Crochet "Chat"

[speckledhen]

Thanks kass and speckled! Here in northern utah we hit 105 yesterday... Not a fun temp to be out in the yard in (unless water is involved.) so I spent a few hours working on the blanket. Does anyone on here ever sell their blankets?

Well, I try, but no one is buying right now. I have several for sale on our site. I finished this one and made matching coasters to go with it-I don't think I showed you the finished blanket. I used to live in Utah (twice via Air Force) and the heat is much nicer than soupy Georgia heat.

 

[rancher hicks]

Thanks kass and speckled! Here in northern utah we hit 105 yesterday... Not a fun temp to be out in the yard in (unless water is involved.) so I spent a few hours working on the blanket. Does anyone on here ever sell their blankets?

If you mean crocheted, most folks don't appreciate the work that goes into just the basic blanket, much less the more complex ones. IMO. I just make them for fun and family or to donate.

We have a thing at church where everyone knits a square, usually 12", and then someone sews them together, for those with serious illness. The woman who started it, Sister Trudy, passed last year.

The A.C. Moore store takes donations of squares to make blankets for the Veterans hospital.

Of course if you're extremely talented and make something of special design you might find someone willing to pay a fair price, but usually not. Again IMO.

Don't even mention knitting.

 

[Kassaundra]

Totally agree w/ RancherH, I have never seen anyone willing to pay a fair price for most detailed hand work including crochet. Most people I've seen aren't even willing to pay the amount of supplies in the project let alone time or talent. I make mine for gifts or personal use or donations.

 

[speckledhen]

Quilting is even worse, I think. I'd rather give it away to anyone than take the pittance some people seem to want to pay. This ain't Walmart, people. I can turn out many crochet projects in the time it takes me to do one hand quilted piece; rarely do they value fine hand quilting.

ETA: I think only other crafters understand what it takes.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quilting is even worse, I think. I'd rather give it away to anyone than take the pittance some people seem to want to pay. This ain't Walmart, people. I can turn out many crochet projects in the time it takes me to do one hand quilted piece; rarely do they value fine hand quilting.

ETA: I think only other crafters understand what it takes.

Walmart? Good garden o' peas!

I have an old, when I first learned to knit and crochet, book. I went through and wrote in how many skeins of yarn it took for each thing I wanted to do. Back then a skein of worsted weight Sayelle yarn on sale was $1. Most afghans take 10-12 or more. Or did then when yarn skeins were 4oz. Now they're 3-3 1/2 oz.

So the price for one afghan is just yarn would be? $30-40 in cheap yarn. I can't say how many hours it would take to do a basic "Park Avenue" for the best worker, but we all know what I'm getting at here.

This is why the sale Speckledhen has for her Crocheted squares is ridiculous. No offense intended. Even my offer is not fitting. I've considered just putting some of them in nice matted frames to hang on the bedroom wall.

N. GA. Mtns.
speckledhen created this thread on July 4, 10:20 am
AUCTION!
Beginning bid is $12
Auction begins immediately. Auction ends Sunday at 6 p.m.

The Park Avenue afghan.

 

[speckledhen]

I appreciate that, Tim. Yarn is super pricey today, especially if you get the nicer ones. And I just noticed that Red Heart has lowered the yardage of their With Love line in the new skeins from 370 yards to 315 yards. Naturally, the price isn't lower, but will probably go up instead.

I had fun doing the squares, especially the large ones, but I found I preferred making the continuous, one piece afghans, at least the doing part of it. I love the look of Kass's fusions and the patchwork sampler types, but I'm not that good putting them together, I guess. So, someone will get some use from those blocks, just not me.

 

[acemario]

Well, I try, but no one is buying right now. I have several for sale on our site. I finished this one and made matching coasters to go with it-I don't think I showed you the finished blanket. I used to live in Utah (twice via Air Force) and the heat is much nicer than soupy Georgia heat.

Very nice. I would definitely agree with the heat thing. Dry heat is much more tolerable than humid heat! Very nice blanket.

If you mean crocheted, most folks don't appreciate the work that goes into just the basic blanket, much less the more complex ones. IMO. I just make them for fun and family or to donate.

We have a thing at church where everyone knits a square, usually 12", and then someone sews them together, for those with serious illness. The woman who started it, Sister Trudy, passed last year.

The A.C. Moore store takes donations of squares to make blankets for the Veterans hospital.

Of course if you're extremely talented and make something of special design you might find someone willing to pay a fair price, but usually not. Again IMO.

Don't even mention knitting.

Interesting. This is what I would imagine. In my search, I found that etsy sellers are selling their blankets for $40!!! That is just the cost of the raw materials! Anyways. I have also talked to a few friends who have carved little niches out in the market. For example, one of my old advisers would crochet small white christening/baby blessing blankets and make a decent profit.

I was wondering if local high schoolers' parents would be willing to buy a large afghan in the school colors. Maybe for a Christmas gift… Marketing wise, you could help them see the value by showing the price of the quilt in comparison to the years it would be used at high school. (A $200 afghan used over 4 years would only be $50 per year).

 

[speckledhen]

Very nice. I would definitely agree with the heat thing. Dry heat is much more tolerable than humid heat! Very nice blanket.

Interesting. This is what I would imagine. In my search, I found that etsy sellers are selling their blankets for $40!!! That is just the cost of the raw materials! Anyways. I have also talked to a few friends who have carved little niches out in the market. For example, one of my old advisers would crochet small white christening/baby blessing blankets and make a decent profit.

I was wondering if local high schoolers' parents would be willing to buy a large afghan in the school colors. Maybe for a Christmas gift… Marketing wise, you could help them see the value by showing the price of the quilt in comparison to the years it would be used at high school. (A $200 afghan used over 4 years would only be $50 per year).

Thanks! The orange and blue are my HS colors as well as my sons' (different schools). I call it the Team Colors Lap Blanket. I have it with the bonus coasters for $39.95 on our site, so you're right about the prices they're offering them for. Took probably $18 in yarn, I think, and lots of hours of crochet. Not any real profit there.

Working on this pinafore right now. Ladyhawk makes them and I thought I'd try it with this 50/50 cotton/acrylic yarn from Hobby Lobby. I don't have enough of it to finish it and there isn't a Hobby Lobby near me so I'll have to find a coordinating yarn for the bottom, maybe in a deeper pink. I have some but it's 100% acrylic, not a blend like this one.




ETA: I decided to forgo a few rows so I could get it done with the yarn I had. Still need to buy some cute buttons for the yoke on the back and sew up the back seam up to the yoke.




ETA, again:

Finished the pinafore and added buttons, sewed up the seam to the yoke, though not really sure which is the back and which is the front, lol. Been a long time since I had a baby and I only had sons anyway.

 

[Kassaundra]

Imagine doing this on graph paper and making a crochet pattern out of it????

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203388520264353

 

[miohippus]

Another ripple afghan. Once again, this is a double stranded pattern. It works up quickly and I am using an N hook. This blanket is going twice as fast as my last one because this pattern is all DC rather than SC. Here are the first three rows:


It comes from this book at hobby lobby (#3):

I really like tha where did you get the pattern. OOps never mind i see the Hobby lobby sticker now lol