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Recently I had a conversation with my mother about my knitting raffles. In short, my mother was stunned that I was giving away my knitting for free and thought I should be charging at least $5-$10. So here's the personal justification thread no one asked for. (1/x)
First: I am proud of my knitting skillz as I'm not naturally gifted at hand crafts. I learned about 13 years ago and really had to put in my 10,000 hours to get where I am. This is to say, I honestly value my work and consider it my art form. (2/x)
Second: knitting and other fiber arts are routinely devalued. This is partially due to it being a "lady thing," and it's partially due to fast fashion. You can go get a sweater at a big box store for $20-30. If I were to make it, the yarn alone would cost me btwn $50-$250. (3/x)
Then, of course, there is the labor that goes into making the items. Let's take my cardigan. It took me about 2.5 months to make. Obviously I'm not knitting 24 hours a day, so let's average it at 30 min a day. 37.5 hours at federal minimum ($7.25/hr) puts my labor at ~$270. (4/x)
A lot of folks who sell on Etsy and other places routinely under price their items. A good knitted hat or scarf should go for at least $50-$75. Almost no one would pay for that, so they wind up knocking it down to $20 and lose money. It's half of why I don't sell. (5/x)
(The other is because I don't want to keep up with orders or with keeping a store stocked. I like knitting on my own terms and to keep it a fun hobby, thanks.) (6/x)
In other words, saying I should charge $5-$10 horribly devalues the art form and could be interpreted as insulting. I'm not going to put forth the notion that my knitting and so many other people's hard, beautiful work is equal to the cost of a fast-food meal. (7/x)
So, okay. Wouldn't charging nothing put forth the same notion, if not worse? Well, in my eyes, no. (8/x)
If it's free, I consider it a gift at that point. I'm using up stash yarn (I'm not buying new yarn to make things I raffle off) and to be perfectly blunt, I'm rarely making things that take a lot of effort. (9/x)
And you know what? The world is burning. In some places, it's literally burning. I make these things to make me happy, to make a small bit of beauty. The work is for me. (10/x)
And I can only keep so many things. And full disclosure, I actually LIKE knitting in colors I wouldn't normally wear. But if I kept it, it would sit in a bin. And knitting is meant to be worn. (11/x)
So I want to give others the pretty things. It might be narcissistic and it projects my class privilege that I don't have to sell my work. But I want others to have the pretty things as it makes me happy that someone else will appreciate it and wear it. (12/x)
Anyway. That's my essay on the economics and joys of knitting, as well as depression. Thanks for reading. (fin)
