Over the past couple weeks, these two memes have shown up in my Facebook feed.  As “makers” who is feeling the holiday crunch, we wanted to share on thoughts on these two sentiments.

From Kris

I am up to my eyeballs in yarn, partially finished projects, and lists of things that have yet to be started that need to be done by Christmas.  When I start to feel the holiday panic, I often hear that little voice saying, “Why do think you have to make ‘it’ instead of just buying it?”  Why do I knit stockings for everyone in my family when I could buy something just as functional for a couple of dollars?  Why make a hat or a scarf when at this time of year both are in the last minute gift sections of every store you step into?  Why knit a blanket or make a quilt when fleece blankets are less than $20?

When my girls were middle school, the mother of one of their classmates, knowing that I was a knitter, asked me if I could makes scarves for Christmas for her daughter and her daughter’s best friend.  I told her that I probably could and asked what she had in mind.  She proceeded to show me a picture of a multi-colored striped scarf in an Old Navy ad.  She then said, “I want it to look exactly like this.  Can you get these colors?”  Again I said, “Probably.”  I then made the mistake of asking this woman why, if this is exactly the scarf she wanted, she didn’t just buy it from Old Navy.  With a perfectly straight face, she answered, “Because they are $10 and I figured you could make it cheaper.”  I didn’t say what I wanted to say.  Fortunately my impulse control and filters were working together on that day and I simply told her that I could not make them for less than $10 and since she’d found exactly what she wanted she should buy them before they were sold out.  This is the kind of person for whom the second meme above was written.  But, I have to assume that she did not want to look cheap.  She just wanted to BE cheap.  Let me just say that it is NEVER cheaper to make something than it is to buy it mass produced and made by machines.  After my encounter with “Cheap Scarf Lady,” I actually went to the store and priced the cost of materials only to make the scarf she wanted.  Because it was seven different colored stripes, seven skeins of yard were required.  Using the absolute cheapest acrylic yarn available, the materials alone would have been at least $21.  Granted, I did not need an entire skein of each color, but I had to buy a full skein.  The stores frown upon you just pulling off a few yards as needed.  And, even though I would have been knitting for “Cheap Scarf Lady,” I would not have used super cheap yarn because it does not feel good in my hands.  I would have spent closer to $40 on the yarn alone.  Keep in mind, $40 is the cost of yarn only.  It does not take into account the cost of labor to do the actual knitting!

This is where meme #2 comes in…

Let’s just say that it takes me a lot longer to make you a gift than it does for me to walk through the store and grab the first red scarf I see or click that “Buy Now” button on Amazon.  Time and talent are our most valuable assets.  And the truth is that if makers charged people for the true value of their their time, no one could afford it.  No one would have handmade anything!

I have made handmade Christmas stockings for everyone in my family.  I knew the cost of the yarn for each when I initially bought it, but I have never kept track of exactly how long it takes me to make them…and of course, the time needed is also dependent on the pattern.

These are the oldest of our family stockings.

I suspect that it takes somewhere between 25-30 hours from start to finish.  There is the knitting, the weaving in ends, the duplicate stitching pod names, adding any other embellishments, blocking, etc.  At minimum wage, a twenty hour stocking would cost $181.25.  No one is going to pay that much for a Christmas stocking…me included.  But, I will make them!  I make them because I love my family and making their stockings is one way that I can show them this love.

My son-in-law wanted a Godzilla stocking.  It’s that Christmas spirit thing.  That’s what he wanted, so that’s what I made.

And, I will make stockings, or anything else, for anyone who understands and appreciates the value, both monetary and emotionally, of something that someone has taken the time to make especially for them.  Making things is not about making, or saving, money.  It is about giving part of yourself to another person.

Grandson Number One’s stocking has a somewhat ‘roomy’ foot.  His Nana did that so it can be filled with lots of goodness.

Grandson Number Two was born this year.  His stocking is currently on that list of things that need to be finished so I don’t go into panic mode.

Why buy $92 worth of supplies for something than can be store-bought for $7?  Because there is joy in giving of your time to make something for someone else.  If you are lucky enough to receive a handmade gift, know that the person who made it for you was thinking of you when then created each stitch.  Be thankful that someone cares enough about you to give of themselves in this way.

And for goodness sake, use whatever gift is made for you!  There is nothing worse, from the maker’s perspective, to discover that whatever they have made is hidden away in a closet so that “nothing happens to it.”  Something should happen to it!  It should get used or worn.  Yes, hats and mittens will get lost.  Socks will get holes.  Sweaters will show their wear and tear.  These are good things.  They mean the the gifts were appreciated!

