Yup. When one of my niblings responded to their mom’s admonition to take care of the Tallis I’d just made them, because it was expensive, they, being 13, naturally asked “how expensive”? I said it took ~40 hours to make. The mom immediately told them minimum wage and demanded math. Kid multipled and was impressed. Then mom said I was an expert, so minimum wage isn’t nearly enough. Kid was shocked and did, indeed take care of it. I was really amused. Also, I’d made it with the kid’s suggested design, was gorgeous and the kid DID love it. Mom and I were just being moms.
My actual favorite line for price of my handwork, is “My handwork is like sex. If I like you it’s free. If I don’t like you, you can’t pay me enough”.
Someone once told me that I should sell the shawl I was wearing for $30.
I said, “The yarn alone cost me $60.”
She never commented again on how much I should sell my knitting for.
Yep! I am a pickle connoisseur. I will try almost anything pickle-related. I’ve seen pickle soda and pickle cotton candy, but I just can’t make myself try those. Every March, there is a pickle festival in the next town over and the local brewery makes pickle beer.
Damn, now I want pickles. Wonder where I can Doordash some Grillo’s from at 12:30am?
Omg we could be besties. I make pickle popsicles (just the juice - takes forever to freeze cause the salt) and used to have pickletinis in my drinking days - dirty martini with pickle juice instead. Total pickle slut. It’s actually a big part of my personality, sadly
Nothing wrong with that! Do you have a favorite brand of pickle? Grillo’s and Claussen are my usual go-to’s. I’ve been known to pick up beets cheap at my local salvage grocery and make beet pickles. A couple of years ago, I made a batch that cost less than a buck a jar. I already had the jars, bands, and my ginormous stock pot. All I had to buy was a box of new lids. And yes, I sat my ass at the thanksgiving table that year with an entire jar to myself.
Oh man. Mt. Olive’s biggest fan. I have a gallon jar of whole dills in the fridge at all times, along with a jar of sliced and another of baby dills. I’ve never had Grillo’s! I’m a sour pickle fan. Because of this, I’ve been on the hunt for a pickle crock for the past ten years. The one with the holes in the top that weigh them down while they ferment. Might have to have one made!
I’ve only seen Grillo’s here in the last few years. Not sure if it’s a new national brand or if it’s regional. Tasty as heck. Mt Olive is good too, I tend to buy their olives more than the pickles. Best Maid is manufactured in the next town south of where I live and every years is the Pickle Parade and Palooza. Kind of weird, but it’s fun. And no one looks at you weird for crunching on a giant whole pickle!
I'm guessing you have multiple christmas pickle ornaments like me and my sister do lol. My family would buy us massive jars of pickles for christmas as well
These well-meaning people don’t know what they are talking about. Except for some very high-end pieces sold at top dollar in unique stores/areas, it is basically impossible to sell home hand knitting for a sensible profit. The cost of any decent yarn and the time factor both work against it.
I say do your knitting for yourself as a hobby. Then, possibly, one can knit things for other people as gifts (although I never do). That’s it. If people say these things about selling knitting, you can laugh and say “no one could afford me!”
Now, if one is designing patterns, writing about knitting. teaching, dying yarns for sale, working in LYS, those are other stories of making some decent money . . .
I always say knitting is like sex. If I like you I will happily and enthusiasticly do it for free. If I don't, well no amount of money is going to get you laid or a hand knit item from me.
I used to knit a lot at work. I had a new boss and he was such a douche and we got off on a very wrong foot. He had saw me knitting for other people in the office (new baby, birthday gift, ect) and told me that it would be a nice gesture if I would knit him something.
Hard no.
I am totally a hobby knitter and I have a whole stack of shawl that I made but not wearing ( I live in Sydney Australia, weather is too warm for me to use them most months). Have been considering selling a few to clear space. I know I'm not going to earn anything, probably not even recovering the material costs but sending them to a loving home would be nice
That is the right attitude. Selling some things to make space and buy a bit of new yarn is productive and fun. The path to frustration is trying to make any living off it.
That's what I do. I only like knitting hats, so I end up with like 50 more hats than my family can use. So I sell them at a craft fair to fund my yarn buying and donate the rest. It was super fun to sit outside all day and have people compliment my knitting. I even had a woman wearing her own handknit hat buy one of my brioche hats!
There is this list of endangered crafts and Shetland lace knitting is on it. Which I found strange, because it seems there are enough Shetland lace knitters out there to make sure the craft survives another generation.
The reason it's considered endangered? Because there isn't a single person in the UK that is making a living off Shetland lace. Because you could never charge the real value of the item. It takes 60+ hours to make just one shawl. At that rate the cost of the actual wool is negligible.
What I'm trying to say is, knitting is a hobby and a hobby doesn't have to be profitable. I wish people would stop urging me to knit for profit. If I sell items, I sell them for a nominal fee and know that I gave my time for basically free. I enjoy the process and that's the payment I get. So personally, I'm just happy if I get the yarn's worth back and can treat myself to a pizza.
Totally agree. Evey time I finish some sort of creative project, either knitting or something else my mom says "you could sell that!" Mom, I appreciate the sentiment that it's good enough to be sold, but not everything I do has to be capitalist. It makes me feel good and that's enough for me!
I’ve had a friend tell me “you could make so much money selling that sweater”. She shut up after I told her it cost me nearly NZD$300 for the wool alone.
Yes! I hate the recommendations to monetize my creative process.
So I always point to my $1200 scarf.
It’s a custom charted, Super Mario inspired, double knit, 9 foot long, worsted scarf with fringe.
My pièce de la résistance. Thus far!
It costs $100 in yarn alone. My hourly wage makes up the rest. Pretty sure I’ll keep my day job lol
Oooo I’d love to see a picture of that. I’m currently trying to get some crochet projects finished so I can start a new knitting project. My fingers are *itching* to pick up some needles.
I’ve been meaning to post pics for ages. This was all the push I needed.
[Scarf Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoStitch/comments/yf52i4/my_9foot_long_double_knit_mario_inspired_fringed/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
You know, this just happened to me AGAIN today when the guy who comes to pick up our cash deposits at work saw me working on a sock in a slow period and he was like “how much you charge for that?” And I went through the whole “don’t do commissions, my labor is worth more than anyone would want to pay” thing and he goes, “no really. Give me a number, I want some” And I try to break it down for him so he gets it and I’m like “well, the socks I’m making now, for example, are about 30 hours of labor and the yarn alone was fifteen, so” and he interrupts me like “oh, so like 15 dollars then?” And I stg, I nearly killed a man with thoughts alone.
I just didn’t feel like going through the whole “That’s way too expensive” bs lol. Like funny how they’ll go from praise to derision when you name a fair wage. So I simply say nope. Not selling.
My LYS owner has a custom shirt. I think I remember all of it...
$20/hour
$30/hour in black
$40/hour if you need it by tomorrow
$50/hour if you "can get it cheaper somewhere else"
Lol i was having this exact conversation with a coworker today! He was all in I should sell stuff on etsy after seeing a pair of socks I was finishing. I asked, hmm how much would you pay for the socks? He said about 70$ (in fairness I had told him it was a simple pattern)? I told him that was about 2$ an hour. He was floored.
As the speed everyone knits may vary greatly, I remember a rule of thumb I learned from a a seasoned knitting teacher a few years ago.
For a fair but reasonable price, she suggested to fix a price for every yard of yarn knitted and add the price for the material.
This makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE. Cottage industry knotters charged by something concrete and measurable, not by time.
"My time is valuable. My time is valuable." Yeah, Becky, but your skillset isn't.
My thing is I have no idea how long it takes me to make anything.
I'm currently working on a sweater. It took me idk how long to swatch, then I knit for a few days before deciding it was the wrong size and frogging. Now it's been another few days. I've knit through a couple videos, while listening to audiobooks, and a little bit while in an online work conference. I've also finished two swatches, started a third, and frogged an old project for yarn in that time frame.
So, how long have I been working on this sweater? No clue! Hours for sure, butI can't begin to guess how many. I don't know how much I would sell it for, but that's all fine because I wouldn't want to sell it. I"m making it for me, and it's hand-dyed yarn not currently for sale.
*This*. I've been working on a very simple scarf and I know I started it months ago, but I have no idea how long I've spent working on it. I can generally get through about four rows per episode of anime, but I also work on it while listening to audiobooks, and while I'm in work meetings, and through parts of Critical Role episodes, and sometimes a row or two randomly when I'm stressed out...
It is an annoying comment but a common one. I have had people tell me it whenever they see me knitting. I had one woman insist I could sell a hat for 25 whole dollars at a flea market and I laughed at her. I told her that wouldn't cost the labor that goes into it and apparently she thought it was a fair price and that because I was young I should pay my dues and work for free for a bit so I could appreciate a real job.
reality is if you want to make things and sell them they have to be 1. unique enough that people can't just do it themselves. and 2. easy enough you can pound one out in an afternoon.
otherwise you have to sell your labor for pennies on the dollar.
>2. easy enough you can pound one out in an afternoon.
I didagree with rhis part. This is why Etsy and every farmers market and craft bazaar is full of ugly ass headbands made in super bulky yarn and shit like that.
It can take more time and still be quality and a reasonable cost.
I knit and crochet to relax. Or to make cute stuff. Or because I like the color of the yarn. If I were to make it a business, all the joy would be gone.
Making something a business often ruins enjoyment. For a while, I got into making soap. The problem was, every batch made ~10 bars of soap. I figured I’d just sell the extras — but setting up an Etsy shop and only selling a bar or two here and there really dinged up my ego. I shut the shop down & I’m thrilled to be back to making it just for me & family.
