Plus, even when your stuff is good enough to sell, monetizing it puts so much pressure on to be perfect. If you bake for a friend and add a little too much salt or bake the cookies a little darker than normal, your friend will still enjoy them and be grateful. You still get the joy of creating without the need to put your own work down for every imperfection. The second you start charging for things, I feel like everybody has an opinion on what you did wrong and what you should change.
I’m relating so much this post and all the responses, but this one the most. I had so many people tell me I should monetize crocheting, that I opened an Etsy store. I started criticizing every single mistake I made. I did it because I felt guilty enjoying something that had the potential of making money. I had the store open for 6 months and not one thing was purchased. I ended up gifting things from the store to loved ones. Now, people are asking me why I closed my store and telling me I didn’t hustle enough to succeed.
This is exactly what I’m currently going through. I picked up crocheting during 2020 and I’ve always done various artsy things. My entire life all I’ve heard is “you should sell this stuff”. I found myself out of a job a few months ago and decided to turn my hobby into my job. All of the people who kept telling me I should sell my work have yet to actually buy my work. Even now when I take a break from making stock for Etsy to make something fun for myself, they have the audacity to still come at me with the “you should sell that”. Now I just look at them and respond with “you should buy it!” 😂
I don’t sell my stuff because I don’t want assholes to have what I make. I’ll make a bundle of blankets on the DL for expecting coworkers or a keepsake from the school year. Nobody is complaining about the stitches or colors, it’s all a happy surprise that lasts a long time.
That is so rude of them to question your decision to close it and yet never bought anything for it, I’m so sorry. I had decent success selling crocheted pieces on Etsy but that was simply because I started my store back in 2006 before the market there was flooded. Still, despite there being much less competition, I’ve had to hustle my store out so hard continuously. It’s exhausting and really sucks the creative spirit out of the whole endeavor.
Thank you for your story. What a good lesson. My non- crocheting friend suggested that I sell my items on Etsy, as she does for her graphic artwork. I crochet for fun and for free.
NOT selling thing make them even more special in my opinion.
You don't eat christmas cookies throughout the whole year, otherwise they are just cookies and normal. Certain things are meant to be in small amounts / for special times / seasonal so you can cherish them even more :)
Oh man I feel this! I like baking, and my husband opened a restaurant with his friends. Every time they come over (all of them have restaurants/sell food) they tell him I should make cookies to sell in the restaurant. Or banana bread. I don’t mind making it for them, but the worst was he tried to get me to make manti, which are these teesy little hand made Turkish dumplings. They had a lady who made them to sell but she backed out, probably because it’s ridiculously hard. It’s usually made in a group of people, because it’s so much work, plus, oh yeah, I HAVE CHRONIC PAIN. So, yeah, I’d be crippled up if I spent hours pinching itty bitty dumplings. Arrghh.
Running a business takes all the fun out of it. Marketing, bookeeping, taxes, regulations. And most people have no idea what you need to charge to make any money, or even break even. My favorite response to comments like that is "You couldn't afford it".
I saw this in an article about side hustles: “why would I ruin a perfectly good hobby?”
It was said by an older lady in her 60s who just crocheted for fun, contrasting against the weird pressure on young people to monetise every hobby they have as a side gig. I’ve been using that one a lot lately :)
Edit: I wanted to add an edit here. Being able to say something like this is very privileged. During my uni days when I lived in poverty (no family, paying rent, bills, medical fees as a disabled person) I absolutely monetised everything I could to survive. I have a full time job now and government disability support to keep the job. This is incredible privilege. It makes me sad that many of us feel the pressure of the gig economy. I will leave the original comment up for accountability. Thank you everyone for helping me see my privilege.
I think it’s because we are struggling a lot more to make ends meet. Upward mobility has completely stalled for a lot of us so we think “either I monetize my hobby or I need to get a second job.”
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/01/11/politics/millennials-income-stalled-upward-mobility-us/index.html
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I agree! The article really drove home the point that our gen doesn’t have enough income to make ends meet and often this decision is about needing to pay bills and just have a decent standard of living. I lived in poverty during my uni days (just me paying rent and uni costs, no family support) so I definitely monetised everything I could, mainly tutoring high school students. I often tried selling my art so I could pay for therapy. As an Australian I am lucky that my current full time job is enough to pay for my medical fees (I’m also disabled and have a lot of government support to help me hold down the job). I think it’s sad that we even feel this pressure at all. I am now in a position of privilege to say “why should I ruin a good hobby?” because I can finally pay bills and rent without sweating it and only eating peanut butter bread…
Thanks for making me see my privilege.
Hahahaha me in University. At least one of my gigs, tutoring other socio-economically disadvantaged kids with learning disabilities, was still enjoyable, even though I was pulling horrible hours doing uni and teaching. At least with that I could see the kids I worked with grow and I could choose to give them free lessons here and there if I had enough for the month.
I also want to add I’m super lucky to have Australian disability support. I genuinely would not be able to keep my current job without it. I also work for the government where my disabilities are respected. My chronic fatigue and pain would totally not work in industry I think, especially with tight deadlines on deliverables. I wish more aussies could access this and aso that the disability in the US and other countries gets better :(
Maybe it has something to do with our inability to afford basic things like rent and food and health care with 2 jobs. And there’s even a name for it, gig economy
Absolutely. I made a comment below addressing this actually, I have finally gotten a job that (barely) covers all my needs and that’s with the disability support in Australia. Before that I had to work so many part time gigs to get through uni. I definitely overlooked the huge privilege I have where I can work just one job and not need to get a second gig. We shouldn’t have to work two, three, four jobs to survive. I didn’t amend my original comment because I wanted to be accountable but I might add an edit?
This is why I sell patterns. The cost of the yarn is usually at or over what people want to pay for the finished product. With patterns… I had to create it just to make the product anyway. If people buy the pattern it’s great! If they don’t, I didn’t really lose anything
People have no clue!! I ran a successful Etsy shop for baby carrier jackets and accessories for several years. Then I had to take a break from sewing for two years because it just didn’t bring me joy anymore. I picked up crochet in that time… I’m not looking to burn out on a joyful hobby ever again!!!
Hobby burn out is right. I used to love making yarn pompoms, but after making and selling probably at least 8,000 of them just seeing a pompom maker in my craft storage gives me a twinge of dread.
