Episode #24 -Knitting Dreams into Patterns: The Journey of Little House Handmades

Episode #24 -Knitting Dreams into Patterns: The Journey of Little House Handmades
 
In this episode, Tina Joy Cochran welcomes Charlotte Duron, the creative force behind Little House Handmades. Charlotte shares her inspiring journey from homeschooling mom to business owner, transforming her love for knitting and creativity into a thriving venture. Discover how her faith, family, and rural lifestyle influence her stunning handmade designs and unique patterns. Charlotte’s story will encourage you to embrace your gifts and turn your passions into a purposeful business. Whether you’re a creative entrepreneur or a fellow fiber artist, this episode is filled with heartwarming insights and practical inspiration. 

Discover Charlotte's Patterns at: LittleHouseHandmades.com

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Transcript

Tina Joy 0:01

Hey there, welcome to the Joy Ladd business podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. I am thrilled that you're here. Sometimes growing a business can ruin your work life balance and make you feel like you have to be someone you're not, but it doesn't have to be that way. Business should incorporate your faith and honor the creative rural lifestyle you cherish. That's why I created this podcast to be your personal business coach in your pocket. Here you'll find Practical tips, insightful interviews, and easy to follow training all crafted to fit seamlessly into your busy life. Whether you're driving, creating, or taking a walk, I'll be right there with you. Now let's dive into this episode and start turning your dreams into reality. I can't wait to share this journey with you. With me today is one of the most talented people I've ever met. Charlotte Duran. Of Little House Handmaids. Welcome Charlotte.

Charlotte Duron 1:08

Thank you. It's nice to be here.

Tina Joy 1:11

the first time I saw a picture of the sweaters that you make. I just was like, I didn't know anybody actually really made those. I thought just like magic fairies created those. But before we dive too far deep into the specifics of your sweaters, tell me about Little House Handmaids and how you got this business started. How do you land here in this business world?

Charlotte Duron 1:38

I have six children, three girls, three boys, and my older daughters were learning to crochet and making little animals and different things and I knit and I just wanted a place that we could share our stuff. And then people started asking to buy things. And I sold a little bit off and on, but net was more a hit and miss thing. It was not an actual business in my mind. Because it was very sporadic sales. Every once in a while I'd have people ask for orders and I designed things for them. And then I started making sweaters for all my family for Christmas. And I wanted something unique that they would enjoy. The need to turn this into the business came up about two years ago when my husband told me one day I homeschooled. And he goes, you know, when you get done homeschooling, I think you need to probably get a job because you know, it'd be nice to have a little more income and we can work and do some things together then. And my mind went into horror mode immediately, imagining myself trying to work at Walmart or someplace like that. I've done a lot of different jobs and had part time jobs. But most of the time, the last 12, 14 years, I've been at home homeschooling six kids at once is a handful. I'm down to two now at home, but I have. Five years left. And I'm like, you know what, this is kind of became a business. And then your free workshop that you offered. And I got in there and I thought, Oh, I'll do that. And it just seemed to fit. This is how to take the idea. And make it into an actual business, because I didn't know how to do those steps. How to, other than saying, Hey, this is for sale, you know.

Tina Joy 3:36

Right.

Charlotte Duron 3:36

And I hated doing that marketing type post. I didn't know how to word things. And very often I would design something and it would already have a specific person in mind. As a gift or something, but never thinking that, Hey, somebody might want the pattern to do this. And through your coaching this business has been born and my husband. At first he thought I was a little nuts, but now, yes, he is now a hundred percent on board and he likes to come and sit and watch me. He goes, now, don't forget to do the shaping on that neck. What kind of neck are you going to do? Are you going to make it a round one or V neck? What are you going to do now? You remember you need to cast off when you get to that. Yes, bud, I think I got this. But he's actually showing an interest, whereas before he could care less, other than when I was making something for him, then he was interested, but now he's just interested in it all. And he's enjoying anything. When I go to places, he loves to go along and talk to people about my business and it's been a blessing.

