Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Hay.
Hi Susan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started learning to knit age eight in Scotland from my mum and granda, where knitting is a traditional skill handed down through generations. I loved being able to create something from a simple ball of yarn and I started out making small toys with clothes and developed into more complex patterned accessories and sweaters for myself. I loved feeling fulfilled and comforted by spending an evening engrossed in a pattern with something to show for it at the end. A move to the US in 2003 saw me settled in New York City and becoming a member of a local knitting group who shared their diverse knowledge to increase my own. In 2012 as a way to channel my creativity and cope with an ever-growing number of toys, I opened my online store on Etsy which sells my own designed and knitted toys and patterns. With my move to Austin in 2013, I was keen to continue this journey and joined local Etsy makers groups where I was able to join craft markets and partner with Slow North to lead training workshops for those interested in learning or developing their knitting skills. I make a lot of custom toys, often recreating much loved favorites from photos of old childhood toys long gone. My toys have also been purchased by prop designers and have featured in a Google advert and on Hawaii 5-0!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Anyone who has ever tried to knit knows that things don’t always go as planned and that ripping out and taking back rows is a good skill to learn early! Even now when designing new toys, I have a picture of how I want it to look and it can take months of making and remaking until it feels just right. Having an online store has been a learning curve too, making toys is the easy part, learning SEO, marketing, photography and social media skills are an ongoing continuous learning process. However, I find the process of knitting very relaxing, the repeated movements are comforting and restorative, great to do after working through the business side of online selling!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do professionally and started my working life in Banking, I moved through different departments and disciplines, completing my Master’s Degree and ending up in a project management/operational role, through that I moved with them to NY to lead their Operational/Project Team there. After ten years in NY, I followed an opportunity to Austin to work on a new hospitality project there and as a result, I found my current role in Engineering.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Childhood Memory – My favorite knitting memory is watching my granda while he made a patterned sweater for my very loved, and as a result mostly hairless, panda which dad brought to the hospital when I was born, he couldn’t read patterns but knew many off by heart. Other favorite childhood memories are of our annual summer holidays by the beach in a small village on the east coast of Scotland, lots of fun but not very warm!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Eight Little Fingers
- Facebook: Eight Little Fingers
- Other: www.etsy.com/shop/eightlittlefingers
