FARGO — When Erin Kitzman, an early-childhood consultant, lost her job after Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota closed its doors last January, she didn’t get unraveled.
Instead, the Fargo woman turned her love for little ones and infant development into a creative side hustle. Kitzman latched onto crochet, a skill she’d learned 10 years earlier, and began making and selling carefully constructed, lovingly detailed baby items through the Unglued handmade gift shop in downtown Fargo and the Pride of Dakota shopping website, ShopND.com.
Marketed under her “Heartmade by Erin” label, Kitzman’s line of wee booties, sherbet-colored hats with pompons, animal-themed teething rings and super-soft sensory blankets have sold well so far. But even more importantly to Kitzman, they’ve helped little ones stay warm and comfortable while also accomplishing something her early childhood background cares deeply about — encouraging healthy development.
“My two loves in life are babies — I love babies, I love working with babies — and crochet. So this kind of a nice way to combine the two,” says Kitzman, dressed in jeans, slippers and a celery-green sweater she crocheted herself. She sits in the basement family room of the south Fargo home where she lives with husband, Jon.
Although the Kitzmans don’t have children, the room is filled with toys. Kitzman explains they are there for their 6-year-old niece, Sydney, who spends every Friday evening with the couple.
“I’ve told my husband that there will come a day when Sydney doesn’t want to hang out with us anymore, so we need to take advantage of it while we can,” she says, smiling broadly.
Her affection for children is also apparent as she talks about her niece, Emily, the daughter of Kitzman’s identical twin sister, Elisa. Kitzman taught Emily to crochet when she was 7 and, during the pandemic, gave her crochet lessons via Zoom. “Even from far away, she took to it,” Kitzman says, proudly showing off a picture of the 10-year-old displaying a squeaky octopus with teething ring that she crocheted for her baby sister. “That was a super-proud auntie moment.”
Kitzman is especially proud of the interactive octopus toy that her niece, Emily, 10, crocheted for her baby sister.
Contributed / Erin Kitzman
Kitzman understands first-hand how difficult it can be to master crochet, an age-old process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials.
She took her first lessons a decade ago, while working as a child care provider with the YMCA Child Care Center. One of her co-workers, a college student, knew how to crochet, so suggested to Kitzman and other child care staff that they should have a crochet night.
Kitzman hosted the gathering at her home, where the young woman schooled everyone on the basics.
Kitzman took that first lesson to heart and continued practicing — even though it wasn’t easy. “Your first year or so, you’re not very good,” she recalls, laughing. “I made a baby blanket that was completely trapezoid, because I was dropping a stitch every row and I didn’t know until it was done. I had to rip the whole thing out.”
Even so, Kitzman liked the handicraft enough to stick to it. “You’ve got to start somewhere,” she says. “It just takes practice and being willing to learn from your mistakes.”
Kitzman liked how crochet kept her hands busy and also helped her feel more productive and purposeful. “I stuck with it and it gave me something to do, especially with our North Dakota winters,” she says. “You can sit there and watch TV and watch Netflix and crochet and at the end, you have this beautiful blanket.”
The pastime also has a relaxing quality. “Being this last couple of years with COVID and losing a job, this has just been a go-to stress reliever for me,” she says.
In fact, after LSSND closed, a little, stuffed bear crocheted by Kitzman became the unofficial “support animal” for her and her displaced team mates.
The bear, named Chester, was mailed from home to home of each former team mate across the state. He was accompanied by a notebook so the group members could write notes of what Chester did that day.
Kitzman created this small “support bear” after learning her workplace, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, was closing its doors. For the next few months, she sent the little bear out to her colleagues as a morale booster.
By Tammy Swift / The Forum
Members also posted pictures and videos of their kids playing with Chester, which made Kitzman happiest of all. One former colleague in Minot ordered two more bears for her daughters, after seeing how much they were going to miss Chester.
Today, Chester has returned home and is permanently ensconced by Kitzman’s basement work station, where his slightly shabby exterior proves that philosophy oft-repeated by “The Velveteen Rabbit”: When a stuffed critter is worn, it shows it has been loved.