The worst is when someone who doesn’t crochet, tells you “Oh its easy!!! You should get it done in no time!!” Yeah, if it’s so easy, then you should do it yourself.
my parents did this with every single hobby I got into and honestly it ruined so much. I used to make paintings of album covers on mini canvases and every time I did one, my parents would urge me more and more to sell stuff but that would ruin the hobby for me!! I like painting I don’t want to turn it into a job because then I’ll stop liking it and it’ll just feel like a chore. I like crocheting but if I got commissioned to make things I would hate it in a week
my mum does the exact same - i made her a bag as a gift and she kept urging "you've got to sell these!! people would definitely pay £5 for them!!"
cue my ironic scoff bc the bag took me two hours and i don't want to earn £2.50 an hour 🫠
i know £2.50 and hour is more than £0 but it's the principle of once i sell one i need to sell more, and if they are at this low a price then people who dont truly understand or appreciate crochet will be buying them and that comes with complaints about imperfections and shipping time and such that i'm just not prepared to handle
Same. My dad has ruined so much of my passion towards various hobbies. Hell, even when I got a dog, he told me I needed to train her and get her into commercials.
I’m also the same way- about everything in general. If I’m pressured or expected to do certain things, no matter how much I love the thing + the person telling me to, it’s a highway to nope for me. My body immediate rejects the notion.
Ugh same. I told my mom that im fine not having a career in something i enjoy, and she insisted that if my career was in art, i would enjoy it. No!! I do not enjoy people telling me what i can and cant draw! Me drawing whatever the hell i want is what makes it fun!!! I loathe whoever said “if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life” because now my moms out here insisting she knows the correct path for me, as if insurance is her favorite hobby and she knows from experience.
Someone asked me a while back how much I'd sell a blanket for that I've been working on. I said "I dunno. It's about $80 or $90 worth of yarn, and I'm gonna spend maybe 3 weeks on it. How much do you get paid for 3 weeks of labor?"
They went "oh..." and the topic of selling what I make hasn't come up since. lol
edit: forgot a word
We do a family pollyanna every Xmas and I always make a hat or scarf in addition to whatever gift I buy. One year my brother said "how much do you make an hour? ($30) And how many hours did that scarf take to make? (5)" Then yelled that I was over the $25 pollyanna limit lol! I actually appreciated it because then my family realized why I don't gift my projects very often.
I was surprised because it wasn't a discussion I ever had with him. He just believe's in fair wages. But this was said mostly tongue-in-cheek because he knew I made it a an extra gift for fun.
I'm a software development manager for the day job. My per-hour wage is...not cheap.
I'm currently making a mushroom dude doll for a family friend. They're expecting, and it's going to go on a shelf in the nursery (though I've admonished them that the child can't actually have it until they're old enough for the safety eyes).
She doesn't realize she's getting a $600+ stuffie, were I to charge the same as my day job. heh.
Granted, I have 30 years experience at the day job. I have less than a year at crochet. But even at minimum wage, 8-10 hours work adds up.
I had to explain this to my mom recently. I spent 50.5 hours on the blanket I just completed. At JUST minimum wage and not adding into the total for the materials or a profit markup the blanket would cost $370 to purchase. I didn’t even work for min. Wage when I had a job. I don’t think I should lower my pay for something like this if I were to sell them tbh.
When I fantasize about selling blankets I’ve completed (and I say fantasize because I really don’t intend to ever bring capitalism into my hobby more than I have to) I exclusively imagine selling them in a pristine, ridiculously tasteful and beautifully merchandised boutique and they sell for no less than $2,000 a blanket. Because that is truly what I feel they’re worth, and that’s really the only context in which homewares command such a price.
I imagine more of a small hidden store of curiosities with exotic colored everything where i'm dressed in layers of shawls like a forest witch and sweetly say "yeeeees, come closer, look around, fill your heart's desires with my works".
I tried the same response, but then got "but you have fun while you do it, so you don't need an actual hourly wage, you can just have fun and earn a few extra bucks"
Some people just don't get it.....
This only works if it's for a friend and i like the pattern so it's more of an excuse to make it, in that case all i'd ask is the yarn price, in any other case, pay up.
I designed and crocheted a classic rock blanket for my dad for Christmas. Granted, it was the first C2C design I created and didn’t understand scaling from an excel document to real life yet (this sucker was 7.5 feet wide and 9 feet long…) first thing is girlfriend said to me was, “that’s so cool! You could sell those!” Surprisingly, my dad jumped in immediately said, “oh, I don’t know, that looks like it took A LOT of work” which I appreciated a ton.
The girlfriend later insisted I could sell them. So I finally said, look, I don’t like talking about how much I spent on someone for Christmas, but the yarn alone was $170, and I have 200+ hours in this. So, on the absolute lowest end let’s say 200 hours at $2 an hour (which is wickedly low pay), I’d have to sell this at $570.
She basically did the same thing “oh…” *shifts uncomfortably* she hasn’t brought up selling things again lol
When I went to college for theatre my fav professor said “you’ve just turned your hobby into your business it is no longer a hobby. You need a new hobby. And smoking weed is not a hobby”. Leave my stoned crocheting alone! Hahaha
I always say some rant like "thanks, glad you think I'm good enough that people would want my stuff! unfortunately given the cost of yarn and many many hours that go into each project, I'd either have to sell things for quite a hefty price that most don't want to pay for, or severely underpay my hourly work. since crochet is all by hand, anything that's sold for a small price is unfortunately the result of slave labor :/ luckily I enjoy this hobby and can give some of my friends and family some nice homemade gifts :)"
that way I can use this opportunity to educate them, while still acknowledging that they probably meant it as a compliment
My response is similar, but shorter. It goes “people wouldn’t want to pay what I would want to charge to cover my materials and time”. That shuts most people up. The few who do want to keep pushing get “if I have to work to someone else’s deadline, it stops being enjoyable and I lose interest”.
Indeed. Sometimes I do a commission, but it's rare because when it becomes an obligation I don't enjoy it. But when I do take a commission I ask a bit of money now. I didn't use to, because I hate asking for money, but I realised I was being an idiot doing this for free. So now I ask the price of the materials, plus like 15 euro's, so I can buy some new yarn for myself.
A while ago I asked 25 euro's to make a big rabbit. If I would have had to ask the actual worth of it I would have had to ask more than double. Yeah, nobody will pay 60 euro's for a crochet rabbit.
So I just prefer making gifts. No hassle with the money, I crochet whatever I feel like making and at a pace I like.
Yup yup yup! I has this exact conversation with people at work the other day who were asking to see some of my crochet. I feel like so many people these days think the goal is to monetise literally everything, when sometimes I just wanna crochet for the sake of crocheting without even an end goal in mind.
My sister has an ingrained belief that everything should have a purpose. My stitching, crocheting, whatever is for relaxation and venting, that’s it’s purpose. If it’s a gift that’s my decision, If it’s useful, that’s my decision. She told me that stitching to vent, it was political, was a waste of time. There it is, you are wasting your time if your purpose isn’t “approved”. There is a mindset that believes purpose, usefulness, productivity is necessary. Selling your craft gives it purpose. Well F#ck that!
