this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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I knit and crochet for my mental health. There was a point where when I was a naive teenager I did try to make money off the hobby, but it made me utterly despise the hobby as a whole and turned something I used to relieve stress into a new stressor. I don’t sell my projects, and never will. I gift projects to those close to me, as well as on very rare occasion I let people buy me yarn in exchange for a project for them in my spare time. As well on occasion making projects to donate or give to be used in charity raffles.
I don’t know if it’s the psychological aspect of money or what, but it just ruins it for me and creates a stress I just can’t deal with. I also feel with my current approach it makes my projects even more priceless since you literally can’t put a price tag on it. If you get a gift from me, it means I feel that I know you well enough to cherish it and enjoy it. It’s why I love to knit for my grandma.
I also knit/crochet as a very industrious hobby. When people tell me that I should sell my items, I reply that they couldn't afford my items. It took me 100+ hours to make this sweater and the yarn alone cost me over $200. This sweater is in the ballpark of $1500 in value. You can't afford me.
I just got into knitting and I'm already dreading wearing anything I make around my family. "Can you make me a sweater, oh come on, why are you so selfish?" I dunno because it would be a month of work and hundreds in materials and no matter what I explained to them, it would just get treated like a random polyester sweater and they'd probably ruin it or toss it when they decided they don't like the style anymore... And my family is the kind to criticise any imperfections that didn't look machine produced.