Knitters Are Underpaid

Christmas season is fast approaching, and I was wracking my brain trying to think of cool, home-made gifts I could make to ease the budget. My mind flashed back to a picture taken of me when I was about two, a long, pointy, knit stocking cap hanging down my back. "Perfect!" I thought. I browsed the net for a free knitting pattern and bought some circular needles.

I decided that before I spent too much time on a real gift for someone that might not be as nice as I envisioned, I would make a practice hat for Finley using yarn I already had. I started off, feeling pretty good about the project. That is until I discovered after several rows that I had twisted the stitches and had to start over. I persevered and tried again. This time, I could see the hat taking proper shape.

A few days later, I had the main body of the hat done and was ready to start tapering. But in classic Wendy fashion, I hadn't really read the instructions thoroughly and had just been doing what I though was logical. And it looked awful. I re-read the instructions and found what I had done wrong, tore out about 20 rows and proceeded. The hat is now taking shape to my satisfaction.

But really, this hat is taking a whole lot more time than I anticipated. If I wanted to sell these hats online and make it worth my while, how much would I have to charge? If I was to earn a measly $5 an hour knitting, I could not afford to buy this hat. At this point, I have been working on this for 2 to 3 weeks, for (at least) an hour each night, and (at least) five days a week. So far, I would have to charge $50 to $75, and I'm not even finished. I wondered if there were any hats like this on etsy.com and how much the asking prices were. I found several with a price tag of $25 to $40. The only way to make money off these hats, or be able to justify the time it takes to make one for a cool, inexpensive Christmas gift is to be able to whip one out in a day or two...

So unless I become a speed knitter in the next few weeks (Check out this video. It makes me ill.) don't expect any hats from me.