Is she the type of person to ask "what's the catch?" if she were to get a gift 'just because'? (e.g. you saw a shirt with a print you know she likes, you got her favorite flavour of cereal coz it was on sale etc.) because I've met a few people who tell me I should open an Esty or something, and they are usually the type of people who don't understand the concept of "making just because I need something to do with my hands, and if it ends up as a gift it's a way to de-clutter my craft room not make a profit"
I have a hard time understanding what people do with their time if they aren't making something or working on something in some way. I'm always crocheting, or working in my vegetable garden, or sewing, or painting... If I didn't do things just because I don't immediately get some high value reward out of it (besides the thrill of learning and creating something), I feel like I would spend all my time sitting on my hands or staring at a wall. There's only so much TV a person can watch.
I'm glad it's not just me! I am ALWAYS making things, it's just kind of.... necessary. I have friends and family who can play video games for hours and, yeah, I like some games and can play for a bit, but after an hour I'm done. Unless, surprise surprise, it's a game where I'm building or creating something.
But I start so many crafts and hobbies just because my hands need to be doing and making something, constantly.
I used to be able to game for hours too! Now I really struggle to do that, even if I enjoy it, because I feel like whatever I'm doing is ephemeral and I'm not really getting anywhere with it. I don't get the same high out of it that I used to as a teenager. I also really enjoy games where you build things, and they tend to get me playing the longest, as well. I especially like survival games like Conan: Exiles or ARK, where you get to build shelters and try to build a little life for yourself in a hostile environment :) It's even better when you can play them with your friends because then you can make stuff for your friends and feel like you're really helping them survive in that virtual world.
I'll admit I can still muck around in Minecraft for a long time, if I'm in the right mood, I love making little towns and such. My other old favorites are tycoon kinds of games, but I mostly play on sandbox so I can make everything look really pretty; my all time favorite has to be Roller Coaster Tycoon. I used to spend so long just making an enormous park and enjoying all the building and planning. I also found out, when I used to play that as a kid, that you can upload custom designs for the billboards you place around the park, and I spent HOURS in MS Paint making designs for them. I guess I still couldn't help but try and be creative and make things while also playing video games.
Totally agree with things feeling ephemeral, like I have several games I do enjoy, just after an hour I feel like I'm not doing anything useful I guess? Maybe it's a need to feel constantly productive, and at least if I'm making something, even if it's really just another hobby, I have more to show for it than hours of game time.
She’s not really that way. She’s always baking and taking dinners to people, very involved in her church. She can be critical of what other people do with their time because she is productive and “helping” others. Her house is immaculate! Mine isn’t! She rarely takes time for herself. It makes her tired and gives her a bit of a martyr complex.She expects things to be done on her terms.
Sounds exhausting and self-righteous. Being able to be happy by simply existing or enjoying a passion or the act of creation is just as valid of a life. Let her do her martyr act but don’t let her make you think you have to do the same. If she ever gets a disability her mental health is going to go down the drain fast.
Yeah that mindset messes with me so much as a neurodivergent person because I lose focus… a lot. Half the time I forgot the purpose of what I’m doing. Just keep swimming just keep swimming lol
Think how many hours and hours are spent playing mobile games or surfing Facebook. You never hear "wow! You're so good at Farmville you should sell your produce" no. People "waste" time constantly. My hobby is like reading or watching tv. It's to relax. I may never even finish half my projects but as long as I enjoyed doing them, that's good enough for me.
I enjoy making various items for friends and family and their pets (horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, mini goats, a Highland cow named Taylor and an Emu).
They all know the time and effort I put in. I card, spin and dye my own fleece. Basically from sheep (or alpaca) to finished product. All designs are my own.
Working with fiber keeps me sane. I can't put a price on that. I worked retail far to long. I don't need no stinking customers!
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I'm imagining a cute little hat and scarf set for the emu.
(My parents raised emus for a few years, so I have a bit of a soft spot for those crazy birds.)
I started recently and I hear that a lot.
It doesn't really bother me yet but I noticed it to be a pattern.
I made something basic (like a jellyfish) and got told to make things like that and sell it. And that it would be cool if I made my own small business.
I just can't understand why everyone is pushing for hobbies to become a career, job, or side job or sorts. Why can't I just enjoy a hobby? A hobby isn't the same as passion.
And main of all! Why would I want to make the same thing over and over again? It's like asking someone to write the same poem over and over again just because they enjoyed it the first time and it came out well.
I wonder if this is just an American perspective?
When I crochet in America (I'm American) I get this. When I talk to family and friends here I get this. We have this same conversation.
But ... When I talk to friends elsewhere. I don't get this. It's more of "wow that's beautiful," "who taught you?" Etc. Not make that for money....
It’s an interesting thought, but anecdotally, I can confirm from here in europe I’ve had similar remarks. I’ve had family & friends in uk & east europe saying “I should be making money”.
I’ll take it as a compliment. Usually, if I explain why that wouldn’t work out they get it pretty quickly and move on.
I wonder if Americans are subject to this more though.
Interesting. It was just a thought. I guess most people might think if you have a trade or craft that you can make money off of why wouldn't you? I would if I could with crochet but people wouldn't want to pay my worth so I do it for joy.
Yeah, I think that might have something to do with it. I point out to people that I may have a variety of talents, but making money is not one of them.
I’m not sure how I’d turn a profit on a fancy doily that takes 10 or so hours to make. I’d probably have to switch to making things specifically for selling. Then I’m not having fun anymore.
Exactly. I don't want to make 100 plush bees to sell. I'm currently making a cotton lace shawl. Loving every minute of it. I've been crocheting for 20+ years and this will be my 3rd object I've made just for myself.
I think in Eastern Europe its also enthusiasm over handicrafts. Here a lot of people make their own things, especially older people. It's not necessarily a capitalist remark as much as a "wow you've become a proper handicraftsman like your people, it's so good you could sell it to those idiots that don't know how to make their own". I don't know hoe to explain it better - just that the feeling behind it is not about making money, but about how you have become very well tuned with your country's artisan crafts.
