Some of the people were I am working said that I should make some money at this. See we have bowling teams coming up in two months and I alwas do some kind for knitting or crochet for them. But I don’t know that if my work is that good or not. Everyone at work said that I have the skills with my hands and I can make money at both of them. What should I do? I tryed to do some of the other craft and I let this person know how much it would be and she told me that it was too much and she gave me half of the money that she owed to me. Yes she ask me to make some items and what color and that she saw them and did not what to pay the price I had for them. So she just got one of them. :knitting:
Not me personally. But I did donate a piece to a charity auction and they made money raffling it off.
Knitting is my one thing for which I refuse to ‘take’ orders.
I sew/mend for cash.
Knitting, I get dozens of people asking me or rather “hinting” that they’d like “x”, “y”, or “abcdef…xyz” and I always tell them that knitting is my thing and they if they get something so be it but I’m making no promises.
That being said I simply love to knit for others but I want it to be of my choice at my time and of my own direction. Typically I’ll gift something or decide its recipent while knitting the project.
I find that if I do start a project with someone in mind it often becomes a chore… 
I agree–I don’t want to make things for money. But on the advice of a couple of people who I’ve taught to knit recently, I am toying around with giving knitting lessons for money. I’m not sure how I would go about it, but it might be a way to make a little extra money, doing something I really enjoy.
People who don’t know how much time you spend doing it and how much yarn adds up to think you could make money.
You would have to be a speed knitter and get bulk discounts to make money.
At my speed,
Socks 2 hours a day for 3 weeks. 42 hours X $15/hr + materials = $640 socks.
Sweater 2 hours a day for 2 months. 120 hours X $15/hr + materials = $1830 sweater.
Baby booties 8 hours X $15/hr = $120.
Even at minimum wage those prices would be more than many would be willing to spend.
Wool yarn alone for a crochet afghan I made at regular price would’ve been about $320.
My career is low paid because they figure we’re artists and would do it for free if that was the only offer.
Fiber crafters have an additional problem of having to compete with machines and foreign slave labor.
Do it for the joy of doing it. If someone wants to pay let them pay you for materials but let them know they couldn’t come close to paying for the labor.
Or tell them it’s $30 for the yarn and $1000 for the labor.
Your response made me laugh. People REALLY don’t know how long it takes, let alone the cost of the materials. That’s NOTHING compared to the hours and hours you spend on it.
To answer the question, you can always look around and see what the “going rate” is for that particular item, and charge around there. If they’re unwilling to pay for it, then keep it or donate it. But I’d probably be up front with them about the cost before you venture into the project.
Please note that many patterns do not allow you to make anything other than for personal use…as in you can’t make money from it. Some don’t even like you to use it for charity auctions. Always read the copyright info on the pattern or website and ask the designer.
That said… I have sold a couple things of my own design, but otherwise no. For something like a bowling team… don’t know. Maybe matching armbands or something? Or a short scarf type thing?
I simply tell them I’m thrilled that they want a handcrafted item and I would be more than happy to teach them to knit, crochet or quilt. I will even loan them the needles the project needs. That’s usually the end of the conversation. I have taught several people to knit or crochet but most never keep it up.
After a long career of making a living with sewing and other crafts, I’ve noticed that turning a hobby into work is fraught with pitfalls.
First off, turning it into work means exactly that: turning it into work. You need to be businesslike about it, as Mike has done there in part. In order to buy wholesale, you’ll need a business license from your state, and that means fees for the paperwork, even if you’re DBA yourself. In order to track how much money (including your time) is going into a piece, you’ll have to keep track of your hours and your stock, and that means more paperwork. You should know in advance how much a piece will cost.
Crafting is a tough way to make a living. Try googling for starting up a craft business, and you’ll get an eyeful!
Now, there are tech and sample knitters out there who knit for companies, but I’ve noticed that they’re mainly part-time, and they’re all fast knitters. There’s also people who contract themselves out for knitting – people pay them to knit items for them, but there’s an agreed project amount or hourly fee in advance. Most are very fast knitters with a lot of technical skill. Most put cards up in LYS to find customers, who tend to be other knitters.