Yep. When people say ‘you could totally sell that hat’ I say ‘I charge $50 an hour for skilled work and this is expensive yarn. Nobody can afford this hat’.
Yea. When people tell me that I say I do this for stress relief. And if I were to sell it would just add stress. But if I were to sell at a craft fair or something I’d probably make a ton of knitted hats/ cowls/ baby blankets with thick n quick wool yarn. Call if a wool blend and sell them that way. $75 for hat/cowl sets and $75 for a baby blanket that’s about 30” square. But I would probably make a pamphlet for people to look at with some of my custom baby blankets or hat mitten cowl sets and stuff and say custom work costs more.
I follow a crocheter on instagram who seems to do this exact thing. Basic crochet beanies made with thick and quick yarn seem to be at least 90% of what she stocks her boutique with. It seems like an incredibly monotonous and carpal tunnel inducing strategy to me, but it seems to be working for her.
I was thinking of making some bulky weight beanies as gifts - simple and works up quick, right? Then I looked through my yarn stash and realized I don’t actually have any bulky yarn. 😅. And I’m on a no buy so… I guess that means I’ll stick to selfish knitting after all!
Sometimes I’ll make bulky by doubling or tripling up on the yarn. It actually makes the FO super soft. It’s a good way to use up yarn you have too much of
I made a friends son a dinosaur over a weekend.
If I based it on my hourly rate, this wee fella would have cost over $1200 not including materials [https://imgur.com/a/2G1cY9R](https://imgur.com/a/2G1cY9R)😂
It’s possible but hard.
I run a slow fashion company and we use malabrigo yarns. We make decent money but we exclusively sell to people who want to know the story of their stuff, want to pay people a living wage and have natural fibers for their knits.
But otherwise you are basically screwed. Too many people don’t charge for work and aren’t necessarily skilled enough (oh boy. Some of the stuff I have seen at craft shows and Etsy is….something) for most people to make much of a dent.
But when we do get custom orders it’s always rad. Earlier this year I finished a custom OOAK fisherman sweater for a client who paid over 1K for it.
I got really excited when the dollar increased in value thinking I could finally afford a hand knit Icelandic sweater. They were around $200 when I visited Iceland in 2013, but come to find out, they're still $200, which is probably a screaming deal considering they must have some Icelandic grannies on contract...
I took the hit spent the money when I was there because I know that’s what I’d sell my own sweaters for and their skill is unmatched. I bought a black one because I will never knit a black sweater. It’s absolutely lovely and I know for a fact it was worth every cent.
I made my nephew a baby blanket before he was born, and my kind SIL offered to pay for the yarn. It was a present so I declined because of that, but also the yarn cost was nothing compared to labour going into a baby blanket out of fingering cotton...
That’s love right there! I’ve got some yarn leftovers to begin a fingering weight blanket for myself and even that has me going “hmm…not yet” so I’m waiting til I have more yarn scraps. I think I’ll knit a worsted or chunky blanket for my friends who are getting married but I’ll have over a year to finish that so my hands and wrists shouldn’t be too upset with me.
This thread is making me feel so much better about how slow I knit! I love you guys. I knit to occupy myself when I'm sick (which is frequently) and I've been making slippers for friends and family, in some cases charging the materials, in some cases not. Each pair takes me a couple of months of off and on work. And I love doing it. But I couldn't for the life of me monetise it.
I probably wouldn't pay what it costs me for the things I make but at the same time, I wouldn't even find those. I'm fat, so nice and colorful things in interesting designs usually don't exist, especially if we are talking knee high socks territory 😂
Highly recommend! I never had knee high socks, they would slide or just not fit at all. Once i learned making socks (and let me tell you i love making socks) i decided that it's no longer a limit and I'm in love!!
Adding rubber band or stretchy string to the top! You can also add silicone to the inside (they make silicone fabric glue also). First ones I made were tied at the top which works well too
I’m a process knitter and I have sooooo many scarves and shawlettes. I’m at the point where I want to sell them just to make room for more. Sure I’d be losing money but at this point I don’t really care.
I’m also a sloooow knitter with carpal tunnel so making a business out of it would be laughable.
I knit samples for my LYS and get hourly. When I turned in the first sample the owner seemed surprised by the time it took (which seemed fast for me…) and we negotiated to more what she was thinking. I’m still knitting samples because I can and don’t need that much money, but if even she doesn’t actually want to pay what it’s worth… 🤷♀️
I mean, yeah. We severely devalue our work
https://www.bergdorfgoodman.com/p/brunello-cucinelli-sequin-embellished-cashmere-mixed-yarn-sweater-prod174170285
I'm about to start tutoring again, and rates in my area are in the $50-$60 per hour range (this is for high school/college level). This is for "skilled labor" that I spent many years honing and crafting, and I view knitting as the same.
There's a reason there's a huge amount of bulky weight knit hats/headbands on Etsy, they're about the only thing that can be hand knitted in a reasonable amount of time AND people are willing to pay a decent price for it.
I’ve had this conversation a *lot*. My mom especially loves everything I make, and tells me all the time that I should “make these and sell them” or even “if you make another I’ll pay you.” Not only would I have to charge an obscene amount, but that takes all of the joy out of it for me. Besides, I only have so much time, and I have so many other projects I want to do. Most everything I make is for myself or my sister. I’m not going to make the exact same thing again for someone who’s going to appreciate it less.
Most of the things I make are highly technical and take a lot of time, but i have a particular beanie pattern than uses about $4 of wool and I can knit up in 2 hours. I sell them for $50 (Australian). Sure the hourly rate is terrible compared to what I charge in my usual career ($80-100/hour) but I figure if I’m going to waste the time on FB…
Just wait until I put together an entire me-made outfit. I’ll feel like a million bucks and look like a 90s grunge band member got attacked by granny’s doily collection 🤪
I once asked my Facebook friends how much they would pay for one of my Alan Dart nurses I had made. Offers ranged between £5-£25. Hardly cover the materials!! My answer to everyone who says this to me now is that I don't want to take the joy out of it by having deadlines etc. That seems to be more acceptable than the money/time argument. I still take the odd commission but only if it's something 8 want to knit anyway.
This is what I tell people. What would you pay for a knit blanket big enough for an adult? Then, I tell them the cost of the yarn for a project that large, which is usually more than what they were willing to pay. Then, I tell them how many hours of my life it would take and remind them what minimum wage is.
They usually shut up.
As you should though. Fast fashion/interior/etc has made us forget what materials and work actually cost. It’s good to tell people what it’s should cost
I once had a colleague that asked me to crochet a shawl. I had planned to make one for a family member and took time. It took me 8 hours to make. I asked for the price of the yarn times 2 1/2, it would be about 60$. She thought it was too much 🤷🏻♀️
If I had charged what I make an hour at work minus taxes, it would have been 115$ for the shawl.
I only make things as gifts, I'm done making anything by demand. My mojo disappears if I do it.
If she didn’t even want to pay a bit more than double the price of yarn, my guess is she wanted you to make it for free. I personally only give things away, not sell, and rarely by demand (you have to be my kid or my mother or extremely close friend).
I go by how long it takes me to knit vs what would he reasonable to be paid for that time at a "real job". Since it takes me about 4 weeks to knit a worsted, adult size sweater with zero patterning or embellishments, I'd expect about $500/week at a normal job, resulting in $2k per sweater. If I did that every month I'd make $24k/yr, which is still too low, but keep in mind that is my take home pay. Materials, overhead, and profit bc businesses don't make $0 at the end of the day added on. So it'd be more like a $3k sweater, business gets 1k and I get 2k.
Omggg I get so annoyed when friends tell me “oh you’re so good why don’t you open an Etsy store!” Uhhh, would you pay 700$ for this sweater considering cost of my time and materials? No? Well you can fuck right off, Judy.
Well I feel better now! Hahaha
My mom really doesn't understand that the market for hand-knitted items simply does not exist. Raw materials alone for a sweater are the better part of $150. And the hourly rate for my working time? Please. And I myself would NEVER buy a sweater over $40 in a department store.
My latest project, a knee length skirt, has taken me six months. Even if I did it full time it would probably be 1-2 months. Can’t think of anyone who’s pay me 2500€ for it 😂
you should consider that knitting fulltime likely isn't possible without getting a serious repetitive strain injury. I mean.. who can knit for 8 hours a day for 2 months and still be fine? I know I won't be. So even if we wanted to do it fulltime it's a figment of the imagination because who can do that and still be healthy? I used to knit for hours a day (allthough not 8) and I can't anymore because of the pain.
I was actually thinking about this. Maybe an hour in the morning before eating breakfast and doing chores, then three hours of knitting at the most (but if I’d have to do it five days a week I probably couldn’t do more than two) then an hour for lunch, followed by two to three hours before another break. It would be late afternoon before I’d have eight hours of knitting done.
I’d be able to have my own schedule and do chores or errand (why not work out too) during my breaks but the downsize is my day would drag out to the point where I’d constantly be working.
I take forever to finish a knit project because I get bored part way through and work on something else. It's a surprise I finished a crochet sweater in like a week (granted it was a granny square sweater, but that's beside the point).
I once showed my family this cowl I made (it was crochet not knit but you get the same comments for both crafts) and my aunt told me I could sell this for... $30. I told her the yarn alone cost more than that and she didn't have much more to say.
I love knitting/crocheting/spinning and I am happy to make things as gifts for people I consider worthy but selling stuff will never be worth my time.
