Chugging away

I'm actually pretty impressed with myself and how far I've gotten on the Wedding scarfs. I am at a little over 5 feet with the first one. I was planning for 6 to 6 1/2 feet for the whole thing, but I'll see. My goal was 1 foot a day, and while I was behind all week, I caught up last night. Well... kind of.... Yesterday should have been 6 feet, and I'm probably 6 inches short right now. I'd better go knit!

Pictures up soon!

What I have I gotten myself into

Last May, I mentioned my knitting to a co-worker, and she expressed an interest in a pair of socks for her son. Summer started without any solid plans. August came around and she again expressed her interest. I happened to have a single ball of sock yarn in a grey color. Two weeks later, a pair of ribbed size 8 socks. I didn't want to be paid for them; the yarn was cheap, and I was happy to knit for someone else, and in a quick knit.

Fast forward to last Wednesday, she comes to me to say she wanted to hire me to make some Christmas gifts. I thought, why not? I am planning on knitting some of my own gifts, but who says I can't squeeze in some small knits too.

Thursday we meet, and here is now my list:

2 cabled scarves for a Wedding on Oct 3rd! requested by her mother ( yes this means my ban on cables has been lifted.)
One sock/hat combo in Knit Picks Princess Multi for a 6 month old
One sock/hat combo in Knit Picks Lantana for a 2 year old
One hat/scarf combo for a 3 year old with a 20" head in Knit Picks Carbon Twist
One hat/scarf combo for a 2/3 year old with an even bigger head in Knit Picks Timber kettle

I know I'm crazy for agreeing, but if I ever want to do SOMETHING in knitting for a living, I have to start somewhere, and this seems as good a place as any.

Now I know a lot of people have a lot of opinions on how much to charge for hand knitted items, but I will not be charging a reasonable price for my time. I am a college educated professional, so in my job I am highly skilled. In knitting I have 3 years under my belt, with a wide variety of experience. I CANNOT reasonably charge for my time. The way I think of it, I'm already getting paid to do my professional job; knitting is what I do in my free time. I'd be knitting anyway in my free time, and NOT getting paid, so any money I make is gravy. My mom told me this when I was about 9, and wanted to make money making lanyards. And I still think this is be best advice for hand made items. I also, do not pretend to be as skilled as those who craft for a living. Balk at my decisions if you must, but I know I wouldn't pay $100 for an acrylic scarf. (Of course I won't pay $40 for a pair of shoes, and those are workhorses.)