celticdragonfly | Why I don't want to knit for sale

I frequently get people who look at my work and want to encourage me to try to turn it into a business or work for sale. And generally people don't seem to get why I don't want to. I appreciate the compliment, that they think my work is that good. But they just don't get the logistics of it. Someone who doesn't do fiber arts doesn't understand the amount of time invested into the work.

So I finally have an example. I've done a couple of lace bags as gifts - this pattern
http://pics.livejournal.com/celticdragonfly/pic/00088yd6/g6

and have been asked to do some more sorta on commission. And was asked things like how long does it take me. Trouble is, I don't sit down and do it all uninterrupted, I have to do it around kids and life and stuff in bits and pieces.

Due to the simple shape of this project, I was actually able to have Karl time me on a small part of it last night, and extrapolate to the total time for the project. It came out to 7.5 hours. Now, that's assuming I didn't have any mistakes and have to frog it out and restart or tink back and redo some rows. I'm not perfect. I'm pretty good, but not perfect. So figure more like 8 hours of work. That's a lot of my time. And that's not even taking materials cost into account - another thing that people tend to underestimate.

And, when I'm working on that kind of project, it's frustrating that I have to stick with it, I can't go work on another project or something for ME. And yes, work can be like that, and if I was getting paid reasonable rates per hour then it would be worth dealing with it. But if not, why?

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I completely understand and agree with you. I often have people asking me to knit them sweaters. I explain that while I am happy to knit a sweater for them (provided they purchase the materials), I don't work on a schedule and it may be 2 weeks or 2 months before a finished product is available. It all depends on my mood, life, kids, etc.

My current project is knitting hats for preemies at the local hospital. They are super quick to do, and take very little yarn. It is a great way for me to use up odds and ends in my yarn bag. Plus, I get a nice warm feeling for helping a little one stay warm.

Yep. I work for charity - making socks for eastern European orphanages. That's fine. That's me working for love. And it has no deadline.

Hm, I try to *imagine* having enough spare time to do a sweater in two weeks.... well, maybe a todder sized one.

Hm, I try to *imagine* having enough spare time to do a sweater in two weeks.... well, maybe a todder sized one.

Well, it helps to be making the sweater on size 10 needles...and to have the pattern completely memorized (having made it at least 5 times in the last year in different colors) AND to make an 8 hour road trip on one of the weekends. :-)

I can generally get one hour of uninterupted knitting in on weeknights, after the kids go to bed. Sometimes I can get more knitting in while they are playing/doing homework after dinner.

Gah. Size 10? Not for me. I always have to go up at least a size, because I knit tight, but I also like to work with thinner yarns. For worsted I'd probably be working on maybe size 7? Most of the time I'm working with size 2.5.

I do have a project where I'm working in size 10.5 (and I should get back to it) but that's for a lacy cotton throw, not a sweater.

Even though I've tossed various requests at my mother for weaving - like an iPod cozy that fits the iPod, the headphones, *and* the cord that connects teh iPod to the computer - I know that when, or even if, I get the results will be up in the air. :)

OTOH, I got a very nice scarf just by whining about how much my wool coat scratches the back of my neck when she was showing me the scarf. XD

ditto here with my beadwork, particularly the seed-bead stuff (pouches and the like). it's VERY labor-intensive. i KNOW the average market won't bear the cost of $45-50 for a pouch barely big enough for a pocketwatch; i've tried to sell them (granted, that was in the Midwest).

it's okay if you spend an entire summer producing stuff around the clock, and then spend the fall split between shows and more production... it _can_ be done, but it's no way to make a fortune. most folks who do it barely manage to supplement their spouse's income enough to justify the diversion.

I'm getting that a lot lately too -- several people who saw the Shetland Tea Shawl said I should make stuff and sell it.

And I just laugh. The border alone on that thing took me 35-40 hours. Even paying myself minimum wage, I'd have to sell that shawl for well over a thousand dollars to make it worth my time -- and I can't imagine someone paying more than a couple hundred at best. If money's the goal, it'd make more sense for me to take a second job flipping burgers.

Now, if someone wanted to buy something that I'd made just for the fun of working with the yarn or trying out the pattern, and if the price they offered covered the cost of materials and wasn't a sheer insult to the complexity of the project, I could see selling my work. But knitting with the primary goal of selling it -- nope.

Include me in the those-who-understand-the-time-involved group. Normally I only knit baby sweaters just for that reason. I took on a Christmas project of hat & scarf and another scarf and another hat, for three people. Hat 1 and scarf 2 are the only ones finished.

Oh, those of us who DO it understand. It's those who don't. Orthose who hang out with others with quicker art forms.

when I'm working on that kind of project, it's frustrating that I have to stick with it, I can't go work on another project or something for ME

Yep, exactly. It's why I don't knit for sale (though I have made lots [literally dozens] of scarves and have sold some and bartered some and am still happy to do so). Knitting what interests me at any given moment allows me to enjoy the work - and it *is* work, whether a labor of love or whatever.

Same thing with music. I'm glad I have a day job that pays the bills, so that I can do music, my "art", on MY terms, and not have to play smoke-filled bars just to make the rent.

Trying to explain this to people who don't do and have never done any kind of time-intensive "craft" work, is indeed tough. Thinking about this, though, perhaps a couple of analogies would help... knitting is kind of like highway construction on a small scale - lots of prep time, materials gathering, building up bit by bit... all for something that people will drive over in minutes or seconds, without hardly thinking about the work that went into it.

Or, a shorter version: Rome wasn't built in a day. And a lot of it *was* built with slave labor.

Throughout centuries many beautiful things have been produced, not at a "fair" wage, but at a pittance if that, or by indentured people or slaves. That doesn't make them any less beautiful - but it does make it hard to calculate their "true" worth.

Bottom line: time is money. At least, in the world you and I inhabit.

Same thing comes up with my crazy quilting--the quilt hanging up in our guest room represents about 100 hours of work. Even assuming my time is worth minimum wage, we're still talking over $500 there.

Why I don't want to knit for sale

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