This is not a new topic. I'm guessing that all sorts of people have posted THEIR answers. But it's a question that I've been asked several times in the past week or so....
Some time ago, a friend and former colleague asked if I'd design and knit some leg warmers with matching bags for her, with the idea that she'd repay me with massage. I am fundamentally incapable of saying no to a decent massage, and she is completely clueless about all things yarn. So, there was this vague agreement, but we never quite settled on how many massages that meant. Partly because she has no idea how long these things take to knit. Of course, I have not been churning them out as quickly as she'd probably like.
So, how many massages should I get for a pair of leg warmers?
One method is to calculate the number of stitches in a finished product, and the speed with which you knit. Today, I thought I'd see how fast I actually DO knit. Alas, I'm working on leg warmers with three different colors in them, and am at a place where I switch colors every round. Of course this does mean that I'm no longer increasing and decreasing every round to get the diagonals into the stripes. Either way, this means that the base idea isn't likely to give me an accurate idea. (please forgive the color issues with the next picture -- the lighting in here is NOT good for this yarn).
Sure, I can knit two rounds pretty much one after the other with no fuss (that's 120 stitches in 2x2 ribbing, which took me 4 minutes and 33 seconds.). For simplicities sake, we can call that 25 stitches per minute.
BUT, when I timed myself for 9 rounds, which inevitably includes quite a bit of yarn detangling, that took closer to 25 minutes - which means more like 21 stitches per minute on average. The leg warmers in question are 100 rounds of knitting each. They range from 48 stitches at the ankle to 60 at the top -- we'll call it an average of 54 stitches per round. So... one leg warmer is approximately 5400 stitches. Mathity mathity math -- we're looking at 9+ hours for a very simple pair of leg warmers.
Add complexity -- as in this pair:
with color changes every few stitches AND cables .. suddenly it takes notably longer to knit a round. I didn't actually time those, but I'd say easily 25% longer. So this pair probably took more like 12 hours to knit. (This excludes time writing the pattern, and revising etc. It only include the time it would take to knit the thing straight up).
I'm pretty sure my friend didn't really intend to give me 11 massages per pair of leg warmers. But one massage seems a little unfair... Where do we set the balance?
More recently, I knit a dress for a friend of mine's daughter because I just wanted to.
(is she not adorable? )
Other friends with grandchildren asked how much it would cost to have me knit one ...
Part of the answer, of course, is dependent upon the size of the garment. Part is dependent upon the cost of the yarn. Those are pretty easy to figure out. The hard part comes into play with the amount of time it takes to do these things. No one really wants to go with the option of agreeing on an hourly rate, and having me just run a stopwatch while I knit -- folks reasonably want a clue ahead of time.
The skirt alone was over 21,000 stitches. It was easy knitting, so it likely took about 14 hours to knit the skirt. But that ignores the hood, the bodice, the sleeves....
But wait! There's more to knitting that object than just the time knitting! Even if I used a pattern written by someone else (as I did for the dress), There's shopping for the yarn, winding the yarn into center pull balls, weaving in all the ends, cleaning, blocking....
So, when people ask me, "How much would it cost to knit a dress like that for my granddaughter?", I know that if I were to ask for even HALF of minimum wage ($8.25 here in ShadowLand), they'd think I was nuts! If I were to ask for only minimum wage for my work (plus material costs), that dress is over $300.00! (The leg warmers would be more like $90.00- $100/ pair not counting yarn costs) . If you're my friend, and I'm inclined to work for 6% of what I charge for my "real work" as a massage therapist, you'd still be looking at $150 for a dress for your 4 year old (and yes, that would include yarn, if I could use the same yarn I used this time, and could get it at the same price).
So, here I am. I still don't know how to answer the people who wonder how much it would cost to have me knit a dress for their grandchildren. But I have confirmed that I'm unlikely to be making my living on custom made toddler dresses any time soon.
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