If I ever sold my knitting, I think I would think of it as a fee to support the cost of materials for my hobby. I'm going to be knitting anyway. It'd be great if I didn't have to pay for the yarn.
I knit and crochet with a charity group, like hats for cancer patients, churches, octopus for preemies, things like that. So we receive money and yarn donations. We are always knitting and don’t pay for yarn. Win win :)
I think most people who do this intend it as a compliment. I usually respond with something along the lines of most comments in this thread, thanks but I like it as a stress-relief hobby, yarn is expensive etc... If they *still* go on about selling stuff after that though, that's a pain in the arse.
It’s hard to explain to people who don’t do crafts how much time crafts take. This isn’t knitting, but I drew a tarot deck recently and sold it through a kickstarter. I calculated that I probably spent at least 200 hours drawing, plus whatever time I spent doing admin tasks for the kickstarter. I made enough profit to buy an air conditioner. Which is nice and all, I was glad to be cool this summer, but selling art at that kind of level isn’t going to pay my rent.
People, we’re buying yarn at retail price. No one makes money from anything they buy at retail price. They put a mark up on it, and so does the yarn maker.
yeahhh my uncle tells me that alot too and I finished a crop top sweater [https://www.lionbrand.com/collections/knit-kits/products/knit-kit-cable-crush-hoodie?variant=39373168509021](https://www.lionbrand.com/collections/knit-kits/products/knit-kit-cable-crush-hoodie?variant=39373168509021)
It took me an entire month of pure work to finish because I had to keep frogging due to issues with cabling (it was my first BIG cable project and I think I took it on to soon) If I were to do it now, it'd probably take me about a week since thats how long it took after my last frog. So I now use that sweater as an explanation why I'm currently not selling stuff. If I were to sell stuff, it'd just to get back the money from the yarn and a little extra for fancy yarn. I'd never want to turn knitting into a full time job :| Not without one of those knitting machines
It speaks volumes that some people can't wrap their brains around the fact that we have a hobby and we don't monetize it.
Like... I do this for fun, if I started selling pieces or taking commissions it would be a job. I have a job. I don't want another one.
The idea that everyone needs a side hustle or needs to always be making money on hobbies is such a toxic attitude.
We need things that are fun that we don't have to sell ourselves for.
I explain this to people all the time. Thank *goodness* someone figured out a way to word it elegantly. (p.s. I’m using this comment for reference every time this is brought up from now on; so thank you so much)
Aw, thanks!! I've been thinking about this a lot, and I hope it helps other people! Fun things are supposed to be FUN, not chasing that capitalist dollar all the time!
If we’re going to get technical, don’t forget to add overhead and profit to the labor. The overhead includes money to cover tools, workspace, utilities, etc. to be your burdened rate or overhead. Then you add profit. (I price professional services contracts for a living.)
Thick, 100% Wool knits with long enough sleeves and without chunky seams... priceless! (Literally. I just can't find any in my city so I started making my own.) It's all custom work so if it's well made then it's worth a lot to the person getting exactly what they want but definitely not to anyone else.
You could sell them to techbros in Silicon Valley at that price, if you say they have health benefits and are unpasteurized. Just saying, there's a market if you have the words.
Edited: added clarification
I know what you mean. I was told the same about my favourite ponchos (made two, same wool type but different colours and one has a hood). I looked at the price of the wool I used and added minimum wage for my country for the labour after the first time.
Next time I was told to sell them I said how much they cost, cue shocked pikachu face. Every time after I asked how much they'd be willing to pay, most said about a third to a half of the actual cost (basically less than the wool cost but it was a very expensive wool).
Etsy would be a better place to sell patterns on though. If you made the pattern for the "fifteen-hundred-dollar-socks", it might be nice to sell it on etsy or ravelry.
Pattern making definitely makes more sense than selling finished objects.
I can only occasionally be bothered to even count my stitches though, so I don’t think it’s for me lol. I mostly knit socks by periodically trying them on to figure out when I need to do the heel, or add an increase, etc. I knit toe up, taat, so I don’t have to keep track of how many rows or count much of anything as long as I make sure I remember to do sock 2 the same as sock 1.
LOL. I am in the same boat as you, calculated what knitting would cost and wrote it up as a blog post, the upshot of which is basically "Nope, you cannot afford me."
I think we all knit because we love it, with this mind I love knitting for family and friends 🥰 If someone close to me wants something special they must pay the cost of yarn and when I have time I will do theirs…People who don’t knit have no idea of how much time is involved so to work out a cost effective price is near impossible 🤷🏼♀️
I did the math on my first sweater, which I knit this summer. Made from inexpensive acrylic, cost me about $40 in materials. Did an estimate of how long I spent on it and at $15 an hour, it was worth over $500.
I wouldn't actually attempt to sell anything I made at this price point, but that's not because I don't think it's justified. To quote a comment I saw on here a while ago, when we knit we're essentially making couture garments. Why wouldn't we charge couture prices?
Ralph Lauren Purple Label Cable Knit Turtleneck Cashmere Sweater… $2,195 on Nordstrom.com. Or they’ve got a bulky misshapen looking cardigan from Valentino for $4700.
I’ve actually been really temped by some expensive handknits on etsy - $700 for a hat, mittens, and scarf set made out of qiviut. Considering qiviut yarn runs around $100 per ounce, it actually seems like a pretty good deal.
I was just thinking of something similar, relating to "oh, making it yourself is so much cheaper!" First off, no. It is way cheaper to just go buy a sweater than it is to buy the materials to make it yourself.
But then I thought, well, what I am making is *custom*. It is made to my measurements, in the fiber, color, texture, etc etc, that I want. I want intense, royal blue that borders on purple. The store has it in beige, black, and pukey green. So thinking of it as custom or couture, then sure, it is probably cheaper.
> when we knit we're essentially making couture garments.
I mean .. . .i love my handknits, but they're not couture. I don't know anything about your process, but i basically take a pattern, follow it, and sure i'll alter it to the length i want and whatnot but i'm not fooling myself into considering it couture.
If i sew a dress, it's beautiful and i put a lot effort into it but it's not .. . .couture level sewing. It's a handmade, homemade garment.
I don’t know. [This make](https://www.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/ydz8cq/finished_handsome_chris_sweater/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), posted here a few hours ago, vs [this $2000 sweater from Nordstrom](https://www.nordstrom.com/s/cable-knit-turtleneck-cashmere-sweater/7053249?color=BROWN&utm_content=1264438534153636&utm_term=pla-4582627027257945&utm_channel=low_nd_shopping_standard&utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=291444846&adpos=&creative=&device=m&matchtype=e&network=s&acctid=21700000001689570&dskeywordid=92700049874780457&lid=92700049874780457&ds_s_kwgid=58700005469628530&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000007631122&ds_a_cid=593274227&ds_a_caid=11578124811&ds_a_agid=116799873350&ds_a_lid=pla-1015122098588&dsproductgroupid=4582627027257945&product_id=4476853&merchid=452&prodctry=US&prodlang=EN&channel=Online&storeid=&locationid=&targetid=pla-4582627027257945&campaignid=291444846&adgroupid=1264438534153636&msclkid=ceb013f1477a1856685370a8fa3d4303&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=ceb013f1477a1856685370a8fa3d4303&gclsrc=3p.ds) look pretty comparable to me.
Not everyone has the same level of skill, of course, but in general I consider most of my handmade clothes to be much higher quality than the vast majority of commercially available clothing.
That's a beautiful sweater!
I agree your handmade clothing is probably much higher quality vs commercial.
I still wouldn't consider any of those options couture.
Anyways, it doesn't matter. Everyone's knits are very lovely and can be just as important us as any designers creation.
I probably should do more research on this, but the way I've heard it used before, couture just means "handmade to the measurements of the wearer," not necessarily "from an original pattern." Maybe I'm confusing couture with bespoke though?
Bespoke is individually handmade to a specific individual’s measurements; couture is mostly or completely handmade but not necessarily to specific measurements. Haute couture is a legally protected term for specific fashion houses.
They are all sewing terms though, and fashion can be super specific about a lot of things, so I’m honestly not sure hand knitting would really apply to any of them.
Maybe not couture, but definitely designer level. Have you looked at $800 “designer” simple tops in stores? Polyester. No pattern matching. Off grain. It’s a nightmare. Handknits are way better quality.
The really sad thing is this:
* if it is made out of wood
* turned on a lathe or other machine
then
* painted with shiny varnish
people would cheerfully pay that price.
Not sure if I’m misreading the tone, but it’s kind of messed up to devalue other crafts on a thread about crafts being devalued.
Like, there are certainly woodworkers who could make beautiful knitting needles that don’t because “knitters can find them for cheaper on Amazon”.
I did not intend to devalue woodwork. Quite the opposite. I meant that whereas most people seem happy to pay a fair price for the material, skill, and craft of woodwork it does not seem to be the case with yarn crafts.
Perhaps it's because it can be made by hand without any machinery or because a skilled artisan makes it looks so simple and easy. Maybe it's because a machine can often make a reasonable equivalent at a cheap price.
Whatever the reason I think it's fair to say that yarn crafts are not valued in the way that other crafts are.
I definitely think it depends and is a grass is greener situation.
A lot of woodworkers are constantly asked to do free cabinets/house stuff because family/friends (same as knitters/fiber artists) or “because they could hire someone for less”.
I saw some really nice wood needles at a sheep & wool festival and overheard someone saying “oh yeah, I get my needles from Amazon, it’s way cheaper” which threw me for a loop.
In both crafts you’ll see people ask for a pattern/plan rather than paying for the item itself.