As you go into the holiday season, think about the gifts that are most important to you and those you love.  For me, health and happiness are at the top of the list, but the next best thing is something that someone has lovingly made especially for me.

from Tracey

Being still new to this game, I don’t have nearly as much to contribute as Kris does. I can honestly say I do look to her for the potential pitfalls and so forth, because she’s been at this a lot longer than I have! But there are a few things I’ve come to learn fairly quickly that tie right in with those memes!

Meme #1…

As a still fairly new-to-knitting knitter, I’ve yet to encounter a version of “Cheap Scarf Lady”! But I can see how it can happen, lots of people have no idea how much supplies can cost, and let me just say I was one of them! When I started this hobby I discovered rather fast that blankets made with the yarn I wanted to make them with, could potentially be cost prohibitive – and that was for moderate yarn, not the cheapest of the cheap, and not the artisan-end of the spectrum. Just middle of the road stuff that I really, really liked and could easily get my hands on. Yes, I could buy it for much much less, but what fun would that be?? There are some things that I can’t buy, that I can create! I have discovered the joys of little things – little home décor items, that I could probably buy, but I adore making because they are flat-out fun, (plus I get the instant-gratification of seeing it finished in a much faster amount of time than a sweater or a blanket!)

I discovered little animals are fun to make, but can be a bit tedious, but some days one is in the mood for that sort of thing! Like my bunnies and their little clothes. Or, the little stuffed cat or teensy pumpkins – the pumpkins are super fun to make and work up really quick, so there’s that feeling of instant accomplishment.

Making Bella the Cat from the book my Enabler (Kris) got me for a gift was a lot of fun – and it was good practice for me in new techniques on a small scale, which makes them much less daunting, especially if I’d tried a sweater with this much detail for a human-sized project!

Tying in Meme #2…

That then brings me to the other thing I’ve come to realize now as a maker – it’s rare when I get to “make” for myself! I have a few projects that I have the supplies for, that are just for me, that I’ve yet to start. As much as I’d like to make for myself, it’s so much fun to create gifts to give, and I end up saying “oh, I’ll just do this one more thing, THEN I’ll start the perfect sweater pattern that I have the yarn and supplies for!” Well, I now have approximately oh, let’s round it out to say about 10 sweater projects I’ve accumulated the yarn for in the past couple years!  I’ve made myself a deal that this year, I will get all my Christmas knitting done *early*, and then it’s on to something for just me! We’ll see how this goes though, because I’ve run across some little fun-item patterns that I’m also dying to dig into, because I know someone who must have one etc. Using my time wisely has become quite the balancing act…

I do believe this scarf (see below with Lucy!) for Jeremy is still in the works… I guess it’s the knitter’s home projects are never quite finished kind of thing!

The Wrap I made for myself is still waiting to be “finished” – meaning it’s knittedand off the needles, but the ends need to be woven in and the project blocked. Oh well, eventually I’ll get to it!

If you weren’t aware of it before, let me just say that there are only so many hours in a day! I learned that even on days I say “ok, today is a “work” day, I am going to make some progress on this project!”, I never can seem to get as much done as I would’ve liked to. I have come to the conclusion that there is only so much I can do in a specified amount of time, and it never seems to be enough! Many times I’ve said to myself, “I’ve worked 8 hours on this thing, why does it look like I’ve gotten nowhere??” But then I remember, “oh, that’s right, I had to rip it out x amount of times, so basically I spun my wheels all day!” Making takes time, no matter if the project is big or small, time is still a necessary ingredient. A couple years ago in my Christmas gift knitting, I learned that sometimes you don’t have enough of that ingredient. I ran into this issue when I was making a throw blanket for my Mom-in-law, and I turned to Kris asking what should I do!? She told me it’s ok to wrap it up while it’s still on the needles. Granted, you take it back  home with you, but the recipient knows what it is, and that it’s on the way as soon as you finish it!

So yeah, those two memes really speak to us as makers – they are pretty much spot-on in how it is. Sure we could buy something cheaper, but it’s not as much fun or satisfying to give if we can actually make it ourselves! The time and effort that we put into making something speaks for itself as well – we do it because we want to and it makes us happy to spend it on the gift-receiver!

P.S. This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but out of the gate my day was one crazy thing after another, and I just flat ran out of time. Husband’s alarm clock woke me at 4:40 am (he was at work at the time!), the school called AFTER I’d already gotten up and moving at 5:30 that there would be 90 minute delay due to icy roads. I came downstairs and discovered the cable box had called it quits, then when I went into the dining room to get things gathered to leave, I found the remains of a mouse that one of the 7 cats must’ve caught (earning their keep!), and decided it was something actually good to eat. In pieces. But their stomach said nope. It was just one thing after another after another. Before I knew it, it was dinner and then bedtime. So, it’s getting posted today!