Let's meet Chereen, owner of Smeeny Beanie Knits
All About Chereen
Where do you live?
Steamboat, CO
Do you have a job outside of Smeeny Beanie Knits?
I have a chef background and worked in restaurants for 10 years before spending two years working on a farm. As my businesses grew, I slowly transitioned to full time and am recently 100% self-employed! I also have a farm-to-table private chef business and probably spend my time 50/50 on the businesses.
What’s your dream vacation?
Hmmm…I’ve been very fortunate to have travelled a ton in my life so far. One place I have never been but would love to visit is Madagascar!
What’s your favorite colors?
I love earth tones like olive green, burnt oranges, mustard but also gravitate towards maroon and teal!
What’s your favorite food/meal?
This one is so hard! Some of my favorite things are pho, street tacos, and sushi.
What’s your least favorite food/meal?
I’m not a huge fan of cold sandwiches hahaha!
Do you have a favorite movie or TV show?
How to choose? I love the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Ratatouille, CoCo… My favorite comedies are Blazing Saddles and Dumb and Dumber. My current favorite binge-worthy show is Queer Eye!
What’s a quote that you live by?
Live to Eat!
Do you have other hobbies?
I love to ski, snowboard, mountain bike, hike, camp, and play rugby!
What’s a weird/strange fact about you?
I’m a lefty! I have never eaten a Macdonald’s burger. I can’t stand having nail polish on my fingers, but love it on my toes. I played horse polo in college (without having grown up riding!)
If you had a theme song, WHAT would it be?
Roam by the B-52’s!
What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve done in your life?
Moving to Colorado sight unseen intending to be ski bums for one winter…we’ve now lived here for almost 8 years!
Do you have a favorite holiday?
I love the entire holiday season from Thanksgiving through Christmas!
Do you have a favorite season?
Fall and winter
What inspires or motivates you?
Nature and adventuring in the outdoors! And making connections with others!
If you could do one thing for the world (people or environment), what would it be?
To actually be part of a positive change for social, racial, and environmental/climate justice! Make sure that future generations can live in a world of true equality.
Anything else?
My husband is a brewer and we’ve been together for 11 years! We have a fur baby, Arya, who is a deaf 4.5 year old red heeler mix. I’m a lover of chunky yarn and circular knitting.
All About Smeeny Beanie Knits
How long have you been knitting?
8 years
When did you start your business or hobby?
I started knitting about 8 years ago, but didn’t really start selling anything until the winter of 2017. I finally started my business in 2018 and opened my Etsy shop in 2019!
Why did you start?
When we moved to Colorado, I really wanted a winter hobby to wind down with after my late nights at the restaurant. I remember seeing a headband at a local shop and thought “hey! I could probably make that.” I ended up finding some knitting needles at a thrift store and taught myself how to knit on youtube! I quickly became OBSESSED and started knitting more and more. I love wearing beanies so gravitated towards making those. Living in a ski town, I started giving them away as gifts to close friends and soon selling them very casually. I somehow stumbled upon a couple of Maker podcasts and it sparked the idea that this could be a side hustle. Fast forward a couple of years and now I have a full on business and am fully self employed between my knitting and cheffing!
What’s your favorite thing you’ve made?
I seriously need to make a sweater because it’s been on my list forever! But I guess my favorite make has been my Bee Wild Beanie pattern. I also LOVE test knitting and getting to know other makers
What’s a piece of advice for someone just starting out in your field?
Just go for it! Don’t over think it because you’ll learn so much more by doing and along the way. No level of planning and preparation will teach you what you need to know.
Does your company have a mascot?
Arya! Hahah I guess! Hahaha…I do have a logo but Arya is definitely very popular
What was your most memorable success?
My most memorable success was getting my products into my favorite local shop and having them be a success! It was amazing seeing my things in a store and knowing that people I didn’t know were buying them
What was your most memorable challenge?
My most memorable challenge was my first winter selling hats. I’d gotten into the shop and thought I’d make a “big” drop off at the beginning of the season and be good to go. Little did I know they’d sell them all within the first month and I had to knit like crazy during all of my time off from my job as the head chef of a restaurant (so not much hahaha!) to keep up! I learned a lot that winter!
How did you overcoming this challenge?
I’ve set up way more systems for myself since then and have starting building my inventory and purchasing all of my materials waaaay ahead of time so that I don’t run out.
What’s next for Smeeny Beanie Knits?
So many things! I think I’ve really enjoyed the maker community aspect of everything so I’d love to make that a bigger part of my brand. I want to start designing more patterns, selling knitting kits, and creating more resources for makers in business!
New Release for Smeeny Beanie Knits
What’s your latest project?
My latest project is my Branding Workbook for Makers. It’s my first resource geared towards makers and is a downloadable ebook/workbook with a ton of info and worksheets on how to get started creating your brand.
Where did the inspiration come from for this project?
When quarantine first went into effect, I started doing IG Lives and kept getting asked about branding…I thought, ME?!?! When I first started my business, I took a 30 day course called “Set Up Shop” by Create and Thrive and one of the prompts was about branding. From there I became fascinated and obsessed with it and have been working on honing in on my brand ever since. When people started asking me about how to create a brand, it really made me think about what I had done and what I’m still doing. I started writing down and outlining what I had learned on my journey so far. After doing a long IG Live with my friend AlyThreads all about branding, I decided that there was enough interest and content for me to create this workbook!
Have there been any challenges with this project?
I am by no means a graphic designer or branding expert so it took me some time to really get the look and feel of it right. I used Canva which has been a great tool for many aspects of my business! I also asked my friend who is a brand developer to look over my content to make sure that it was sound and something I could confidently put out into the world! I’d never done anything like this before, so getting over imposter syndrome was (and still is!) very challenging. I hope people really find it helpful and enjoy the material!
Will this be free or paid?
This is a paid workbook
Where can we find this project when it’s finished?
It is available on my website and on Etsy!
When will it be finished?
It’s out in the wild! (August 13th is my target!)
Contact Info for Smeeny Beanie Knits
Go and give Chereen some LOVE! Like, share, or buy a few patterns. Remember, supporting Chereen is supporting a small business and a local maker’s dream.
Here are the links:
Instagram: @smeenybeanieknits
Etsy: SmeenyBeanieKnits
Facebook: Smeeny Beanie Knits
Website: https://www.smeenybeanieknits.com/shopall
Look for Chereen’s Branding Workbook for Makers! I know I’m excited for it when it’s released. I feel like I don’t have a clue when it comes to branding…and that needs to change.
Comment below if you have any questions for Chereen or Smeeny Beanie Knits.
And THANK YOU so much for reading and joining along on our Maker Spotlight. You can see a new maker right here EVERY Monday. I have some AMAZING makers lined up and I cannot wait to share them with you.
xoxo, Lindsey
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