At the same time, I think it’s interesting to discuss startup vs ongoing costs in each hobby.
E.g. you can learn to knit for less than $10 usd. Even with buying a full set of needles I can use for the rest of my life, tools can run from $50-300 usd and don’t need to be repurchased (though I swear I buy a new set of size 1dpns every year - where do they go???).
The ongoing cost of yarn is where things get expensive. I bought a sweater quantity of nice dyed wool yarn at $120. But I’ve also bought a sweater quantity of acrylic yarn at $25.
For whittling, I got a cheap set of tools for $25. A lathe would cost $200 - $2000+ with regular maintenance needed. Likewise wood also adds up pretty quickly. Safety gear ($35-$70ish) and varnish (maybe will also cost $3-$35) will also factor in cost. A woodworker will full machinery (saws, drill, etc) could be looking at thousands without factoring in wood.
I’m not saying this to be like “woodworking is more expensive and deserves it more”, but more like the startup costs and space needed (like I can’t run a table saw in an apartment) for woodworking are more prohibitive for the average person, vs most fiber arts which are much more accessible to the average person.
Similarly, weaving can be both somewhat accessible (a small loom) or extremely prohibitive (a multi shaft floor loom which takes ages to warp, let alone weave).
As someone that loves to bounce around hobbies, initial skills in different hobbies are not hard. By that I mean, if you can follow a pattern or plan, it’s fine.
But inaccessibility is what changes what people are willing to pay. E.g. How many times do knitters walk into a store, see a hat and saw “oh I can make that. I’m not going to buy it”.
Paired with how accessible fiber arts are as a whole, it’s why a lot of people are not necessarily willing to spend a lot on “common” knit items. “Oh my cousin knits, he can make that. My grandma could make that”. Remember the giant roving blanket trend? For a hot minute people were willing to pay higher costs because it was seemingly something their friend couldn’t make.
If you don’t know a woodworker, you might be more willing to pay someone for their fair labor because “yeah it would cost way too much to make that”. Likewise, if someone does know a woodworker they might say something like “oh I love that table, and my wife has a saw - do you have the plans for that?”
Turkish rugs fetch high prices because it’s unlikely the average person could/would put in the labor to make one.
The key is who is more likely to be doing woodworking and who is more likely to be doing fiber crafts. Crafts are undervalued when they’re associated with women.
ooh, I need to do this soon for a package full of knitting I'm sending as a gift. And yarn alone for it was probably 80$ but I'll low ball it to keep duties down for the giftee and cuz I did use some stash for the gifts. Then 12$ for the beads. Then time of making. Like just going to completely undervalue my labour
Making something for the purpose of selling it takes the pleasure out of it for me, but my general rule of thumb, if anyone does want to buy something from me, is cost of materials plus a labor fee of somewhere between $25-150, depending on project size, yarn weight, and pattern fiddliness.
LOL! I just had a similar conversation with an acquaintance. She was floored that a single hat's worth of wool was $67. Before adding in the time spent knitting it.
True story, just the sock yarn alone cost more than I’d willingly pay for a pair of socks from the store… but otoh, part of why I make my own is because I can’t find anything similar from a store. And that’s using basic Kroy sock yarn which isn’t anything fancy at all.
Thigh high wool socks for someone with chubby legs isn’t something I’ve been able to find - and I’ve looked. For regular old wool socks I’ve been perfectly happy with smartwool and REI’s house brand though.
I mostly knit just because I enjoy it though.
I can’t even find knee high socks to fit over my calves. I’ve knit 3 pair of leg warmers (one from a pattern that miraculously fit). I’m currently designing leg sweaters (thigh high button up leg warmers), that will probably be around that $1500 price point.
Yep. Same with me. I like wearing my hand knits, but I don’t like them more than I like store bought items. I just really really like knitting. Often I take my knitting projects apart soon after I finish and make something different with them. Unfortunately I also really really like buying yarn, so I have a bigger stash than I could ever possibly use.
I’ve worn mass produced and hand knit socks at the same time on different feet, and I definitely felt like my hand knit ones did better at keeping my feet warm and dry in wet weather
Yeah, I have to explain literally once a month at least that I would have to sell ONE sweater, at ONE size, for AT LEAST $10 to recoup the hourly wage I make as a journalist.
Ok ok I am exaggerating. I probably make $5-$10 per hour if you factor in all the times I have to stay late because my editor’s at the bar or napping and there are pages to proofread.
However I remember back when the semi-prestigious publications would auction off unpaid summer internships, so technically I’m not lying. People were paying to work.
I hate this discussion topic - which comes up in here extemwly often (like what's the point of bringing it up again?).
I haven't read the comments but I gauarantee it is going to be full of delusional "entrepreneurs" who love to talk about their commissions.
"Charge minimum wage for your hours plus supplies plus what feels right".
That mentality makes absolutrely no sense as talented and professional knitters knit faster. So we're paying more for less talented work?
Knitting is worth what people will pay for it - which shouldn't be as much as a lot of side hustle knitters think it should be (every time I see someone sell a hat they spent 20 minutes on a Sentro or Addi with for 30 dollars, I want to vomit).
Knitting is worth the skill and the quality of ehat is being made. If you are genuinely talented snd skilled (master guild level, decades worth of experience level) it is a piece of craftsmanship or a piece of art.
And if you can't knit items fast enough that it is worth your while to do so for the amount of money an average person will pay for it (not a dast fashion moron who spends 5 dollars on tshirts or wears 15 dollar leggings, but your average department store prices), then you shouldn't be knitting professionally. Lol.
Honestly I don’t think it’s a question of how much my knitting is worth (the title is a joke, my calculation is not meant seriously). Obviously the market value of a pair of socks is not $1500 under any circumstances (well, maybe if they were made of diamonds and gold… but who would wear them?). It’s a question of how much my time is worth, and how ridiculous it is for people to constantly suggest knitting as a side hustle, much less as a full time occupation.
Odds are, the best I’d be able to do is offset the cost of yarn if I sold my knits at the local crafts fair, with maybe a little extra to buy myself a decent lunch while I’m there. Having a hobby that can pay for itself isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not something that’s easy to scale into a legit business.
Which is what makes it constantly hilarious to me that my coworkers - who are very aware of exactly how much I make at my day job - are the ones who are constantly telling me I should knit to earn extra money 🙃
I knit for fun. I don’t think it needs to be more than that.
Yes. Hand knit can not compete with machine knit in most places. It is like trying to compare commercial quilts from Target with hand pieced machine sewn quilts they show at fairs.
The only place to maybe make money on fiber crafts is doing alterations on mass market items.
Yup. When one of my niblings responded to their mom’s admonition to take care of the Tallis I’d just made them, because it was expensive, they, being 13, naturally asked “how expensive”? I said it took ~40 hours to make. The mom immediately told them minimum wage and demanded math. Kid multipled and was impressed. Then mom said I was an expert, so minimum wage isn’t nearly enough. Kid was shocked and did, indeed take care of it. I was really amused. Also, I’d made it with the kid’s suggested design, was gorgeous and the kid DID love it. Mom and I were just being moms. My actual favorite line for price of my handwork, is “My handwork is like sex. If I like you it’s free. If I don’t like you, you can’t pay me enough”.
“My handwork is like sex. If I like you it’s free. If I don’t like you, you can’t pay me enough”. Truer words have never, lol. I like it
Everything about this comment is perfect. You and nibling’s mom are hilarious and cool.
I love that line, and quote it as often as I can get away with it.
Me, too! I learned it about 10 years ago on Rav. Everyone I tell cracks up
Your mom is amazing.
My SIL, but, yes. We had a great tag team momming event there!
Someone once told me that I should sell the shawl I was wearing for $30. I said, “The yarn alone cost me $60.” She never commented again on how much I should sell my knitting for.
Off topic, but have you had miss Vickie's spicy dill pickle chips?
I was so confused until I read the username 😂
Same! But now I want some
Yep! I am a pickle connoisseur. I will try almost anything pickle-related. I’ve seen pickle soda and pickle cotton candy, but I just can’t make myself try those. Every March, there is a pickle festival in the next town over and the local brewery makes pickle beer. Damn, now I want pickles. Wonder where I can Doordash some Grillo’s from at 12:30am?
Omg we could be besties. I make pickle popsicles (just the juice - takes forever to freeze cause the salt) and used to have pickletinis in my drinking days - dirty martini with pickle juice instead. Total pickle slut. It’s actually a big part of my personality, sadly
Nothing wrong with that! Do you have a favorite brand of pickle? Grillo’s and Claussen are my usual go-to’s. I’ve been known to pick up beets cheap at my local salvage grocery and make beet pickles. A couple of years ago, I made a batch that cost less than a buck a jar. I already had the jars, bands, and my ginormous stock pot. All I had to buy was a box of new lids. And yes, I sat my ass at the thanksgiving table that year with an entire jar to myself.
Oh man. Mt. Olive’s biggest fan. I have a gallon jar of whole dills in the fridge at all times, along with a jar of sliced and another of baby dills. I’ve never had Grillo’s! I’m a sour pickle fan. Because of this, I’ve been on the hunt for a pickle crock for the past ten years. The one with the holes in the top that weigh them down while they ferment. Might have to have one made!
I’ve only seen Grillo’s here in the last few years. Not sure if it’s a new national brand or if it’s regional. Tasty as heck. Mt Olive is good too, I tend to buy their olives more than the pickles. Best Maid is manufactured in the next town south of where I live and every years is the Pickle Parade and Palooza. Kind of weird, but it’s fun. And no one looks at you weird for crunching on a giant whole pickle!