Tina Joy 4:50

Oh, wow. Well, I love your story so much because in a lot of ways, it's really typical of what happens to us as creatives is. The business grows up around us. It isn't, Oh, I need a business. Therefore, let me go find a product. It's no, I've been doing all of these things. And people, people are actually buying stuff. And I wasn't really trying to sell stuff, which is super fun. And what we have to do is figure out how to make that turn from, Oh, this is just kind of a hobby that once in a while somebody pays me for stuff to no, I'm a business owner and I'm going to treat it like a business and act like a business. And that's what I've been seeing you do. I want you to spend 30 seconds to a minute or so. On the sweaters and the vest that we're talking about just so people can get a visual I call them the landscape sweaters, but I'm not a knitter, so I don't understand the technicals of it. Tell us a little bit about the really distinct nature of what you do, tell us more about that.

Charlotte Duron 5:53

I love knitting with two or more colors at a time and using those colors to create a drawing or a picture in the back. Like my husband's vest has a buck on the back of it. My one son has a elk on the back of his, another one has a wolf, another one has a bear. I've done one with a train. I can take almost any cross stitch chart or whatever, a hummingbird a race car, anything, horse, cowboy, and transfer that and put that into the knit pattern. So it goes on to the back of the sweater or along the edge as a border. I've done floral ones. Wow. it adds a whole lot of detail. So if your special interest is hummingbirds or something, I can create a unique garment for you that has hummingbirds on it that no one else will have one like it, create a pattern and name it after you. There we go. All right.

Tina Joy 6:59

So essentially. We could describe you not just as a knitter, we could describe you as someone who is an artist with yarn, I know you paint too, right? So when you talk about all the things, your daughters do different things, you do different things. It's all created by you, hence the Little House Handmaids.

Charlotte Duron 7:20

Yes. It's anything that we do by hand. Mm-Hmm, and I mean, my older daughters are now, don't live at home anymore and aren't making things for the page. So usually anything that's on the page is my own right. My youngest daughter is learning some of it, but she'd prefer to just draw her little characters that she creates in Ed. And it hasn't really taken up the fiber arts stuff very much yet.

Tina Joy 7:43

But it sounds like you could almost get to the point where your daughter is drawing some things and then the next thing you know they're on the back of a sweater because you transmissioned it. Right? Yes.

Charlotte Duron 7:54

He drew a little picture of a cat recently and It inspired the one sweater that I'm creating now for the little girl I babysit for and I'm writing up the pattern. It'll be a Myla Mae sweater, and it has a little kitten peeking out of the front of it.

Tina Joy 8:10

Wow. Wow. So, It's not just about the sweater stuff. It's not just about the finished product. I keep hearing you say the word pattern. So tell me how patterns fit into your business and how they fit into what you're planning for your business.

Charlotte Duron 8:25

I had broke my ankle for the second time several years ago, and I, that's when I taught myself to use two colors at a time. And during that time, I also wrote my first pattern and it was a really simple pattern and I had offered it for free for a while. And then somebody said, you know, why are you offering your stuff for free? You put all that work into designing it. You don't have to charge a fortune for it, but you could create a pattern. When I first joined. Golden Heartland, my goal at that point was, to create dishcloths. Patterns because there are simple easy quick knit a lot of people love to knit dishcloth But create a pattern for each woman in my family and name it after them. I think I have five done But there's like 50 women in my family. I have some cousins and second cousins that keep saying so when do I get one? I have three sisters and the others aren't done yet when I learned that I could do those then after a while i'm like god you need to inspire these patterns I don't want to Just do this on my own because sometimes it's exhausting. I think well, how am I going to come up with all these? Ever since praying that and making that a regular part of my prayer life Pattern designs pop into my head and it's not just dish cloths. It's sweaters I have like six sweater patterns in my head And thanks to you that are written in a notebook now because you told me write them down in the notebook So you don't have to keep remembering Because i'm afraid i'm gonna forget them. And so The pattern supply Or ideas are just coming very very fast ever since I told god that he was in charge Of supplying those ideas

