media is a really difficult line to toe.
“If you want to get into designing and you make something that isn’t your style, I think people can smell that. Like, if you’re really forcing something that isn’t you, people can pick up on that lack of authenticity.”
That actually goes so well into the next question, which is one thing I'm in awe of about you. I think you are such an authentic person, and it’s such a talent that you’re able to translate that to Instagram.
Could you share your thoughts on how you run your Instagram and social media?
That question is so funny to me because I don't feel like I have much of a strategy even though I probably should have one. Sometimes, I'll hop on and say something on my story, just off-hand, and I'm wearing a big sweater and my hair's up in a bun. Then I think, “Should I have posted that? Should I have put on makeup and gone over to the natural light to make sure it's a good shot?” But then I consider what I like to see as a consumer on other people's feeds.
Kate from Red Door Fibre Studio (@reddoorfs) is someone who I think does a really good job on Instagram. I noticed that we share similar styles when it comes to talking about our interests and things that are going on in our personal lives. I like to see who is making the product when I'm buying from a small business. If I feel an emotional connection to someone, it makes getting that thing a lot more special.
For example, my friend, Erika Green is a bag sewer and has a business called Paisley and Gold (@paisleyandgoldsewing). I always think it’s so cool when I get a bag from her. Like, Erika sewed this bag. She got the fixture. She put them on. She printed off the label, and she sent it to me. That's the beauty of small business. Somebody is making it their livelihood to create art that you then get to own. To me, that's the coolest thing.
“That’s the beauty of small business. Somebody is making it their livelihood to create art that you then get to own. To me, that’s the coolest thing.”
Also, it's easy to be authentic when you feel comfortable with your audience. I'm sure every creator says this, but I have the best followers. Everyone is so kind and so supportive. If I have a shipping issue, they are always so kind and supportive about it. I obviously work as hard as I can to contact USPS and figure out where things are, but everyone so far has been so gracious.
I think I remember you making a goal for 2022 to have more boundaries around social media. How has that been going? What kind of boundaries have you set up for yourself?
I am definitely addicted to Instagram. Not even like a funny, “Haha, me too,” like, I’m really addicted. So recently, I had to set a boundary that I can't offer pattern support, shipping support, or business-related questions in my DMs on Instagram, and people have been super nice about it. Bless everyone's hearts because I've had people message me and be like, “I'm so sorry. I asked you a shipping question three months ago on this app.” And I'm like, “It’s okay! I hadn’t set the boundary then. You can't know what the boundaries are if I haven't set them.” So that is a big boundary for me now.
I also think that time is an important boundary to set. I have a timer that goes off on my phone when I hit an hour on Instagram for the day. I always go over it, but it keeps me a little more honest, you know? But it's hard when you run your business through an app. You constantly feel like you have to be on, and posting, and making content. However, I feel like the reward of being an artist and being your own boss is worth having to set a boundary and maybe pushing the boundary a little bit.
Having that timer boundary though makes me more selective about what I’m looking at. Like, my whole feed is knitting, which isn’t that shocking. But sometimes I'll use the Reels feature as TikTok kind of thing, and then I end up scrolling through stuff that's not even relevant. I don't need to be looking at, like, French bulldog puppies, even though that's great. But my goal is to keep Instagram focused on knitting because this is my knitting app, you know. I can go to TikTok for the other stuff if I want to.
Do you have TikTok?
I do. I'm really bad at it though. It's more of my personal account. I tried posting a few Reels to TikTok, but I’m realizing that it’s another boundary for me. I just can’t keep up with all these apps. It's impossible. Most small businesses, let alone larger ones, have at least one social media person. So when you're shipping, designing, dyeing, packaging, making content, sleeping, it’s just impossible to do a hundred percent of everything all the time.
What I do a hundred percent on is customer service, dyeing, and making sure that my patterns don’t have mistakes. Everything else will be fine, but customers are the most important thing that has to be on the money every time.
What advice do you have for new or aspiring knitwear designers and yarn dyers?
Just do it. People can be so terrified to do what they want to do, but this is something that I have never had a problem with. If I want to do something, I just do it. And maybe it's to a fault. Like, if I get it in my head that I want something, I will just buy it, which may not always be the best practice. But it’s good when it comes to aspirations and goals.
I felt a little guilty when I left school because I felt like so many other people expected me to do something that I didn't want to do anymore. It once was what I wanted to do, but I’m 24 and people change careers all the time. This business is something that I decided that I wanted to do. And I literally wouldn't change a thing about it, you know?
When it comes to pattern design, I suggest that you go to Target or the mall. Find things that you like the shape of and take pictures of them, and then sketch them out. If you're thinking, “I've never designed a garment before, I don't even know where to start,” then read some patterns that you really like the construction of and figure out how to do it. If you have the money and can afford it, draft up your first pattern design and then send it to a tech editor. Then you can use that tech-edited pattern as a template for your future designs. Designing is something that you have to want to do, and you have to be willing to work for it. But you can do it. At one point, you didn't even know how to knit or crochet, and you learned how to do it, so you can definitely learn how to design.
With yarn dyeing, the barrier for entry is a little bit higher than pattern design because you have to buy supplies. I suggest that you don't pressure yourself to make it a business right away. Learn how to do it first. Jumping in 100% was an error that I made. I said, “This is going to be my career,” and I bought everything. Then the pressure was on. When you’re just starting, get some bare yarn, get a few dye colors that you like, watch lots and lots of YouTube videos, or dyeing Reels on Instagram. There's nothing wrong with finding inspiration.
Tell us about your latest projects.
This is something great to talk about. I have not yet had one finished object this year. I realized that I was like, “Oh my god, am I even a knitter anymore? I'm a phony.” Then I got myself together and I remembered who I was. And I realized, this is what I always preach about. Slow knitting is awesome. There's no need to pump out projects.
“Slow knitting is awesome. There’s no need to pump out projects.”
Kate in the Winters Pullover by Ozetta in the Pam Beesly colorway from the upcoming The Office collection. Kate finished this sweater soon after our interview :)
I've been so obsessed with Ozetta (@ozetta) patterns lately. They’re just so clean and beautiful, and that's kind of the direction that I want to take my design. I'm working on a test knit for her right now using one of the upcoming The Office colorways that I'm super excited about, and I'm actually knitting another Ozetta sweater just for fun in another The Office colorway. One is stockinette, so it's just around and around and around, and the other one is my favorite stitch, which is half fisherman's rib. It's like the most therapeutic stitch. And I'm also working on my first shawl!
Click here to learn how to design your own knitwear capsule wardrobe.
Where can people find you and any other thoughts you'd like to share?
If you're on Instagram, you can follow me at @mezzo.makes, where you can see what I'm designing and dyeing. You can also check out the Mezzo Makes website! And I just released a size-inclusive lingerie pattern, the Aphroditeddy, which you can purchase on Ravelry.
I'm also very excited about my next yarn collection, which is scheduled to go live on March 15th! The dyes are 100% inspired by the show The Office, so if you're a fan too, you're going to absolutely love it.
And last but not least, a big thing everyone needs to realize is to support BIPOC makers. Support them with your money and with non-monetary ways. Likes, follows, and shares are all extremely important ways to help small businesses, even if you can't spend the money for that small business at the moment.
I said it above in the interview, but I'm going to say it again here: Kate is such an authentic person. I am so grateful that she took the time to chat with me and to share her insight with all of you. Make sure to go give Kate a follow on Instagram @mezzo.makes so you don't miss any of her patterns or dye collections!