The $227 scarf

The Noro Scarf is now 25% done, and it really is the perfect mindless knitting project. I brought it with me to the doctor's office this morning and it was yet another occasion where the color changes and texture of the yarn were enough to keep me happy, but the pattern was mindless enough to continue on it no matter how I was feeling. In fact, I would be tempted to keep one constantly on my needles- it's just the kind of project people see you knitting and want one- but let's face it, each scarf is about $50 worth of yarn. Totally worth it for the luscious color and texture, but how many people do you know that you want to give a scarf to that cost $50 in materials alone, or how many people do you know that would be willing to pay the price? After all (and here's what people don't understand about why knitters don't sell their projects for a song) let's figure it out. Bear with me, there's going to be math, but there's a lot of math in knitting.

It's $50 for the yarn. Each stripe takes me 3 minutes to knit (and I'm a fast knitter). There will be about 176 stripes in the finished piece. That means it will take me about 528 minutes to knit. (Not worrying about extra time for casting on, binding off, untangling yarn, whatever- this is rough math). Or, 8.8 hours. (Actually, less time than I would have thought). Although I am a skilled worker whose work is worth far more, let's say I agree to work for minimum wage, which in NYS in 2010 is $7.25. That's $63.80 for the labor. Add to the materials cost (assuming I already own the needles, etc.) and you have $113.80. If I were to sell through a boutique, the standard markup is at LEAST 100%. Which now makes our little scarf $227.60. Minimum.

Of course, you could argue that I don't have to sell through a boutique, and I don't. But if this were going to be a business for me, I'd still have to (close to at least) double the price to cover things like advertising, labels, business phone, business credit card accounts, rent, utilities, insurance, etc. AND this doesn't take into account time spent developing the design (if I had), test knitting, etc., or paying licensing fees for using someone else's pattern.

All of which is way too much to explain to every fool who comments "Oh, why don't you make ME one of those" or offers to pay a generous fee like $10 for a scarf, which is why I usually just answer "you can't afford me" with a smile. And which is why I knit things like this scarf not just for people I care about, but for people who truly appreciate it, perhaps even more than it's worth. To paraphrase the commercials, Yarn, $50 on Mastercard. Labor, $63.80. Appreciation by recipient, priceless....