For years, people had told Kitzman she should consider selling her crocheted items. After LSS closed, the time seemed ripe to do so.
Kitzman brought her baby items to Ashley Morken, who owns Unglued in downtown Fargo. Morken already knew Kitzman as a long-time patron of the popular handmade gift shop. “So when she approached us about selling her things, it was easy,” Morken says. “She knows our shop, she knows what people who shop here like, so it was really a perfect moment of having her also start to sell things here.”
Then Morken asked her the name of her business.
Kitzman realized she hadn’t even thought of a name. However, her twin sister had designed little tags for her—depicting a crochet hook, a ball of yarn and the phrase, “Heartmade by Erin”—to sew on her baby items as a decorative touch. That, she realized, was a perfectly good name.
So far, “Heartmade by Erin” products have sold well, even though her business is less than a year old.. Her bestselling gift items are baby hats, crocheted in what she calls “unicorn” and “mermaid” colors and topped off with oversized pompons.
Judging by his smile, Jude is warm and happy in his Heartmade by Erin crocheted hat, complete with fuzzy pompon.
Contributed / Erin Kitzman
Also popular are her sensory blankets, which Kitzman has made her own design by adding extra features to stimulate exploration and early learning in babies.
The small blankets contain hidden surprises like a squeaky toy sewn into a pocket, a bell attached to one corner, a wooden teething ring in another corner and a nubby, silicone teething ring in yet another.
“That’s actually my favorite item that I make,” she says. “With my love of early childhood too, I know babies put everything in their mouths, and they love to touch and feel and taste and sounds, so I took an existing blanket pattern and pared it down so they could throw it in a bag or in the stroller.”
The blanket can be used even in a newborn’s crib, although it will take 3 or 4 months before a child really starts to notice it, she says. Once that happens, it’s the perfect brain-stimulating learning tool during “tummy time” or when they’re in the car seat.
The Bismarck native designs each piece with Midwestern thrift and practicality in mind. She chooses gender-neutral colors so the blankets can be passed from one family member to another. Most of the items are crocheted from a soft, polyester yarn, which can be thrown in the washer and dryer. Her booties are a warmer wool-blend, but are also washable and dryable.
Always safety-conscious, she has double- and triple-stitched all of the sensory features on her blankets to ensure a baby can’t remove the added accessories from their pockets or corners. (You’ll want to keep the blanket away from the family pupster, though, as the “squeakers” are actually replacement squeak toys for dogs.)
Kitzman’s baby booties are available in several different sizes and an assortment of colors. She finishes each with a coordinating button.
By Tammy Swift / The Forum
Heartmade products range from $20 for hats and booties to $34 for the sensory blankets.
Kitzman also knits tiny “succulents” for the people who, like Kitzman herself, can’t keep a real plant alive. “My little perk is that they won’t die. I’ve killed every plant I owned,” she says, with a broad smile. “I kill bamboo even.”
Morken says the crocheted succulents have been a big hit as both gift items and even as a way for shoppers to treat themselves. She says the “pandemic-iness” of the last couple of years have driven people toward gardening and plants. “It’s perfect if someone wants a plant, but you won’t feel like a failure if it doesn’t work out,” she says.
Although now working with early childcare centers as a temporary state employee, Kitzman has welcomed the extra dollars that have come through Heartmade.
One of Erin Kitzman’s favorite things is when her friends, family members and clients send her pictures of her Heartmade items being used and appreciated. Here, Madi immediately test-drives the teething ring on her new sensory blanket.
Contributed / Erin Kitzman.
But the greater benefit has been the psychic rewards. It makes her day when a friend, family member or customer sends a photo of their little one, looking snug as a bug in a warm Heartmade hat, or happily exploring the bells and squeaks of a Heartmade sensory blanket.
“I can make a little money on the side, and if I make people happy by giving them crocheted gifts, that’s even better,” she says.
Kitzman’s items can be found at Unglued. She also has a Heartmade site on Facebook, which links to her page on Pride of Dakota’s www.ShopND: https://m.facebook.com/Heartmade-by-Erin-108314951480241/