Tina Joy 10:09

It's so funny because honestly, as you were talking, I was taking notes and in my notes, I wrote, where do these patterns come from? And it wasn't very long after I wrote that, that you started talking about. Where these patterns come from. Can we talk a little bit more about that, you said, the supply of patterns is now becoming almost overwhelming

Charlotte Duron 10:31

a little bit, right? It is at times, the other morning on the way to church, I'm sitting there, my husband's talking about something, and I see these leaves starting to blow around, and And an idea for this sweater that I'm wanting to make from all hand spun yarn. I have the base color yarn, because my neighbor girl gave me that fleece to spin and I know that I want to make a sweater out of that, but I didn't know what design and I kept running out of our ideas, but that on the way to church, I suddenly looked at my husband said, I know exactly what this sweater needs. I just got the idea. God showed me in those leaves that are falling over there. And so it just comes. And it's very, very clear when it does. So you get

Tina Joy 11:21

a picture of what the end result looks like, and then you give them talent to be able to translate that not only into the finished product, but to a pattern that other people can then purchase wow.

Charlotte Duron 11:35

I'm finding in our sweater patterns, take a lot more. editing and prep work and dishcloth patterns.

Tina Joy 11:41

And this started because you said, Lord, show me what to do. And Sometimes it's bigger than what you think.

Charlotte Duron 11:49

Yeah, it is. It is. I have learned a lot. In writing the patterns of how to do it and how not to do it. In the last year even has been huge right now I have one pattern that you can make Oh, I don't know how many different Sweaters from it because it has several options for body styles and several options for sleeve styles and it has an optional trim that you can put on. It has a

Tina Joy 12:18

name. What is the name of this pattern?

Charlotte Duron 12:21

It's called the Lancaster Lady and it is set to be released December 1st of this year. the three samples that I have knit are getting close to being all completed. Two of them are completed. The third one, I just have one more sleeve to do on that. And then those samples are knit. I just need to finish the math out.

Tina Joy 12:44

Because

Charlotte Duron 12:44

there's a

Tina Joy 12:44

little bit of math in

Charlotte Duron 12:45

all of this, especially when

Tina Joy 12:47

you're talking sweaters in different sizes. Like you said, the right, right. Because

Charlotte Duron 12:52

this sweater goes from a size small to like a three or four X, I think is what I had written. And so I need to make sure the math works for all those. Now it does have a very forgiving style to the body because it stretches a lot. I mean, it, and snaps back because of the ribbing type work on it. And so, the small one might actually fit a medium person if they like a snugger fit. If they don't, you know, and if you get, make a large one, it might actually fit a small person because of the way the body, is designed. So, yeah, I'm, Getting excited about finishing that one.

Tina Joy 13:32

What's interesting, you have people already waiting for that one.

Charlotte Duron 13:37

Is that right? Yes, I do. And they're not waiting for

Tina Joy 13:40

you to make it for them. They're waiting for this pattern.

Charlotte Duron 13:43

Yes. I've had several people say they want this pattern. They want to know when it's coming out. I have a friend who has just learned to knit recently. In the last year or so, and she's never attempted an adult sweater, but she's seen the pictures of the, the ones that I have been putting up. And she goes, that's going to be the first sweater I make myself. She lives in another state. And so she has a close friend who said, you get that pattern. I will help you work through doing it. It looks beautiful, but it's not terribly complicated once you get into it. It's pretty straightforward. I know some people have looked at it and said, Oh, they think it's going to be too challenging. It really isn't. It has two little cable stitches to learn, but they're very simple cable stitches.

Tina Joy 14:31

Wow. Wow. So you make what looks complicated is actually not necessarily as complicated as it looks. However, and I warned you when we started this conversation, I was not going to be able to complete this conversation without talking about steaking. I have learned so much about knitting and the process. And I love when you talk about that. This starts with. You've seen leaves and God putting an idea in your head that leads to a pattern that leads to you being able to offer not only the pattern, but the service of knitting it for people and, or the finished product, just any place in the world. In that, we had a retreat with our Golden Heartland Academy folks and you brought a project that you were working on and you said, I'm going to seek this in front of everyone. And I didn't know what that meant until you laid out this beautiful piece of Wear and then grab the scissors. This is how bold this woman is. I think it's a great example of what you, what you are willing to do. So what is stinking and why do you do it?