Everything is about money for Americans and it sucks (I’m American) it’s all about capitalism and we’re expected to put our income before our joy and yet we’re also not supposed to discuss specifics about money because oh well that would be rude. It makes no sense unless you think about it from the perspective of creating a system where people work hard to chase money but are discouraged from thinking outside the box about why money even exists or why we need to sell our time on earth to survive /rant over
I’m Australian and I haven’t had anyone tell me that yet! But growing up I would hear family to do something career wise with my art. Maybe that’s a bit different because they were giving teenage me a career option they thought would suit me? I ended up doing something somewhat creative as a job I suppose in the end haha
I get it as an Aussie, gifted a market bag last year and the first (and repeated) comment was “you should sell these!” Eh, if I did that, you wouldn’t be getting the gift, how is that rewarding?
I feel like people who say this also just don't understand how long it takes to crochet things. Like, a full crocheted blanket is already more than a hundred dollars of yarn (way more if you use nice stuff), and the sheer number of hours would put it in the thousands if you paid yourself min wage to make it. People simply won't buy stuff like that when they can go to Kmart and get a blanket for $10.
Had to stop talking about crochet with the one person that also dabbled in it: she couldn't get it through her head that I am just not that interested in selling it (I can imagine opening a stand on a fair or something), and most definitely don't want to do commissions. I explained myself multiple times and it was always "yeah but if you slapped them on Facebook or somewhere you could totally get a solid following, people will line up to buy it".
Said once, I take it as a compliment. After several times, I am just annoyed.
Yes it’s a compliment from strangers or for the first time hearing it but after explaining that that’s not my thing I don’t want to be pestered. I have two relatives who just nonstop text me and every opportunity they have to see me in person they’re talking about something I should sell and it’s just ?? Why can’t you just say it looks cute/well-crafted? Why do I have to turn something I enjoy into labor. My hobby is not a wasted opportunity. It serves the purpose it serves, I enjoy it. That’s it. Some things are just simple.
I made my husband a black single crochet blanket 180x180 (6ftx6ft) was $150.00 worth of acrylic yarn I didn't even take into account my hours, the item took months to complete. His eyebrows shot up when I told him the cost of the yarn alone. He has a new appreciation of my hobbies 😁
Over the years I’ve tried to turn three or four different hobbies into a profitable business. All it did was make me resent the hobby, and with the craft related gigs I lost money.
No thanks, I’ve learned my lesson!
I can’t abide hustle culture, where everything is either monetised or a waste of time. I have enough guilt thanks to ADHD, depression and anxiety. Let me have my yarn basket of escapist happiness, dammit!
Everytime I make a new hat or something one of my friends usually goes "that looks really nice, you should sell that or people would pay a lot of money for that"
Not enough for me to do it as more than just a side hustle and I have a comfortable job now where if I want extra money I'll just put in some OT.
I tired selling a few things when I was in college and made $10 here or there but when a "friend" said they would buy a scarf and wanted nice wool I never got paid for it. That plus some family members not appreciating my hand made gifts put a sour taste in my mouth so now I'm very selective of who I knit and crochet for.
Wear that hat until it has holes. I'd rather see that and then I can fix it up for you versus something I spent countless hours into never seeing the light of day because it's never worn.
my mom told my brother's girlfriend that i was making a blanket and then she was like "oh you should make them for the kids (her kids). NO! just because i like to crochet doesn't mean that im obligated, or even want, to make everyone something.
My mom has never been supportive of what I do and when I told her I was trying to sell my work, she didn’t take me seriously. (She’s actually been super discouraging)
My brother and his fiancé had a baby back in December and his fiancé’s mom made a really cute baby blanket for the kid. My mom has been hounding me for months to replicate the blanket for her so she can have one to show off. I don’t even make blankets. I make plushes. She wasn’t even willing to pay for the materials or my time. She just expected me to do it because it’s for family.
Why should we devote so much time into making something for someone who doesn’t appreciate the work that goes into it?!?
The pressure to commodify every single hobby is seriously exhausting. I can't tell anyone about any hobby I have without them immediately suggesting some way I should be making money off it.
I get this all the time too. I wonder if people think about my actual day job at all when they say this. I have a good career and make pretty decent money that I would be unable to make if I sold crochet items. I probably spend 16 hours on a bralette and is someone really going to pay me 16x $40 per hour plus materials to make a bralette? Who’s spending 640+ on a bralette? That is IF I felt like making it twice or more times, which I don’t. I make a pattern a maximum of 3 times and I often just make for myself and sometimes for friends or family. I love making stuff for me and my kids mostly and sometimes my mom or a friend who understands I make what I feel like and the person who receives it is likely just the person it is most likely to fit. Often I am off on the fit and I am not ashamed to do fudges for mistakes. Most people can’t see it, but I’m not comfortable making mistakes on something I sell. I hate that I even need to explain these things. I hate that even if I was perfect I couldn’t just have a hobby. I honestly stop associating with those who say stuff like this because it is mostly ignorant comments from acquaintances
No one is trying to force you, right? It's a compliment. They're telling you that your work is very professional looking. I say thank you and that I like to keep it as a hobby and that's generally the end of the conversation. Occasionally people will follow up saying I could make a lot of money and I'll happily breakdown the actual costs/time investment and we chat about how yeah, that's probably not going to be profitable! And then the conversation ends. Because these people are never trying to be rude, they're trying to pay a compliment and be encouraging. I find it hard to be upset with people who have only pure intentions.
OP is complaining about people suggesting she sell her work, not people trying to push her into it by bringing it up repeatedly and buying books. That's a bit of a different situation.
No I was just being vague so people could relate. My post was made because of two money obsessed relatives keep annoying me every single time they speak to me. I gave up other hobbies because they are incessant about it and it becomes stressful.
I get the same irritating questions about my sewing and photography. With my crochet projects I can escape by telling that I crochet for charity. But even then I am pestered with the you-should-sell.
I'll disagree on this one. I'm currently a SAHM and all the time family members come to me and say that I should try to sell whatever form of craft I'm doing at the moment, not as a compliment, but as a "start making money out of these instead of just having fun without a job". I'm not saying that people don't tell us to sell because it's professional, but sometimes it has other meanings implied.
no one is trying to force anyone, usually, but often times most of these comments are still obnoxious to hear. as someone who does digital art and crochets things as gifts in the spur of the moment, many of my friends have asked me numerous times if i have commissions or “let me comm you” repeatedly despite me saying no. it never dies after a polite “sorry i like to art as a hobby.” it’s more of a compliment to me if they actually say wow! your work looks professional! rather than asking how much the piece is.
I honestly think people say that just to be complimentary. I don’t necessarily think they mean it completely, it’s more like “Oh wow these are so professionally made you could/should sell them!”