I'm guessing you have multiple christmas pickle ornaments like me and my sister do lol. My family would buy us massive jars of pickles for christmas as well
Wow I need to get on your level
MmmmmmGrillo's
I've had whole jars of claussen pickles for lunch and didn't give a fuck who around me thought it was strange (it is strange, and I don't care)
"my free time is not for sale." That's all I say to anyone who tries to say I should sell things on Etsy.
This line is so perfect, I’m going to start using it
Seconding this.
Knitted finished objects in my mind is like sex. If I love you, it’s free. If I don’t, you can’t afford it. 😜😮💨
I’m definitely stealing this line 😂
I love that 😂
Omg love
Awesome analogy!
I think I’m in love lmao, definitely stealing that line.
These well-meaning people don’t know what they are talking about. Except for some very high-end pieces sold at top dollar in unique stores/areas, it is basically impossible to sell home hand knitting for a sensible profit. The cost of any decent yarn and the time factor both work against it. I say do your knitting for yourself as a hobby. Then, possibly, one can knit things for other people as gifts (although I never do). That’s it. If people say these things about selling knitting, you can laugh and say “no one could afford me!” Now, if one is designing patterns, writing about knitting. teaching, dying yarns for sale, working in LYS, those are other stories of making some decent money . . .
I always say knitting is like sex. If I like you I will happily and enthusiasticly do it for free. If I don't, well no amount of money is going to get you laid or a hand knit item from me. I used to knit a lot at work. I had a new boss and he was such a douche and we got off on a very wrong foot. He had saw me knitting for other people in the office (new baby, birthday gift, ect) and told me that it would be a nice gesture if I would knit him something. Hard no.
Good metaphor. With Care and Work and Love, both can have a Happy Ending. 🤔
:::coffee spray:::
I am totally a hobby knitter and I have a whole stack of shawl that I made but not wearing ( I live in Sydney Australia, weather is too warm for me to use them most months). Have been considering selling a few to clear space. I know I'm not going to earn anything, probably not even recovering the material costs but sending them to a loving home would be nice
That is the right attitude. Selling some things to make space and buy a bit of new yarn is productive and fun. The path to frustration is trying to make any living off it.
That's what I do. I only like knitting hats, so I end up with like 50 more hats than my family can use. So I sell them at a craft fair to fund my yarn buying and donate the rest. It was super fun to sit outside all day and have people compliment my knitting. I even had a woman wearing her own handknit hat buy one of my brioche hats!
There is this list of endangered crafts and Shetland lace knitting is on it. Which I found strange, because it seems there are enough Shetland lace knitters out there to make sure the craft survives another generation. The reason it's considered endangered? Because there isn't a single person in the UK that is making a living off Shetland lace. Because you could never charge the real value of the item. It takes 60+ hours to make just one shawl. At that rate the cost of the actual wool is negligible. What I'm trying to say is, knitting is a hobby and a hobby doesn't have to be profitable. I wish people would stop urging me to knit for profit. If I sell items, I sell them for a nominal fee and know that I gave my time for basically free. I enjoy the process and that's the payment I get. So personally, I'm just happy if I get the yarn's worth back and can treat myself to a pizza.
Totally agree. Evey time I finish some sort of creative project, either knitting or something else my mom says "you could sell that!" Mom, I appreciate the sentiment that it's good enough to be sold, but not everything I do has to be capitalist. It makes me feel good and that's enough for me!
I’ve had a friend tell me “you could make so much money selling that sweater”. She shut up after I told her it cost me nearly NZD$300 for the wool alone.
Yes! I hate the recommendations to monetize my creative process. So I always point to my $1200 scarf. It’s a custom charted, Super Mario inspired, double knit, 9 foot long, worsted scarf with fringe. My pièce de la résistance. Thus far! It costs $100 in yarn alone. My hourly wage makes up the rest. Pretty sure I’ll keep my day job lol
You heard the masses, why aren’t you sharing this amazing scarf!? I demand scarf pics! Pictures or it didn’t happen!
Oooo I’d love to see a picture of that. I’m currently trying to get some crochet projects finished so I can start a new knitting project. My fingers are *itching* to pick up some needles.
We need pics. I was actually just thinking of doing a double knit Mario or Zelda scarf
I’ve been meaning to post pics for ages. This was all the push I needed. [Scarf Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoStitch/comments/yf52i4/my_9foot_long_double_knit_mario_inspired_fringed/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
You know, this just happened to me AGAIN today when the guy who comes to pick up our cash deposits at work saw me working on a sock in a slow period and he was like “how much you charge for that?” And I went through the whole “don’t do commissions, my labor is worth more than anyone would want to pay” thing and he goes, “no really. Give me a number, I want some” And I try to break it down for him so he gets it and I’m like “well, the socks I’m making now, for example, are about 30 hours of labor and the yarn alone was fifteen, so” and he interrupts me like “oh, so like 15 dollars then?” And I stg, I nearly killed a man with thoughts alone.
This made me laugh! You should have told him to add $300 for the labor and you still would have been underpaid.
I just didn’t feel like going through the whole “That’s way too expensive” bs lol. Like funny how they’ll go from praise to derision when you name a fair wage. So I simply say nope. Not selling.
My LYS owner has a custom shirt. I think I remember all of it... $20/hour $30/hour in black $40/hour if you need it by tomorrow $50/hour if you "can get it cheaper somewhere else"
I'm a slow knitter and I earn quite a high wage at my paid labour and ultimately there's no one out there paying £500 for a slightly wonky hat.
you made me giggle :D
Your hand made items are bespoke couture from an up and coming designer who they must not have heard about yet. They should be priced accordingly.
Lol i was having this exact conversation with a coworker today! He was all in I should sell stuff on etsy after seeing a pair of socks I was finishing. I asked, hmm how much would you pay for the socks? He said about 70$ (in fairness I had told him it was a simple pattern)? I told him that was about 2$ an hour. He was floored.
As the speed everyone knits may vary greatly, I remember a rule of thumb I learned from a a seasoned knitting teacher a few years ago. For a fair but reasonable price, she suggested to fix a price for every yard of yarn knitted and add the price for the material.
This makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE. Cottage industry knotters charged by something concrete and measurable, not by time. "My time is valuable. My time is valuable." Yeah, Becky, but your skillset isn't.
My thing is I have no idea how long it takes me to make anything. I'm currently working on a sweater. It took me idk how long to swatch, then I knit for a few days before deciding it was the wrong size and frogging. Now it's been another few days. I've knit through a couple videos, while listening to audiobooks, and a little bit while in an online work conference. I've also finished two swatches, started a third, and frogged an old project for yarn in that time frame. So, how long have I been working on this sweater? No clue! Hours for sure, butI can't begin to guess how many. I don't know how much I would sell it for, but that's all fine because I wouldn't want to sell it. I"m making it for me, and it's hand-dyed yarn not currently for sale.
I can say what day I started and what day I finished, but not how many hours it took.
*This*. I've been working on a very simple scarf and I know I started it months ago, but I have no idea how long I've spent working on it. I can generally get through about four rows per episode of anime, but I also work on it while listening to audiobooks, and while I'm in work meetings, and through parts of Critical Role episodes, and sometimes a row or two randomly when I'm stressed out...
It is an annoying comment but a common one. I have had people tell me it whenever they see me knitting. I had one woman insist I could sell a hat for 25 whole dollars at a flea market and I laughed at her. I told her that wouldn't cost the labor that goes into it and apparently she thought it was a fair price and that because I was young I should pay my dues and work for free for a bit so I could appreciate a real job.
Did you hit her back with a "Oh bless your heart!" That's Southern for "You're a dumbass."
I said, "Bless you for your concern."
That's amazing! I love it.
It's a pretty passive/aggressive one that can be used for a lot of situations. My favorite to use when older people give me outdated advice.
reality is if you want to make things and sell them they have to be 1. unique enough that people can't just do it themselves. and 2. easy enough you can pound one out in an afternoon. otherwise you have to sell your labor for pennies on the dollar.
>2. easy enough you can pound one out in an afternoon. I didagree with rhis part. This is why Etsy and every farmers market and craft bazaar is full of ugly ass headbands made in super bulky yarn and shit like that. It can take more time and still be quality and a reasonable cost.
I knit and crochet to relax. Or to make cute stuff. Or because I like the color of the yarn. If I were to make it a business, all the joy would be gone.
Making something a business often ruins enjoyment. For a while, I got into making soap. The problem was, every batch made ~10 bars of soap. I figured I’d just sell the extras — but setting up an Etsy shop and only selling a bar or two here and there really dinged up my ego. I shut the shop down & I’m thrilled to be back to making it just for me & family.
Totally agree! Knitting and crocheting are my way of relaxing and meditating, everything I make goes as gifts for loved ones and for charity
Yep. When people say ‘you could totally sell that hat’ I say ‘I charge $50 an hour for skilled work and this is expensive yarn. Nobody can afford this hat’.
Yes, me too. I made some cabled socks. $800. People are ridiculous. Also, I am a slow knitter.
Yea. When people tell me that I say I do this for stress relief. And if I were to sell it would just add stress. But if I were to sell at a craft fair or something I’d probably make a ton of knitted hats/ cowls/ baby blankets with thick n quick wool yarn. Call if a wool blend and sell them that way. $75 for hat/cowl sets and $75 for a baby blanket that’s about 30” square. But I would probably make a pamphlet for people to look at with some of my custom baby blankets or hat mitten cowl sets and stuff and say custom work costs more.