Charlotte Duron 15:43

Well, I honestly, it was only a few years ago that I learned that stinking was a thing and I never did it. Until after I joined Golden Heartland, I knew that I wanted to at some point, but I just didn't have the courage to go do it. I was too scared. And it's gotten easier. Leaking is when you want a cardigan sweater. So you look at these nice pullover sweaters that have the beautiful yokes with all the design. Yeah. The color work design. Color work, you can do it working flat knit, which is back and forth, doing a knit side and a purl side, but it's a little more complicated. If you can knit in a round where you're just knitting in a round and it's all knit stitches and you're only going one direction, your yarn doesn't get tangled up with the different colors as much. It's just easier to keep track. Right. But. Not everybody wants to have a pullover, sometimes these sweaters are very warm and a pullover is hard to take off in public when you get too warm and you just are more limited and when you want to wear it, whereas a cardigan, you can wear it and take open the button or whatever. So the idea is that you're knitting this in a round and you knit a few extra stitches where your button band would go, where you would cut it open for the cardigan in the front. Wait, you said

Tina Joy 17:09

cut it open.

Charlotte Duron 17:11

You're

Tina Joy 17:11

scaring me.

Charlotte Duron 17:12

Well, yes, because it's knitted around, so it looks like a pullover. Okay. But a cardigan opens down the front and has buttons to close, or a zipper. Okay. And so you're knitting it and it's all one piece like a pullover, then you take those extra stitches that you knitted in the center. Usually I do them like if you're knitting it around, I'll purl those stitches so I can see exactly where they are. Or some people will knit those in a checkerboard pattern with the different colors so that they know exactly which stitches they are. Now, not everybody felt their work before they cut it. I'm just not brave enough not to do that. And so I needle felt those stitches really, really well so that the needle felting Makes all the little fibers rub together and makes it matte like on those stitches so that they don't drop. And then I lay it nicely apart and cut straight up the middle of it. Sew the edges back and then pick up stitches and knit the button band on them. Wow.

Tina Joy 18:17

Wow. Yeah. I remember when you did this, there's a video of it on your YouTube channel. And you said a couple of things here that I think are significant, which I did not know that you had never had the courage to do this until you were part of the Golden Heartland community. Is

Charlotte Duron 18:32

that what I heard you say? Yes, I had wanted to try it, right. But I was scared. And I think my husband's sweater that I made with the big bass on it was the first one that I actually ever did.

Tina Joy 18:46

Right.

Charlotte Duron 18:48

Wow.

Tina Joy 18:49

It just show goes to show you that creativity takes courage. And, with our business, thing. You know, a lot of times people say I'm not a business owner or I don't want to do marketing because I'm a creative and I don't want to do the business and admin stuff. And one of the things I've seen you do since we've been working together is really embrace it. This idea of the business tasks of social media marketing or any kind of marketing and sales and the administration part of the business is actually just as important as the creative side. And I've seen you integrate those two really really well. Talk to me about that because when you talked about your business. You said it just kind of evolved how has that worked for you as a incredibly creative person? So many creative people say to me, I can't do the business side of this because I'm a creative, but I've not seen that in you. I've seen you be able to do both.

Charlotte Duron 19:48

Well, I, I attribute that a lot to your coaching because I was terrified of trying to sound salesy, which almost everybody says they don't want to sound salesy. They don't want to be pushy about it. But when you helped me understand that it's not about trying to sell them something, it's saying, Hey, this is what I have to offer. If you're interested, contact me, the ball is always in their court. You can't force somebody to buy you, but you have to be clear and concise about what you're offering and what it costs and not feel. embarrassed by that. I mean, these sweaters take hours upon hours. I mean, it's nothing to spend 80, 90 hours on a sweater, just working committed. And so there is a cost involved, and I don't have to be ashamed of how much it costs to do these because It's reasonable., it's slow fashion. It's not something fast that I'm going to mass produce. These are one of a kind heirloom quality.