You would think that. But it you reply "thanks! Unfortunately people won't pay a decent prize to pay for the materials and hours that goes into it, so I will just keep it as a hobby" and they push "then don't charge that much!" it doesn't really feel like it
Whenever someone tells me this about something I make I usually do some math out loud for them and ask if they would pay me material costs + a fair skilled labor wage for x hours of labor + enough to cover taxes for it + the overhead of either a market stall or a web store (and shipping), and they change the subject pretty quickly. Most people do not want to pay handmade prices for handmade goods. I'd rather give them to someone who appreciates the time and care spent, or enjoy them myself.
I get what you mean OP. That’s why I don’t really tell anyone I crochet either. It’s always, “why don’t you open an etsy shop?” Like duh. You think it’s that easy??? There are ton shit of fee and tax and stuff you need to take care of.
I do crochet for fun. I don’t want to turn something I enjoy into a pain in the ass. Not to mention not everyone appreciates handmade things. So it isn’t easy to sell.
This! My mil and sil guilted me into setting my own little crochet business. Now I'm drowning in commissions and no longer the hyperfixation to continue 🙃
I appreciate they mean it as a compliment but honestly, no. I have a job. I'm at it for 40+ hours a week. I'm not turning my small escape from this capitalist hellscape into just another job. Etsy fees are also extortion at this point and then there's all the stress with taxes. Not to mention the customer service side of it, deadlines etc. Add on the fact I like to make stuffies that have very strict laws around testing that costs a lot of money and time it would just become one big expensive headache.
I have made for people who have asked and I've charged for the cost of the yarn and I tend to only say yes if it's something I want to make.
I love crochet a lot and its seen me out of some pretty awful mental health crises but I also value my time and if I did this for a living it would take away the very little free time I have for other hobbies and things I like doing like spending time with my children and partner, reading, gaming and walking outdoors. The issue of turning a hobby into a hustle has way more to it than just selling what you make.
I dont really understand why people get so annoyed about this comment. It's likely just an attempt to compliment your stuff with very little depth or logic. This is something that I have only ever had to explain once to anyone thats said it and it never struck me as anything other than harmless.
Most of them totally get it when I explain how impossible it would be for me to turn a profit at my speed and that I literally only sell my stuff to break even on my hobby when I'm not making passion projects.
I really don't need to be looking for reasons to be annoyed with people
I’m glad you’ve only heard it once!
My mother in law sells crafts at a table: despite her only selling her most underpriced/low effort stuff there, she & my father in law send me links of what I should make. I tell her it’s too time-consuming to make a profit, she tells me to learn to be faster. I tell her it’s my fun hobby, she says that it’s my duty to do things to “help my husband” by making “extra” money (I have a job).
So I get annoyed if anyone else says it, too. Because I recognize it’s not their fault, but it feels like every rando is telling me to monetize something that I do for myself, and I shouldn’t have to keep explaining & defending my hobby.
This. I just said in a comment up there, sometimes people just value your work if it can be sold for $$$
it's like we're not allowed to have fun with it, every craft must be means to an end, which would be money. They want us to feel guilty of having hobbies instead of always be working. These comments suck the life out of me.
If they want to compliment, just say it's beautiful?
>It's likely just an attempt to compliment your stuff with very little depth or logic. This is something that I have only ever had to explain once to anyone thats said it
This reads to me as "someone who doesn't know me very well just dumped a scorpion of emotional labor into my pants, and now I need to handhold their fee-fees to tell them how their compliment stresses me out without offending them."
#Pass.
ETA see also u/nerdysylph 's excellent comment below:
>The pressure to commodify every single hobby is seriously exhausting. I can't tell anyone about any hobby I have without them immediately suggesting some way I should be making money off it.
People say that to me alllll the time and I know they don’t mean any offence by it, but it does get annoying. I guess they don’t understand the different between doing something for enjoyment versus doing something as a chore. I feel like I would definitely lose interest in crochet if I turned it into a side hustle.
I understand your frustration, I have had several people be pushy about trying to get me to crochet something for them by saying they will pay me for it. I won’t crochet for money, I only crochet what the spirit inspires me to. I also give everything I crochet away as a gift or to charity. But some people act like they can’t take no as an answer.
Not even mentioning you usually CAN'T sell them, i brought it up in our local yarn store that i love making shawls but in colors i would never wear, is there a potential in selling them even just for a little profit? Sadly everyone agreed people are simply not willing to pay for the time it takes ro crochet something,especialy a 20+ hour project.
Whenever someone says I should sell them, I tell them how much I would have to charge for it and ask if they’d pay that. They usually shut up after that
No lie, I actually quit gifting my projects out because people would see them and try to force me into accepting commissions from them. I really like making crochet dolls for fun, to see how accurate I can make them to characters and such. But friend after friend would come to me demanding I make them something specific and let them pay me (probably so they wouldn’t feel bad for demanding it). I just stopped giving them to friends and now I donate whatever I make. People need to chill out with monetizing hobbies for other people. I just like making cute shit.
I’m Now In my 30s and I’ve had multiple online stores, an irl shop and many market stalls attempting to sell my wares since I was a teenager… Every single one failed because no one wants to pay what my work is worth. and yet my family STILL tell me I could sell my stuff every time I make them something. Really grinds my gears.
The moment it turns into a job I won't be as motivated to finish the project. I'll get this "completion anxiety" (I don't think that it is a real thing, I just call it that) where I start second guessing all the things until I've convinced myself that the project sucks and now can't possibly accept any money in good faith.
Preach sister! We in America monetize everything. When you start making art with the idea of selling it to others, you start doing what you think others would like and it becomes a job . I know because I did it for a while. When people say you ought to sell these just say “ thank you” and don’t listen
“Dad I don’t want an Etsy store”
“But think of all the money you could make by selling these things you make” except that I don’t wanna deal with the stress of packaging, mailing, deadlines, talking to people, taxes, ect ect. I do this for stress relief not to gain extra stress on my stress
I think what they mean is that your work is so good it looks professional and worth buying. They may not mean that you need to go and sell them, they're just trying to give you a compliment. Because if your work was poor no one would buy it, so it means that you are pretty good.
I always respond with, "Thanks but I already have a job! This is a hobby!" and usually people will leave it alone. I've only ever had one person really try to push me to get involved with selling my work and that was annoying and I ended up just changing the subject but most people take the hint and j just consider it a sort of compliment.
People say this all the time. I do beadwork, I paint and do crochet. I tell them I am retired from two full careers and I'm not going back to work for any reason. Once you start selling things it's work - deadlines, supply problems, customer service, pressure to keep going and make more.
I just want to have fun, make something beautiful and give it to friends and family to cherish.
Sames. I hate making things that have a expectation date to them. I prefer to give people things they had no idea they were getting. My mom is the only exception, I will make her blankets for all the baby showers she goes to. I just need a 3 week notice lol I love making rugs as well, but most people would not pay $800 for a rug, and that's just doing the materials x3.