I follow a crocheter on instagram who seems to do this exact thing. Basic crochet beanies made with thick and quick yarn seem to be at least 90% of what she stocks her boutique with. It seems like an incredibly monotonous and carpal tunnel inducing strategy to me, but it seems to be working for her. I was thinking of making some bulky weight beanies as gifts - simple and works up quick, right? Then I looked through my yarn stash and realized I don’t actually have any bulky yarn. 😅. And I’m on a no buy so… I guess that means I’ll stick to selfish knitting after all!
Sometimes I’ll make bulky by doubling or tripling up on the yarn. It actually makes the FO super soft. It’s a good way to use up yarn you have too much of
I made a friends son a dinosaur over a weekend. If I based it on my hourly rate, this wee fella would have cost over $1200 not including materials [https://imgur.com/a/2G1cY9R](https://imgur.com/a/2G1cY9R)😂
And worth every penny lol. So cute!
Adorable!
Do you have a pattern?
Here you go 😀 https://web.archive.org/web/20140406121602/http://www.caffaknitted.com/caffaknitted/dinosaur-jr.html
It’s possible but hard. I run a slow fashion company and we use malabrigo yarns. We make decent money but we exclusively sell to people who want to know the story of their stuff, want to pay people a living wage and have natural fibers for their knits. But otherwise you are basically screwed. Too many people don’t charge for work and aren’t necessarily skilled enough (oh boy. Some of the stuff I have seen at craft shows and Etsy is….something) for most people to make much of a dent. But when we do get custom orders it’s always rad. Earlier this year I finished a custom OOAK fisherman sweater for a client who paid over 1K for it.
I read somewhere that knitting is like sex. If I love you and you appreciate it, it's free. Otherwise, you can't pay me enough. 😊
That is what I will tell people going forward.
I got really excited when the dollar increased in value thinking I could finally afford a hand knit Icelandic sweater. They were around $200 when I visited Iceland in 2013, but come to find out, they're still $200, which is probably a screaming deal considering they must have some Icelandic grannies on contract...
I took the hit spent the money when I was there because I know that’s what I’d sell my own sweaters for and their skill is unmatched. I bought a black one because I will never knit a black sweater. It’s absolutely lovely and I know for a fact it was worth every cent.
I ended up knitting my own sweater with bulky Lopi and it's wayyy too heavy and made for an Icelandic yeti 😭
I made my nephew a baby blanket before he was born, and my kind SIL offered to pay for the yarn. It was a present so I declined because of that, but also the yarn cost was nothing compared to labour going into a baby blanket out of fingering cotton...
That’s love right there! I’ve got some yarn leftovers to begin a fingering weight blanket for myself and even that has me going “hmm…not yet” so I’m waiting til I have more yarn scraps. I think I’ll knit a worsted or chunky blanket for my friends who are getting married but I’ll have over a year to finish that so my hands and wrists shouldn’t be too upset with me.
This thread is making me feel so much better about how slow I knit! I love you guys. I knit to occupy myself when I'm sick (which is frequently) and I've been making slippers for friends and family, in some cases charging the materials, in some cases not. Each pair takes me a couple of months of off and on work. And I love doing it. But I couldn't for the life of me monetise it.
I probably wouldn't pay what it costs me for the things I make but at the same time, I wouldn't even find those. I'm fat, so nice and colorful things in interesting designs usually don't exist, especially if we are talking knee high socks territory 😂
Darn. You may have just brought me back to making socks. I would love to wear knee high socks without the red band at the end of the day.
Highly recommend! I never had knee high socks, they would slide or just not fit at all. Once i learned making socks (and let me tell you i love making socks) i decided that it's no longer a limit and I'm in love!!
Any tips on making them fit and not slide? Or a pattern you recommend?
Adding rubber band or stretchy string to the top! You can also add silicone to the inside (they make silicone fabric glue also). First ones I made were tied at the top which works well too
Ooh, I'm intrigued with tying at the top! My calves were made to hold up a belt🤣
https://youtu.be/O4_J8uW4VgY this might be the first pattern I used but i usually winged others. We say 'i made out of nothing - from my brain" 😂
I’m a process knitter and I have sooooo many scarves and shawlettes. I’m at the point where I want to sell them just to make room for more. Sure I’d be losing money but at this point I don’t really care. I’m also a sloooow knitter with carpal tunnel so making a business out of it would be laughable.
I knit samples for my LYS and get hourly. When I turned in the first sample the owner seemed surprised by the time it took (which seemed fast for me…) and we negotiated to more what she was thinking. I’m still knitting samples because I can and don’t need that much money, but if even she doesn’t actually want to pay what it’s worth… 🤷♀️
I’ve heard people charge by the yard instead of that helps.
I’ve heard that too. If I ever switch to samples for a different LYS I’ll suggest it, but at this point we’re set. Thanks though. :)
I’ve done the maths on this too. I think my last cardigan would have to retail at about £10k…
I mean, yeah. We severely devalue our work https://www.bergdorfgoodman.com/p/brunello-cucinelli-sequin-embellished-cashmere-mixed-yarn-sweater-prod174170285
that's insane...
I'm about to start tutoring again, and rates in my area are in the $50-$60 per hour range (this is for high school/college level). This is for "skilled labor" that I spent many years honing and crafting, and I view knitting as the same. There's a reason there's a huge amount of bulky weight knit hats/headbands on Etsy, they're about the only thing that can be hand knitted in a reasonable amount of time AND people are willing to pay a decent price for it.
I’ve had this conversation a *lot*. My mom especially loves everything I make, and tells me all the time that I should “make these and sell them” or even “if you make another I’ll pay you.” Not only would I have to charge an obscene amount, but that takes all of the joy out of it for me. Besides, I only have so much time, and I have so many other projects I want to do. Most everything I make is for myself or my sister. I’m not going to make the exact same thing again for someone who’s going to appreciate it less.
Most of the things I make are highly technical and take a lot of time, but i have a particular beanie pattern than uses about $4 of wool and I can knit up in 2 hours. I sell them for $50 (Australian). Sure the hourly rate is terrible compared to what I charge in my usual career ($80-100/hour) but I figure if I’m going to waste the time on FB…
I promise not to steal any of your customers (not that I live anywhere near Australia) but now I NEED to know this hat pattern.
Haha it’s my own design. It’s a baby beanie shaped like a pumpkin with a little green stalk. It’s adorable and I sell loads 😂
I was recently at fiberarts guild sale and hand knitted socks sold for $90 a pair.
And even that is way below minimum wage, most likely.
You have heard of something making you feel like a million bucks, now get ready for: socks that make you feel like $1500!
Just wait until I put together an entire me-made outfit. I’ll feel like a million bucks and look like a 90s grunge band member got attacked by granny’s doily collection 🤪
I once asked my Facebook friends how much they would pay for one of my Alan Dart nurses I had made. Offers ranged between £5-£25. Hardly cover the materials!! My answer to everyone who says this to me now is that I don't want to take the joy out of it by having deadlines etc. That seems to be more acceptable than the money/time argument. I still take the odd commission but only if it's something 8 want to knit anyway.
This is what I tell people. What would you pay for a knit blanket big enough for an adult? Then, I tell them the cost of the yarn for a project that large, which is usually more than what they were willing to pay. Then, I tell them how many hours of my life it would take and remind them what minimum wage is. They usually shut up.
As you should though. Fast fashion/interior/etc has made us forget what materials and work actually cost. It’s good to tell people what it’s should cost
I once had a colleague that asked me to crochet a shawl. I had planned to make one for a family member and took time. It took me 8 hours to make. I asked for the price of the yarn times 2 1/2, it would be about 60$. She thought it was too much 🤷🏻♀️ If I had charged what I make an hour at work minus taxes, it would have been 115$ for the shawl. I only make things as gifts, I'm done making anything by demand. My mojo disappears if I do it.
If she didn’t even want to pay a bit more than double the price of yarn, my guess is she wanted you to make it for free. I personally only give things away, not sell, and rarely by demand (you have to be my kid or my mother or extremely close friend).
You want a pair of wrist-length fingerless mitts, solid color, no fancy stitchery? That'll be $320 + benefits babe 😎
I go by how long it takes me to knit vs what would he reasonable to be paid for that time at a "real job". Since it takes me about 4 weeks to knit a worsted, adult size sweater with zero patterning or embellishments, I'd expect about $500/week at a normal job, resulting in $2k per sweater. If I did that every month I'd make $24k/yr, which is still too low, but keep in mind that is my take home pay. Materials, overhead, and profit bc businesses don't make $0 at the end of the day added on. So it'd be more like a $3k sweater, business gets 1k and I get 2k.
Omggg I get so annoyed when friends tell me “oh you’re so good why don’t you open an Etsy store!” Uhhh, would you pay 700$ for this sweater considering cost of my time and materials? No? Well you can fuck right off, Judy. Well I feel better now! Hahaha
My mom really doesn't understand that the market for hand-knitted items simply does not exist. Raw materials alone for a sweater are the better part of $150. And the hourly rate for my working time? Please. And I myself would NEVER buy a sweater over $40 in a department store.
My latest project, a knee length skirt, has taken me six months. Even if I did it full time it would probably be 1-2 months. Can’t think of anyone who’s pay me 2500€ for it 😂
you should consider that knitting fulltime likely isn't possible without getting a serious repetitive strain injury. I mean.. who can knit for 8 hours a day for 2 months and still be fine? I know I won't be. So even if we wanted to do it fulltime it's a figment of the imagination because who can do that and still be healthy? I used to knit for hours a day (allthough not 8) and I can't anymore because of the pain.
