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Why Do I Do This?
I have been up to my eyeballs lately in baby blankets. I actually love knitting these. Nine out of ten of them are the pattern pictured, which is handed down from my great-grandmother. It’s so enjoyable to knit in straight rows and end up with this wavy blanket. Plus, baby yarn is a delight to use. The colors are so mellow and soothing. And the feel of baby yarn… it’s always amazingly soft. It’s no wonder that I enjoy knitting with it.
But these blankets are for sale; in my shop they are $60 each. What that breaks down to is usually $20 worth of materials (yarn) and $40 for knitting. Taking this a bit further, there’s roughly 20 hours of knitting in a blanket, meaning I’m paying myself $2 an hour for doing it.
I started thinking about this yesterday, as I was working on this pale pink blanket (which is a special order). If this is a business, I mused, paying myself $2 an hour isn’t enough money. Perhaps I should start charging by the stitch. When this pink blanket is done, it will contain 12,600 stitches…. that would be $126.00. The blue blanket above has 11,616 stitches. “No, $60 is fine,” I thought…. and here’s why.
Pale Pink Receiving Blanket in Progress
In my workroom/studio, I have a bulletin board. On that bulletin board are pictures which have been sent to me by customers over the years. It’s full of tiny people in or holding things that I have made… Tiny twins in matching booties; a toddler with a fuzzy teddy bear; babies in my blankets. Perhaps my favorite is a picture of one tiny customer on his second birthday. His mom had emailed me a picture of her newborn son in my blanket when he was just three days old. Then two years later, she emailed me another picture of him, still snuggling in my blanket, with a big grin on his face.
Then I thought of the blanket my grandmother knit for me. That one was white, because so long ago, the gender of the baby was not known until birth. I used that same blanket on all four of my children. Now that same, blanket is in North Carolina… my daughter got it when her daughter, my first grandchild, was born. She’s used it through her three children, and my guess is that it will be passed on to the first-born of the next generation.
There’s no question in my mind now why I do this. Sometimes, an artist is paid in ways that cannot be deposited in the bank. And for me, those ‘payments’ are far more valuable. Sometimes, continuing a tradition, or the possibility of starting one, is all an artist needs.
Tags: baby blanket, hand knit, handmade business, heirloom, knitting, pricing, receiving blanket, vintage
Posted in Handmade, Handmade Artisans, Information
10 Responses to “Why Do I Do This?”
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I think lovely what you do is important. You can look at it a couple of ways, that some products are your profit making products, and some products could be you giving back in the sense with the baby blankets. I think is wonderful how you have gotten pictures back from mothers. PS I still have my baby blanket! I gave to my son.
This is wonderful! My boys used mine and Andrew’s baby blankets and now they are packed away and ready and waiting for the next generation. You are creating lifetime treasures, for very little pay, but are worth so much more to the children that use them for forts and to scare away monsters in the dark.
Sandy, this is lovely, you are paying it forward and are so rewarded in a way that cannot be measured. This is all about love….and the rest can be about sales.
This story touched me and I love what you do with this handmade venture. ♥
Monika
What a very touching story. Your baby blankets and all your work is so wonderful. When you look at your art in this kind of way it comes from the heart and shines through in your work.
You put the heart in handmade! Love your art!
I thought what Andrew said was good advise too.
Blessings to you Sandi!
Debbie
Sandi, your baby blankets are beautiful. I agree that a lot of what we make is for the love of handmade, not for an hourly wage. By diversifying we can sometimes reach an average livable wage,while still sharing what we love to create.
I love your work as well, so pretty. When you look at what you have created, with love, and know it will be passed down with time to the next beloved baby, you’re creating an very special heirloom. If someone had to place an actual value on something as special as that, no one could afford it! What so many of us do is create with love, knowing in the end, someone will enjoy what we have made with our own two hands. It’s such a blessing to have an outlet for our creativity, particularly when we get to leans how much it’s being enjoyed 🙂
It is true as an artist or crafts person we don’t always get paid for our time. At least not in dollars. But there are other rewards. Learning something new, challenging ourselves, just the process itself. Knitting and crocheting is relaxing and fun and at the end you have a lovely item, an item that might be handed down for generations. How great is that! Last winter when my mom cleaned out a drawer she came across 3 very soft scarves. I had crocheted them when I was a teen and had given one each to my mom, aunt and grandmother for Christmas. Both my aunt and grandmother are gone now. I could tell which one was my grandmother’s, it was stretched and well worn. Those little crocheted scarves have gone full circle now, and when I wear them I am closer to 2 of the most wonderful women I ever had in my life….that is why we do this…
Sandi… excellent story and once again you make us (the reader) go hmmmmm. I totally understand where you are coming from. I agree with Monika… you are ‘Paying it forward’… can it get any better that! I think not!
It makes me happy to know that people still believe in passing heirlooms (handmade) down to the next generation… and their memories live on. Give me that warm and fuzzy feeling every time!
When I rewrote my bio page on the “other site” I said I believe in destiny. Threads have been in my life ever since birth! Their colors, feel, manipulation, even smell have long excited me. In many years of travel I have gone to places that sold native threadworks. I have wanted to leave a legacy of appreciation of what can be worked with threads.
What the work is worth monetarily is not important. It is too common to be worth much payment. But the times the work soars to artwork thrills me and I count every hour spent in search and doing as being a contribution to the history of art and the worth of it incalculable. No machine will ever replace hands manipulating threads and therein lies our humanity. It has become my mission.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and add to the story. It’s why we all support handmade!