Have you ever been told you could not do something because you are left handed?  Sound silly?  Maybe, but this is exactly how Melissa first experienced knitting!  Picture a darling little girl at a Girl Scout meeting, all excited because today they were going to learn to knit a project all their own.  As the kind lady wandered the room, helping this one and that one adjust their project, she comes to this little one and says she is doing it backwards.  After unraveling her project and casting on “the right way,” the lady notices something…her work is backwards because the little girl is left handed.  Instead of adjusting the lesson to suit her left handed student, the little girl was told “I can’t teach you.  I’m sorry but you’re left handed.”  Rather than be deterred by such a short sighted statement, Melissa grabbed her yarn and needles, sat in front of the computer and taught herself to knit!

This young lady lives a very full life working at a nursing home, finishing her associate’s degree as well as running a business.  When Melissa does have a few minutes of down time she loves to hang with her friends and her puppy Devika.  Her real passion, however, would have to be yarn!  When she was a child, she tried many different crafts, but nothing really stuck with her like knitting and crochet and now nothing can stop her!

While many go into handmade selling with a purpose, Melissa describes it as “my shop really built itself and then named me the owner.”  Basically, she was on a For Sale group on Facebook and another crochet artist did not have time to fill an order.  Rather than stand by, Melissa offered to make the order for her…and before she knew it, people were asking for her work.  She quickly discovered that she loves selling her work, from talking to people at shows to seeing people wearing her work.  There are some pitfalls of course, competition!  There is so much out there that Melissa has had to really learn promotion in order to be found and is constantly working to find what makes her work stand out from the crowd.

Competition is by no means a reason not to jump in.  In fact, Melissa encourages new artists to sell their work.  She cautions that before you set up you should have clear goals and lots of patience.  Also, be sure that you whole heartedly support yourself and your work.  It takes time to get time to get found so keep at it.

Are you ready to see what this talented, left handed young lady can do with yarn and needles?  You can check out her shop on Etsy and even follow her work on Facebook.  Be prepared to be wowed!