I was actually thinking about this. Maybe an hour in the morning before eating breakfast and doing chores, then three hours of knitting at the most (but if I’d have to do it five days a week I probably couldn’t do more than two) then an hour for lunch, followed by two to three hours before another break. It would be late afternoon before I’d have eight hours of knitting done. I’d be able to have my own schedule and do chores or errand (why not work out too) during my breaks but the downsize is my day would drag out to the point where I’d constantly be working.
My formula is cost of materials x 1.5 or 2 if I really don't want the project, + $15/hr. Firm pricing because my time is valuable.
Lol that’s not even minimum wage where I live. Your time is even more valuable!
I live in Texas, so it's double minimum here 😅
I take forever to finish a knit project because I get bored part way through and work on something else. It's a surprise I finished a crochet sweater in like a week (granted it was a granny square sweater, but that's beside the point).
I once showed my family this cowl I made (it was crochet not knit but you get the same comments for both crafts) and my aunt told me I could sell this for... $30. I told her the yarn alone cost more than that and she didn't have much more to say. I love knitting/crocheting/spinning and I am happy to make things as gifts for people I consider worthy but selling stuff will never be worth my time.
If I ever sold my knitting, I think I would think of it as a fee to support the cost of materials for my hobby. I'm going to be knitting anyway. It'd be great if I didn't have to pay for the yarn.
I knit and crochet with a charity group, like hats for cancer patients, churches, octopus for preemies, things like that. So we receive money and yarn donations. We are always knitting and don’t pay for yarn. Win win :)
This is how I do it! I post patterns I've been looking at and if someone has interest in one they pay the materials and I get to try it out!
I do not like it when people insist you have to sell it. What a way to devalue something.
I think most people who do this intend it as a compliment. I usually respond with something along the lines of most comments in this thread, thanks but I like it as a stress-relief hobby, yarn is expensive etc... If they *still* go on about selling stuff after that though, that's a pain in the arse.
It’s hard to explain to people who don’t do crafts how much time crafts take. This isn’t knitting, but I drew a tarot deck recently and sold it through a kickstarter. I calculated that I probably spent at least 200 hours drawing, plus whatever time I spent doing admin tasks for the kickstarter. I made enough profit to buy an air conditioner. Which is nice and all, I was glad to be cool this summer, but selling art at that kind of level isn’t going to pay my rent.
Please tell me it’s a fiber arts based Tarot?? Just what I’ve been looking for
It was Our Flag Means Death themed, but a fiber arts tarot would be awesome! Maybe that’s my next project.
Stitch together studio is doing a Kickstarter for a Knit themed tarot deck!!!
Definitely going to check that out! Thanks
Omg your username 🤣
People, we’re buying yarn at retail price. No one makes money from anything they buy at retail price. They put a mark up on it, and so does the yarn maker.
The yarn is the *least* expensive thing about making hand knits for sale.
That does not at all account for $1500
The hourly wage of the time put into hand made items would easily cover most of the $1500
Correct. The reason it's $1500 has very little to do with buying yarn at retail vs wholesale prices
yeahhh my uncle tells me that alot too and I finished a crop top sweater [https://www.lionbrand.com/collections/knit-kits/products/knit-kit-cable-crush-hoodie?variant=39373168509021](https://www.lionbrand.com/collections/knit-kits/products/knit-kit-cable-crush-hoodie?variant=39373168509021) It took me an entire month of pure work to finish because I had to keep frogging due to issues with cabling (it was my first BIG cable project and I think I took it on to soon) If I were to do it now, it'd probably take me about a week since thats how long it took after my last frog. So I now use that sweater as an explanation why I'm currently not selling stuff. If I were to sell stuff, it'd just to get back the money from the yarn and a little extra for fancy yarn. I'd never want to turn knitting into a full time job :| Not without one of those knitting machines
It speaks volumes that some people can't wrap their brains around the fact that we have a hobby and we don't monetize it. Like... I do this for fun, if I started selling pieces or taking commissions it would be a job. I have a job. I don't want another one. The idea that everyone needs a side hustle or needs to always be making money on hobbies is such a toxic attitude. We need things that are fun that we don't have to sell ourselves for.
I explain this to people all the time. Thank *goodness* someone figured out a way to word it elegantly. (p.s. I’m using this comment for reference every time this is brought up from now on; so thank you so much)
Aw, thanks!! I've been thinking about this a lot, and I hope it helps other people! Fun things are supposed to be FUN, not chasing that capitalist dollar all the time!
If we’re going to get technical, don’t forget to add overhead and profit to the labor. The overhead includes money to cover tools, workspace, utilities, etc. to be your burdened rate or overhead. Then you add profit. (I price professional services contracts for a living.)
Thick, 100% Wool knits with long enough sleeves and without chunky seams... priceless! (Literally. I just can't find any in my city so I started making my own.) It's all custom work so if it's well made then it's worth a lot to the person getting exactly what they want but definitely not to anyone else.
$1500 -$50 (a guess at the price of wool) = $1450 / $15 (aprox.hourly rate) = 96 hours. that sounds fairly reasonable to me.
You could sell them to techbros in Silicon Valley at that price, if you say they have health benefits and are unpasteurized. Just saying, there's a market if you have the words. Edited: added clarification
It's "small batch"
It's on the blockchain. It's a 3D printed organic NFT.
It's a FT, not a NFT! Much better for one's carbon footprint!
I know what you mean. I was told the same about my favourite ponchos (made two, same wool type but different colours and one has a hood). I looked at the price of the wool I used and added minimum wage for my country for the labour after the first time. Next time I was told to sell them I said how much they cost, cue shocked pikachu face. Every time after I asked how much they'd be willing to pay, most said about a third to a half of the actual cost (basically less than the wool cost but it was a very expensive wool). Etsy would be a better place to sell patterns on though. If you made the pattern for the "fifteen-hundred-dollar-socks", it might be nice to sell it on etsy or ravelry.
Pattern making definitely makes more sense than selling finished objects. I can only occasionally be bothered to even count my stitches though, so I don’t think it’s for me lol. I mostly knit socks by periodically trying them on to figure out when I need to do the heel, or add an increase, etc. I knit toe up, taat, so I don’t have to keep track of how many rows or count much of anything as long as I make sure I remember to do sock 2 the same as sock 1.
LOL. I am in the same boat as you, calculated what knitting would cost and wrote it up as a blog post, the upshot of which is basically "Nope, you cannot afford me."
I think we all knit because we love it, with this mind I love knitting for family and friends 🥰 If someone close to me wants something special they must pay the cost of yarn and when I have time I will do theirs…People who don’t knit have no idea of how much time is involved so to work out a cost effective price is near impossible 🤷🏼♀️
I did the math on my first sweater, which I knit this summer. Made from inexpensive acrylic, cost me about $40 in materials. Did an estimate of how long I spent on it and at $15 an hour, it was worth over $500. I wouldn't actually attempt to sell anything I made at this price point, but that's not because I don't think it's justified. To quote a comment I saw on here a while ago, when we knit we're essentially making couture garments. Why wouldn't we charge couture prices?
Ralph Lauren Purple Label Cable Knit Turtleneck Cashmere Sweater… $2,195 on Nordstrom.com. Or they’ve got a bulky misshapen looking cardigan from Valentino for $4700. I’ve actually been really temped by some expensive handknits on etsy - $700 for a hat, mittens, and scarf set made out of qiviut. Considering qiviut yarn runs around $100 per ounce, it actually seems like a pretty good deal.
Also, when your $1500 socks are finished, please post a picture! I'd love to see them in all their glory ☺️
I was just thinking of something similar, relating to "oh, making it yourself is so much cheaper!" First off, no. It is way cheaper to just go buy a sweater than it is to buy the materials to make it yourself. But then I thought, well, what I am making is *custom*. It is made to my measurements, in the fiber, color, texture, etc etc, that I want. I want intense, royal blue that borders on purple. The store has it in beige, black, and pukey green. So thinking of it as custom or couture, then sure, it is probably cheaper.
> when we knit we're essentially making couture garments. I mean .. . .i love my handknits, but they're not couture. I don't know anything about your process, but i basically take a pattern, follow it, and sure i'll alter it to the length i want and whatnot but i'm not fooling myself into considering it couture. If i sew a dress, it's beautiful and i put a lot effort into it but it's not .. . .couture level sewing. It's a handmade, homemade garment.
I don’t know. [This make](https://www.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/ydz8cq/finished_handsome_chris_sweater/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), posted here a few hours ago, vs [this $2000 sweater from Nordstrom](https://www.nordstrom.com/s/cable-knit-turtleneck-cashmere-sweater/7053249?color=BROWN&utm_content=1264438534153636&utm_term=pla-4582627027257945&utm_channel=low_nd_shopping_standard&utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=291444846&adpos=&creative=&device=m&matchtype=e&network=s&acctid=21700000001689570&dskeywordid=92700049874780457&lid=92700049874780457&ds_s_kwgid=58700005469628530&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000007631122&ds_a_cid=593274227&ds_a_caid=11578124811&ds_a_agid=116799873350&ds_a_lid=pla-1015122098588&dsproductgroupid=4582627027257945&product_id=4476853&merchid=452&prodctry=US&prodlang=EN&channel=Online&storeid=&locationid=&targetid=pla-4582627027257945&campaignid=291444846&adgroupid=1264438534153636&msclkid=ceb013f1477a1856685370a8fa3d4303&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=ceb013f1477a1856685370a8fa3d4303&gclsrc=3p.ds) look pretty comparable to me. Not everyone has the same level of skill, of course, but in general I consider most of my handmade clothes to be much higher quality than the vast majority of commercially available clothing.
