Rich, for Sure!
I did it again! I had this “brilliant” scheme to make money—not much, but some—and “this time” it was going to work! But I learned the hard way—finally—that the best way to make money is to do the best thing that I’m good at, and that’s writing.
I love to knit. It’s a relaxing hobby that brings me joy. Since I’ve been a knitter for years, I’ve tried many different projects and because of this, family and friends have been treated to many of my hand-knitted creations.
A few years ago, my favorite hand-knitted gifts for new moms and new grandmothers were cute little caps for the new arrivals. I made pumpkin caps, strawberry caps, blackberry caps, watermelons caps. I also make flower caps for spring and caps with Christmas and winter themes. I knitted and gave many caps.
I enjoyed making them and giving these caps. The receivers were thrilled with them, so much so that many suggested that I make them to sell. Although I knew better—I don’t like to turn a hobby into a business—I decided to do this. I even went as far as finding a children’s boutique willing to sell my caps. (It would pay me $20 for each cap it sold and it would retail it for double this price.) This sounded great to me and I began to plan how I was going to spend all the money I was going to make.
For mega hours a day, day after day and week after week I knitted caps. I postponed social outings, cleaning the house, cooking dinners and all other things, with the exception of my writing deadlines, and made caps. My joy of knitting was slowly becoming eroded as I almost-mechanically produced one cap, then another, then another.
Finally, with a collection of 50 caps—that’s $1,000 worth—I delivered my product to the boutique and waited to become rich. I avoided working on personal knitting projects because the thought of picking up knitting needles was the furthest thing on my mind. This saddened me because normally I love to knit. But, I reminded myself, the money would be worth all the exhausting effort and my diminished desire to knit.
Three months later the store had sold seven caps. That’s $140 for me. Six months later my sales had increased to 11 caps. A few more caps a few months later and the grand total of my effort was less than $300. The children’s boutique then requested that I pick up the unsold stock of caps. (I still have a wealth of hats for gifts!)
Six months ago I got into making felted knitted purses for gifts. (Luckily, my love of knitting returned a few months after I completed all the caps.) The recipients of my felted purses raved about these creations and encouraged me to sell them. My good judgment was again cast aside.
For the second time in my life I spent many hours a day, day after day and week after week knitting with the dream of making big money. Again, my effort was for naught.
I’m done with knitting…or sewing…or doing any of my other hobbies for money. I enjoy them too much to “cheapen” them. And speaking of “cheap,” my cap and purse ventures were no-win propositions from the beginning. If I had taken into consideration the price of yarn and other materials and my time, even if I got the price I wanted for these original creations, my hourly rate was less than $3 an hour! What was I thinking?
Comments
Seems like I've read something like this before? Maybe not.
Posted by: Carol | February 29, 2008 04:53 PM
Those caps are fabulous. Cameron was a pumpkin! I didn't get a purse though. Hmmm. My birthday's coming! ;-)
Posted by: Linda | March 2, 2008 12:15 AM