Tina Joy 20:52

Exactly. And I love that you're really comfortable with those terms and getting comfortable with this is what I do that our job is not to make everybody want what you have. Our job is that clarity and being clear and concise about what you have available for the people that want it, because it's not for everyone.

Charlotte Duron 21:12

Right. And it's fine if somebody isn't, you know, that's fine. We can still be friends.

Tina Joy 21:19

There it is. We can still be friends. I love that. Right. Cause it isn't about that. It's about Just basically, do you want this? Or if you don't want it, somebody will, if not, we go on. We're going to land the plane here. What is the future of little house handmaids? What do you see in the future?

Charlotte Duron 21:36

I would like to have a large pattern base because patterns are something that once they're there and they're on my website to sell, I don't have to do another thing with them. Other than advertising they're there. They're always available. And so I'd like to have a large base of patterns and then eventually travel from fiber festival to fiber fest. So meeting people and talking to other fiber enthusiasts I do teach some classes. When I do these and I would love to do that. My husband seems to really enjoy it when he goes along as age progresses, I'm thinking that, slowing down a little bit, us taking the two of us going and traveling and I can take the business with me. And do orders on the way and do some, you know, events and create patterns. I often get inspired when I'm outside. And so, camping or doing something like that would be down my alley.

Tina Joy 22:37

It sounds so cool. As you're talking, I'm remembering this event that you went to and the first year that you went, you brought your husband with you to prove to him that there were actually people that were interested in what you do. And Actually, you had a booth and you taught and your husband ran the booth. And by the end of the event, it was no longer Charlotte. It was your Oliver's wife, right?

Charlotte Duron 23:08

Everybody knew me. I'd start talking to them when I would get finally be out of class and they'd say, Oh, you're Oscar's wife. Everybody knew who Oscar was. He's a patty guy.

Tina Joy 23:21

It shows how when we let God step into who we are, he can provide something we never thought of. If 10 years ago, somebody had said, Charlotte, design a business, would it have been designed this way? Probably not. Right. And it's beautiful. And we can just go about what we're doing and be fully who we are and a business can. Be birthed out of that, and you're a great example of that. What would you tell the person listening to this podcast that says, Wow that's me. I homeschool my kids. My kids create stuff. I create stuff. Sometimes people buy it. We've done a couple of. Craft shows or farmer's markets. What would you tell them would be your best business advice for them? If they are thinking, I don't want to work at Walmart when the kids graduate, what would be your best advice?

Charlotte Duron 24:20

Walk in faith, take that step of faith to make it a business. Get a good coach to help you walk through those steps because I did not honestly know how to do it. And I. A good coach has helped me very good coach. God gave us talents for a reason, and I am sure that he gave them more them to us for more than just our own personal enjoyment. And if you're creative and you love creating, I would not be surprised at all. If he has a plan out there for you using those talents, but sometimes it takes a lot of faith to step out into it and it takes time to build a business. It's not something that's going to happen overnight. You know, there were many months that I didn't sell anything and I was very concerned about when is this ever going to take off, and it still has a ways to go. It's not at any point yet that we can go live on the road yet. But it's much closer now than it was a year ago and yeah, having that courage and that faith and, you know, let God show you where to take it. His plan is always best anyway.

Tina Joy 25:35

Oh, there we go. That's it. I have nothing less to say. Thank you, Charlotte, for being here. And thank you for sharing our business

Charlotte Duron 25:44

thank you.

Tina Joy 25:45

You've been listening to the joy led business podcast. I'm your host, Tina Joy Cochran. Thanks for sharing part of your day with me. You don't have to walk this business journey alone. Discover others just like you at goldenheartland. com. Business coaching community for creative rural women. Faith. Go there to learn more and get free gifts I designed just for you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this episode with someone who could use a bit more joy today. Remember, your business success matters to me and to God. Being joy led will get you there. Can't wait to meet you at Golden Heartland.