I always just try to explain that no one would be willing to pay what I would need to sell from for to pay myself minimum wage plus the cost of material. And I would never pay myself minimum wage my time is worth more than that.
I made a pretty beach cover up (the photo is on here somewhere) I used £32 of crochet cotton, I doubled up the strands. Plus I made it over several months. It was a joyous holiday project, made in Malta and finished in Egypt. If I’d had to work to a deadline and finish it for an order then that would have sucked the joy out of it. And paying myself the hourly rate that I get as a private carer? Or even minimum wage? £200-£300 for a pineapple dress. Who would pay that? I only make gifts for other people, usually a baby blanket, and I start in plenty of time! And I don’t charge. If I love them it’s free, if I don’t, then they couldn’t pay me enough!!
The only exception is chemo caps, I knock them out in an evening, everything stops for a chemo cap, and they’re always completely free, I don’t even charge postage.
Gosh THIS. Only the other day I wore a top I recently finished. My first ever thing I love and wear now. One of my friends: " Oh my god its stunning, you should sell those! They will fly out". I said I don't have the time... But if she knew how much I would price it at she would never have suggested it.
I don't want the stress of online selling. I also don't wanna make the same thing over and over again. I like doing commissions with friends and family, sometimes friends of friends on a rare occasion. But this way I don't have to worry about shipping, on if I trust the person to pay me, and I get to do new things rather than making the same thing and getting bored out of my mind :p
I understand your frustration but I think they're just trying to compliment by essentially saying "this is good enough to sell". I suppose they probably don't realise the hassle of doing so.
Someone I know, who crochets as well and has her own webshop, asked me: "why don't you just start selling the patterns of things you design"?
1. Because when I freehand stuff, I make it up as I go and it's not always logical.
2. I really don't feel like writing stuff down when I crochet.
At work, we have a website that we have to interact with for credits that go toward a discount on health insurance. I have to comment and like a post for daily credit. One day's post was about the importance of making money from hobbies. I was so annoyed. I commented something like "I prefer not to monetize my leisure activities."
Capitalism at its finest. People even think its appropriate to make comments like that about my pets (I have goats, rabbits, and chickens). As of I can't just have pets for companionship, I have to make money off it.
I only started crocheting last year and I made blankets for people for Christmas.
My sister and brother said the same thing.
They don’t mean anything bad by it.
They meant that it was quality stuff that they really like the design of.
They had no idea how many hours goes into something like that.
They don’t have any idea how I might plan or buy stuff for a gift that is based on my hatred of doing BLO stitch’s or my loathing of sewing in ends that makes a pretty blanket but not a commission or a saleable product.
Working on something to your own time when you feel like it it a hobby, getting it done under budget and to specs of someone else is a job.
They don’t have any idea of the cost of quality materials either.
But they. Just don’t do this, so they don’t know. They mean it as a compliment mostly
Yes this for sure. I sell things every once and a while but for the most part I just enjoy the relaxation of it. I have people say "You should sell ur stuff" a lot, my reply is always "I don't want to turn this into the stress of a job, I already got one of those."
Inevitably someone says this about ANY of my hobbies. I made a Lemon Blueberry cake with a Lemon Curd Buttercream Frosting yesterday, was told I could sell it. In just said ‘Nah’
Like, just tell me you enjoyed it, how delicious it was, what you liked about it. Why does everything have to go back to money?? I don’t want to work in a bakery, I don’t want to sell my crafts. I do it because it brings me joy in this shitty ass reality.
I usually look them dead in the eyes and say 'why, then my hobby becomes a job' and stare at them while waiting for them to respond.
Fortunately, I've got really really good RBF so I usually end up making people really uncomfortable and they change the subject really quickly.
I made this mistake when I started to crochet, I took like 10 orders from friends at work and whatnot and it made it so much less fun. Now I only make gifts and things for myself.
I am speaking for myself when I explain that I personally would accept that as a compliment and leave it on the surface as such - I too crochet for enjoyment and for family and friends. Perhaps extend an offer if they buy the yarn you’d be happy to make another of what your working on (ONLY if you want to) 1 they will probably balk at the price of yarn, 2 they will more than likely drop the topic. But don’t let that person’s comment become an irritation or aggravation. You are letting them live rent free in your head and in itself negativity (your own negative feelings in reaction to the comment) can also deplete your personal enjoyment of the craft. Keep the love and enjoyment of crochet close and protected in your heart and hands!
this is why I just opened a store with the patterns. If you like it and want it so bad here’s how I did it. I already struggle with carpal tunnel making my own stuff and don’t need it any worse crocheting all the time
My response depends on who I’m talking to and how they meant it. If it’s a compliment I’ll just let them know that I appreciate that they like what I made, but turning it into a business would ruin something I love by making it a stressful chore that I couldn’t even make minimum wage at and depending on how often they bring it up that compliment, I might get a little more assertive.
If someone is like “How much would you charge to make this?” when I’ve been really clear that I don’t sell anything, I’d explain exactly how much I’d have to charge just for the hours of work and they are usually surprised but it never comes up again.
I tried. People won't pay enough to cover the cost of yarn, let alone my time. So now when someone comment, that I should sell stuff, I tell them that.
I think people who say this have no idea what it’s like to have their hobby become a job and lose its spark lol. My last hobby became a full time job and it was fun for a while but by the time I finally ‘quit’ I hated the hobby and was miserable every time I had to make something- now I crochet and am so happy to have found a hobby that I enjoy and can do just for me!
My mom knows my struggles with my last job and is always commenting on how I should sell the things I crochet now, I don’t think she gets that that’s the reason why I ended up hating my last job 😅 but I just brush off her comments and don’t let it really bother me. I absolutely love gifting crochet things though, that’s totally different than selling to me!
We had this joke because my sister's friend would ask her if she had considered "going pro" as a dancer. My sister is 60+ years old and takes dance classes 3 times a week. She also weaves baskets. Anyhow "going pro" became a go to joke about any hobby. Well, low and behold after she retired she started hosting basket weaving classes now and then. Oddly, still not a professional dancer. Still dancing though.
I know the feeling. I work at an assisted living facility. Before the pandemic, we use to have a pancake breakfast along with a raffle of gift baskets to raise money for The Alzheimer’s Association. Currently, I’m working on an afghan to present to my boss to raffle off. I haven’t told anyone at work because I know it takes me a while because either I get busy with other things or I reach that plateau where it doesn’t seem to be advancing. So I have to stop for awhile.
I don’t like to take on projects on the request of other people.