I’ve found the hard way that turning a loved hobby into a business can suck the joy right out of it. Make sure that your love of knitting and crocheting can survive having to do it, is my advice!
HTH – good luck!
Everybody (many) always seems so down on this issue. Especially calculating hours and your time. I don’t agree. If you feel like doing it, that’s whats important. when I go to the New York Sheep and wool festival I find incredibly thick beautiful socks made by the vendor for $20. I bought a little felted bag (not that little actually) out of gorgeous homespun yarn for only $12. Those people seemed delighted in my delight in being able to buy those items for a reasonable cost. I did a craft show that I paid $25 for a table and I sold NOTHING. It was hilarious. I had a great day though. I ended up giving a scarf to a little girl. I sold my first two hats last Christmas in a crafts store and was amazed she got $65 (I got $50) for each hat. so, you now, there’s a lot of variables. You need a plan but it doesn’t have to Big and Overwhelming.
P.S. I just noticed youre in upstate new york. I did the craft show in Delhi and the store, called the Lost Art of Living (a super store!) is in Margaretville.
There’s a reason I tend to be down on the idea – if someone can be easily discouraged by other people telling them the bad parts of the business life, then they probably shouldn’t be running a business. I agree that if you enjoy doing it regardless of whether you make any money – then go to it. But if you need to make a living and especially if you have children to support, keep your day job for a while.
I live in the triple city. In the southern tier of NY.
A dear 86 year old friend of mine sold 5 scarves to one person at Christmas time for $250 ($50) each. The yarn in each was beautiful I think she had about $20 worth of yarn in each scarf and they would take her a couple of days to do.
As they say, time is money.
If you don’t consider your time you’re not making money.
I saw washcloths on Etsy for $2.50. Does that even pay for the yarn (I stocked up on clearance so I’m out of touch)? If it’s not machine made it definitely doesn’t pay for the time. Even machine made it doesn’t pay for the machine.
That is not “making money”. That is a labor of love that you’re hoping to recoup some of the costs of doing.
The reason I’m down on giving it away at cost and pretending it’s a business sale is that it devalues the labor.
I heard the Etsy guy in an interview on Knit and Crochet Today saying he wanted to set up co-ops for the more successful sellers. At the prices I see there that would amount to sweatshops and slave labor.
I heard the only way to knit “professionally” (that is to say, make enough money to live on) is to do the samples they have in books.
I am not sure if that is true or not…but I know I could not do it…
I’ve found that people don’t even want to pay for the price of the yarn, let alone the time and talent. They think the yarn is practically free so anything they’re paying IS time and talent. Er, wrong! My crafts only go as gifts and even that sometimes seems like work so it could suck the fun out of a project.
Dishcloths for $2.50? That covers cheapo yarn and a wee wee bit of time. However, most people wouldn’t even pay that much. Crafters are the wrong people to ask about price since most of us wouldn’t pay any price. We’d make it ourselves. :knitting:
You mean selling your knitted items? www.etsy.com
You can set up a store for free and sell there. It’s a “sell anything handmade” type of site.
I was just asking abput that becouse were I work my boss told me that I am going to be very buzzy in Day Hab. See I work with handlycap adults and I am making anything that the staff. I had one staff come to me and ask me about making her a vest and I found this one on one of the web site so I am making it. She bought the yarn and she is buying it from me for $25.00. See I normaly amke crochet items for our bowling tourment that we have every year. So I am learning on the way. 
:mrgreen:
Jean
[FONT=“Comic Sans MS”][SIZE=“7”]AMEN!!![/SIZE][/FONT]
However, I do make enough from selling original and adapted patterns to buy groceries and fund my knitting habit! Originals are no sweat and self-published. The adapted patterns could only be sold after receiving permission to first, make them and then to sell them. It takes time and testing but after it’s been proofed you are basically done with it except for maintaining the sales sites.
If you would like some ideas and inspiration, have a look on my blog at www.knittingforprofit.com/blog - I have interviewed lots of women who really do make money from knitting!:happydance:
All the best, Liz