I have to be honest. I am cheap. Seriously cheap. I shop for the best bang for my buck and seriously object to paying full price for anything. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't . . . usually not for me but will for my kids (just ask my daughters about the shopping expedition of this past Sunday . . . Confirmation/Graduation clothing were the goal of the expedition and we were successful and nothing was on sale).
I would NOT spend $30 on a scarf or gloves or hat. I will however spend $30 on yarn to make a scarf or gloves or hat . . . well maybe not $30 . . . but pretty close when you consider that the Noro Silk Garden was $7 a skein and the scarf took three skeins.
This is a discussion that my hubby and I have had for years. For our oldest daughter, I would make super fabulous dresses . . . until she decided that she wouldn't wear them. My Mom made her First Communion dress . . . I was going to but my Mom asked if she could. It is a gift.
I made Lindsey's First Communion dress and the dresses the girls wore for a wedding. The wedding dresses did cost less to make than to buy. The First Communion dresses were iffy.
The difference that my hubby and I have is the value of the time. For the wedding dresses, once I focused (and built up my nerve to actually CUT the fabric), I worked on them mostly in one evening . . . up until the point where I would have had to wake the girls to try them on for fitting. I recall climbing into bed at 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning . . . I had started on them at 8:00 p.m. the evening before.
So, again, why do we do this? Why do we spend hours knitting/crocheting/sewing when we could buy a similar product.
For me, it is the satisfaction. It is in seeing something done and you know, you get that smile. Awesome.
It is also the fact that I am cheap. I recognize that I could not buy a hand-made silk scarf for $30. Therefore, if I want a hand-made silk scarf, I will have to do it myself . . . and the time spent . . . well, its my time anyway.
2 comments:
I agree with you.
A great one of a kind silk scarf is not going to be $30, but we can make one for slightly less money and some time. I usually knit at night while watching tv. I don't see the knitting time costing me anything because I would have been watching NCIS with or without the knitting.
I think that doing it ourselves for gifts adds something to them that they would not have if we just bought something. My bf tells me that he knows the things I knit for him are made with love and that he can feel that love when he wears them. That is not something one can buy at Macys.
I have had those very same conversations with myself. I think it is all about love - the love that goes into a hand made item does not have a price tag on it. Yarn $30.00, time it took to knit - 24 hours - the satisfaction you get from the finished product - priceless!
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