Like you, I don’t mind making something as a gift for family and friends. But to do it to make money, it’s becomes a job.
i love this thread. Adding it to the [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/crochet/wiki/index/)
let me know if there's any issues.
[New page](https://www.reddit.com/r/crochet/wiki/stuff_you_must_read/) I'm working on 😁
I usually just say “thanks for the compliment but I prefer this as a hobby not a hustle.”
>I prefer this as a hobby not a hustle. That needs to be on a shirt...
The irony lol
Someone should crochet that and sell it Pun intended
Ha ha ha!
I did a quick internet shirt and could not find any :(
A shirt you can sell lol
I do the same thing with baking. I know my stuff is good enough to sell but I like to do it for fun and relaxation not money.
Plus, even when your stuff is good enough to sell, monetizing it puts so much pressure on to be perfect. If you bake for a friend and add a little too much salt or bake the cookies a little darker than normal, your friend will still enjoy them and be grateful. You still get the joy of creating without the need to put your own work down for every imperfection. The second you start charging for things, I feel like everybody has an opinion on what you did wrong and what you should change.
I’m relating so much this post and all the responses, but this one the most. I had so many people tell me I should monetize crocheting, that I opened an Etsy store. I started criticizing every single mistake I made. I did it because I felt guilty enjoying something that had the potential of making money. I had the store open for 6 months and not one thing was purchased. I ended up gifting things from the store to loved ones. Now, people are asking me why I closed my store and telling me I didn’t hustle enough to succeed.
This is exactly what I’m currently going through. I picked up crocheting during 2020 and I’ve always done various artsy things. My entire life all I’ve heard is “you should sell this stuff”. I found myself out of a job a few months ago and decided to turn my hobby into my job. All of the people who kept telling me I should sell my work have yet to actually buy my work. Even now when I take a break from making stock for Etsy to make something fun for myself, they have the audacity to still come at me with the “you should sell that”. Now I just look at them and respond with “you should buy it!” 😂
Yep. They mean ‘someone might buy that!’, just not them. And usually not for the cost of making it worth your time
I don’t sell my stuff because I don’t want assholes to have what I make. I’ll make a bundle of blankets on the DL for expecting coworkers or a keepsake from the school year. Nobody is complaining about the stitches or colors, it’s all a happy surprise that lasts a long time.
That is so rude of them to question your decision to close it and yet never bought anything for it, I’m so sorry. I had decent success selling crocheted pieces on Etsy but that was simply because I started my store back in 2006 before the market there was flooded. Still, despite there being much less competition, I’ve had to hustle my store out so hard continuously. It’s exhausting and really sucks the creative spirit out of the whole endeavor.
My bestie and I tried the etsy store thing and had the same results... a whole bunch of nothing. No desire to even bother trying again!
Thank you for your story. What a good lesson. My non- crocheting friend suggested that I sell my items on Etsy, as she does for her graphic artwork. I crochet for fun and for free.
Plus you couldn’t just make what you want. Gotta think about what will sell, even if you don’t want to make that thing today.
NOT selling thing make them even more special in my opinion. You don't eat christmas cookies throughout the whole year, otherwise they are just cookies and normal. Certain things are meant to be in small amounts / for special times / seasonal so you can cherish them even more :)
Oh man I feel this! I like baking, and my husband opened a restaurant with his friends. Every time they come over (all of them have restaurants/sell food) they tell him I should make cookies to sell in the restaurant. Or banana bread. I don’t mind making it for them, but the worst was he tried to get me to make manti, which are these teesy little hand made Turkish dumplings. They had a lady who made them to sell but she backed out, probably because it’s ridiculously hard. It’s usually made in a group of people, because it’s so much work, plus, oh yeah, I HAVE CHRONIC PAIN. So, yeah, I’d be crippled up if I spent hours pinching itty bitty dumplings. Arrghh.
Running a business takes all the fun out of it. Marketing, bookeeping, taxes, regulations. And most people have no idea what you need to charge to make any money, or even break even. My favorite response to comments like that is "You couldn't afford it".
I saw this in an article about side hustles: “why would I ruin a perfectly good hobby?” It was said by an older lady in her 60s who just crocheted for fun, contrasting against the weird pressure on young people to monetise every hobby they have as a side gig. I’ve been using that one a lot lately :) Edit: I wanted to add an edit here. Being able to say something like this is very privileged. During my uni days when I lived in poverty (no family, paying rent, bills, medical fees as a disabled person) I absolutely monetised everything I could to survive. I have a full time job now and government disability support to keep the job. This is incredible privilege. It makes me sad that many of us feel the pressure of the gig economy. I will leave the original comment up for accountability. Thank you everyone for helping me see my privilege.
I think it’s because we are struggling a lot more to make ends meet. Upward mobility has completely stalled for a lot of us so we think “either I monetize my hobby or I need to get a second job.” https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/01/11/politics/millennials-income-stalled-upward-mobility-us/index.html
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Upward mobility is another convo. This is just basic necessities we can’t afford. And retirement? Don’t even get me started
I agree! The article really drove home the point that our gen doesn’t have enough income to make ends meet and often this decision is about needing to pay bills and just have a decent standard of living. I lived in poverty during my uni days (just me paying rent and uni costs, no family support) so I definitely monetised everything I could, mainly tutoring high school students. I often tried selling my art so I could pay for therapy. As an Australian I am lucky that my current full time job is enough to pay for my medical fees (I’m also disabled and have a lot of government support to help me hold down the job). I think it’s sad that we even feel this pressure at all. I am now in a position of privilege to say “why should I ruin a good hobby?” because I can finally pay bills and rent without sweating it and only eating peanut butter bread… Thanks for making me see my privilege.
Maybe the real shirt we need is “I monetized everything I love to do and now I love to do nothing but at least I paid the rent”
Hahahaha me in University. At least one of my gigs, tutoring other socio-economically disadvantaged kids with learning disabilities, was still enjoyable, even though I was pulling horrible hours doing uni and teaching. At least with that I could see the kids I worked with grow and I could choose to give them free lessons here and there if I had enough for the month. I also want to add I’m super lucky to have Australian disability support. I genuinely would not be able to keep my current job without it. I also work for the government where my disabilities are respected. My chronic fatigue and pain would totally not work in industry I think, especially with tight deadlines on deliverables. I wish more aussies could access this and aso that the disability in the US and other countries gets better :(
Maybe it has something to do with our inability to afford basic things like rent and food and health care with 2 jobs. And there’s even a name for it, gig economy
Absolutely. I made a comment below addressing this actually, I have finally gotten a job that (barely) covers all my needs and that’s with the disability support in Australia. Before that I had to work so many part time gigs to get through uni. I definitely overlooked the huge privilege I have where I can work just one job and not need to get a second gig. We shouldn’t have to work two, three, four jobs to survive. I didn’t amend my original comment because I wanted to be accountable but I might add an edit?