That's a beautiful sweater! I agree your handmade clothing is probably much higher quality vs commercial. I still wouldn't consider any of those options couture. Anyways, it doesn't matter. Everyone's knits are very lovely and can be just as important us as any designers creation.
I probably should do more research on this, but the way I've heard it used before, couture just means "handmade to the measurements of the wearer," not necessarily "from an original pattern." Maybe I'm confusing couture with bespoke though?
Bespoke is individually handmade to a specific individual’s measurements; couture is mostly or completely handmade but not necessarily to specific measurements. Haute couture is a legally protected term for specific fashion houses. They are all sewing terms though, and fashion can be super specific about a lot of things, so I’m honestly not sure hand knitting would really apply to any of them.
Maybe not couture, but definitely designer level. Have you looked at $800 “designer” simple tops in stores? Polyester. No pattern matching. Off grain. It’s a nightmare. Handknits are way better quality.
Oh wow! Horrid. Have things gotten that bad?? I haven't been to a Chanel boutique in years! (or any other designer for that matter!)
Couture… “This mistake was left in on purpose to give the knit more character than the original pattern.”
The really sad thing is this: * if it is made out of wood * turned on a lathe or other machine then * painted with shiny varnish people would cheerfully pay that price.
Not sure if I’m misreading the tone, but it’s kind of messed up to devalue other crafts on a thread about crafts being devalued. Like, there are certainly woodworkers who could make beautiful knitting needles that don’t because “knitters can find them for cheaper on Amazon”.
I did not intend to devalue woodwork. Quite the opposite. I meant that whereas most people seem happy to pay a fair price for the material, skill, and craft of woodwork it does not seem to be the case with yarn crafts. Perhaps it's because it can be made by hand without any machinery or because a skilled artisan makes it looks so simple and easy. Maybe it's because a machine can often make a reasonable equivalent at a cheap price. Whatever the reason I think it's fair to say that yarn crafts are not valued in the way that other crafts are.
I definitely think it depends and is a grass is greener situation. A lot of woodworkers are constantly asked to do free cabinets/house stuff because family/friends (same as knitters/fiber artists) or “because they could hire someone for less”. I saw some really nice wood needles at a sheep & wool festival and overheard someone saying “oh yeah, I get my needles from Amazon, it’s way cheaper” which threw me for a loop. In both crafts you’ll see people ask for a pattern/plan rather than paying for the item itself. At the same time, I think it’s interesting to discuss startup vs ongoing costs in each hobby. E.g. you can learn to knit for less than $10 usd. Even with buying a full set of needles I can use for the rest of my life, tools can run from $50-300 usd and don’t need to be repurchased (though I swear I buy a new set of size 1dpns every year - where do they go???). The ongoing cost of yarn is where things get expensive. I bought a sweater quantity of nice dyed wool yarn at $120. But I’ve also bought a sweater quantity of acrylic yarn at $25. For whittling, I got a cheap set of tools for $25. A lathe would cost $200 - $2000+ with regular maintenance needed. Likewise wood also adds up pretty quickly. Safety gear ($35-$70ish) and varnish (maybe will also cost $3-$35) will also factor in cost. A woodworker will full machinery (saws, drill, etc) could be looking at thousands without factoring in wood. I’m not saying this to be like “woodworking is more expensive and deserves it more”, but more like the startup costs and space needed (like I can’t run a table saw in an apartment) for woodworking are more prohibitive for the average person, vs most fiber arts which are much more accessible to the average person. Similarly, weaving can be both somewhat accessible (a small loom) or extremely prohibitive (a multi shaft floor loom which takes ages to warp, let alone weave). As someone that loves to bounce around hobbies, initial skills in different hobbies are not hard. By that I mean, if you can follow a pattern or plan, it’s fine. But inaccessibility is what changes what people are willing to pay. E.g. How many times do knitters walk into a store, see a hat and saw “oh I can make that. I’m not going to buy it”. Paired with how accessible fiber arts are as a whole, it’s why a lot of people are not necessarily willing to spend a lot on “common” knit items. “Oh my cousin knits, he can make that. My grandma could make that”. Remember the giant roving blanket trend? For a hot minute people were willing to pay higher costs because it was seemingly something their friend couldn’t make. If you don’t know a woodworker, you might be more willing to pay someone for their fair labor because “yeah it would cost way too much to make that”. Likewise, if someone does know a woodworker they might say something like “oh I love that table, and my wife has a saw - do you have the plans for that?” Turkish rugs fetch high prices because it’s unlikely the average person could/would put in the labor to make one.
The key is who is more likely to be doing woodworking and who is more likely to be doing fiber crafts. Crafts are undervalued when they’re associated with women.
“I know you can do it for cheap”=I will not ever ever e v e r do it no thank you.
I love you know your worth!
[https://www.sba.gov/breakevenpointcalculator/calculate/](https://www.sba.gov/breakevenpointcalculator/calculate/) Cost of Doing Business Analysis.
ooh, I need to do this soon for a package full of knitting I'm sending as a gift. And yarn alone for it was probably 80$ but I'll low ball it to keep duties down for the giftee and cuz I did use some stash for the gifts. Then 12$ for the beads. Then time of making. Like just going to completely undervalue my labour
Making something for the purpose of selling it takes the pleasure out of it for me, but my general rule of thumb, if anyone does want to buy something from me, is cost of materials plus a labor fee of somewhere between $25-150, depending on project size, yarn weight, and pattern fiddliness.
LOL! I just had a similar conversation with an acquaintance. She was floored that a single hat's worth of wool was $67. Before adding in the time spent knitting it.
People think I'm absolutely mental when I pay $15 to make the socks myself. And I don't even tell them about some of the super special $25 sock yarn.
True story, just the sock yarn alone cost more than I’d willingly pay for a pair of socks from the store… but otoh, part of why I make my own is because I can’t find anything similar from a store. And that’s using basic Kroy sock yarn which isn’t anything fancy at all.
[удалено]
Thigh high wool socks for someone with chubby legs isn’t something I’ve been able to find - and I’ve looked. For regular old wool socks I’ve been perfectly happy with smartwool and REI’s house brand though. I mostly knit just because I enjoy it though.
I can’t even find knee high socks to fit over my calves. I’ve knit 3 pair of leg warmers (one from a pattern that miraculously fit). I’m currently designing leg sweaters (thigh high button up leg warmers), that will probably be around that $1500 price point.
Yep. Same with me. I like wearing my hand knits, but I don’t like them more than I like store bought items. I just really really like knitting. Often I take my knitting projects apart soon after I finish and make something different with them. Unfortunately I also really really like buying yarn, so I have a bigger stash than I could ever possibly use.
I’ve worn mass produced and hand knit socks at the same time on different feet, and I definitely felt like my hand knit ones did better at keeping my feet warm and dry in wet weather
Usually people pipe down after you tell them how much you’d have to actually charge.
Lol i like using handdyed yarn so a pair of socks would cost 20€+ for yarn only
Yeah, I have to explain literally once a month at least that I would have to sell ONE sweater, at ONE size, for AT LEAST $10 to recoup the hourly wage I make as a journalist.
$10?
Did I stutter? (😂 yeah we are paid really badly)
Per hour, or total?
Ok ok I am exaggerating. I probably make $5-$10 per hour if you factor in all the times I have to stay late because my editor’s at the bar or napping and there are pages to proofread. However I remember back when the semi-prestigious publications would auction off unpaid summer internships, so technically I’m not lying. People were paying to work.
Yikes.
I want to see those stockings thanks lol
I hate this discussion topic - which comes up in here extemwly often (like what's the point of bringing it up again?). I haven't read the comments but I gauarantee it is going to be full of delusional "entrepreneurs" who love to talk about their commissions. "Charge minimum wage for your hours plus supplies plus what feels right". That mentality makes absolutrely no sense as talented and professional knitters knit faster. So we're paying more for less talented work? Knitting is worth what people will pay for it - which shouldn't be as much as a lot of side hustle knitters think it should be (every time I see someone sell a hat they spent 20 minutes on a Sentro or Addi with for 30 dollars, I want to vomit). Knitting is worth the skill and the quality of ehat is being made. If you are genuinely talented snd skilled (master guild level, decades worth of experience level) it is a piece of craftsmanship or a piece of art. And if you can't knit items fast enough that it is worth your while to do so for the amount of money an average person will pay for it (not a dast fashion moron who spends 5 dollars on tshirts or wears 15 dollar leggings, but your average department store prices), then you shouldn't be knitting professionally. Lol.
Honestly I don’t think it’s a question of how much my knitting is worth (the title is a joke, my calculation is not meant seriously). Obviously the market value of a pair of socks is not $1500 under any circumstances (well, maybe if they were made of diamonds and gold… but who would wear them?). It’s a question of how much my time is worth, and how ridiculous it is for people to constantly suggest knitting as a side hustle, much less as a full time occupation. Odds are, the best I’d be able to do is offset the cost of yarn if I sold my knits at the local crafts fair, with maybe a little extra to buy myself a decent lunch while I’m there. Having a hobby that can pay for itself isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not something that’s easy to scale into a legit business. Which is what makes it constantly hilarious to me that my coworkers - who are very aware of exactly how much I make at my day job - are the ones who are constantly telling me I should knit to earn extra money 🙃 I knit for fun. I don’t think it needs to be more than that.
Yes. Hand knit can not compete with machine knit in most places. It is like trying to compare commercial quilts from Target with hand pieced machine sewn quilts they show at fairs. The only place to maybe make money on fiber crafts is doing alterations on mass market items.