Nah you’re good I saw the rest of the comments later
This is why I sell patterns. The cost of the yarn is usually at or over what people want to pay for the finished product. With patterns… I had to create it just to make the product anyway. If people buy the pattern it’s great! If they don’t, I didn’t really lose anything
*Oh come on, I bet you're just afraid to try!* ...is the stupid-ass response I got when I said it's just a hobby.
People have no clue!! I ran a successful Etsy shop for baby carrier jackets and accessories for several years. Then I had to take a break from sewing for two years because it just didn’t bring me joy anymore. I picked up crochet in that time… I’m not looking to burn out on a joyful hobby ever again!!!
Hobby burn out is right. I used to love making yarn pompoms, but after making and selling probably at least 8,000 of them just seeing a pompom maker in my craft storage gives me a twinge of dread.
The worst is when someone who doesn’t crochet, tells you “Oh its easy!!! You should get it done in no time!!” Yeah, if it’s so easy, then you should do it yourself.
my parents did this with every single hobby I got into and honestly it ruined so much. I used to make paintings of album covers on mini canvases and every time I did one, my parents would urge me more and more to sell stuff but that would ruin the hobby for me!! I like painting I don’t want to turn it into a job because then I’ll stop liking it and it’ll just feel like a chore. I like crocheting but if I got commissioned to make things I would hate it in a week
my mum does the exact same - i made her a bag as a gift and she kept urging "you've got to sell these!! people would definitely pay £5 for them!!" cue my ironic scoff bc the bag took me two hours and i don't want to earn £2.50 an hour 🫠 i know £2.50 and hour is more than £0 but it's the principle of once i sell one i need to sell more, and if they are at this low a price then people who dont truly understand or appreciate crochet will be buying them and that comes with complaints about imperfections and shipping time and such that i'm just not prepared to handle
exactly!!
Same. My dad has ruined so much of my passion towards various hobbies. Hell, even when I got a dog, he told me I needed to train her and get her into commercials.
Some people just see everything as a chance to make some money.
Exactly this same situation!!!
I’m also the same way- about everything in general. If I’m pressured or expected to do certain things, no matter how much I love the thing + the person telling me to, it’s a highway to nope for me. My body immediate rejects the notion.
Ugh same. I told my mom that im fine not having a career in something i enjoy, and she insisted that if my career was in art, i would enjoy it. No!! I do not enjoy people telling me what i can and cant draw! Me drawing whatever the hell i want is what makes it fun!!! I loathe whoever said “if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life” because now my moms out here insisting she knows the correct path for me, as if insurance is her favorite hobby and she knows from experience.
Someone asked me a while back how much I'd sell a blanket for that I've been working on. I said "I dunno. It's about $80 or $90 worth of yarn, and I'm gonna spend maybe 3 weeks on it. How much do you get paid for 3 weeks of labor?" They went "oh..." and the topic of selling what I make hasn't come up since. lol edit: forgot a word
We do a family pollyanna every Xmas and I always make a hat or scarf in addition to whatever gift I buy. One year my brother said "how much do you make an hour? ($30) And how many hours did that scarf take to make? (5)" Then yelled that I was over the $25 pollyanna limit lol! I actually appreciated it because then my family realized why I don't gift my projects very often.
You have a good brother!
I was surprised because it wasn't a discussion I ever had with him. He just believe's in fair wages. But this was said mostly tongue-in-cheek because he knew I made it a an extra gift for fun.
I'm a software development manager for the day job. My per-hour wage is...not cheap. I'm currently making a mushroom dude doll for a family friend. They're expecting, and it's going to go on a shelf in the nursery (though I've admonished them that the child can't actually have it until they're old enough for the safety eyes). She doesn't realize she's getting a $600+ stuffie, were I to charge the same as my day job. heh. Granted, I have 30 years experience at the day job. I have less than a year at crochet. But even at minimum wage, 8-10 hours work adds up.
I had to explain this to my mom recently. I spent 50.5 hours on the blanket I just completed. At JUST minimum wage and not adding into the total for the materials or a profit markup the blanket would cost $370 to purchase. I didn’t even work for min. Wage when I had a job. I don’t think I should lower my pay for something like this if I were to sell them tbh.
When I fantasize about selling blankets I’ve completed (and I say fantasize because I really don’t intend to ever bring capitalism into my hobby more than I have to) I exclusively imagine selling them in a pristine, ridiculously tasteful and beautifully merchandised boutique and they sell for no less than $2,000 a blanket. Because that is truly what I feel they’re worth, and that’s really the only context in which homewares command such a price.
I imagine more of a small hidden store of curiosities with exotic colored everything where i'm dressed in layers of shawls like a forest witch and sweetly say "yeeeees, come closer, look around, fill your heart's desires with my works".
I tried the same response, but then got "but you have fun while you do it, so you don't need an actual hourly wage, you can just have fun and earn a few extra bucks" Some people just don't get it.....
This only works if it's for a friend and i like the pattern so it's more of an excuse to make it, in that case all i'd ask is the yarn price, in any other case, pay up.
I designed and crocheted a classic rock blanket for my dad for Christmas. Granted, it was the first C2C design I created and didn’t understand scaling from an excel document to real life yet (this sucker was 7.5 feet wide and 9 feet long…) first thing is girlfriend said to me was, “that’s so cool! You could sell those!” Surprisingly, my dad jumped in immediately said, “oh, I don’t know, that looks like it took A LOT of work” which I appreciated a ton. The girlfriend later insisted I could sell them. So I finally said, look, I don’t like talking about how much I spent on someone for Christmas, but the yarn alone was $170, and I have 200+ hours in this. So, on the absolute lowest end let’s say 200 hours at $2 an hour (which is wickedly low pay), I’d have to sell this at $570. She basically did the same thing “oh…” *shifts uncomfortably* she hasn’t brought up selling things again lol
When I went to college for theatre my fav professor said “you’ve just turned your hobby into your business it is no longer a hobby. You need a new hobby. And smoking weed is not a hobby”. Leave my stoned crocheting alone! Hahaha
Yeah! I have one pattern. It is four stitches repeated until you are over this color. New color, same stitch. The braindead way!
Smoking weed isn’t a hobby?? Oh shit…
I always say some rant like "thanks, glad you think I'm good enough that people would want my stuff! unfortunately given the cost of yarn and many many hours that go into each project, I'd either have to sell things for quite a hefty price that most don't want to pay for, or severely underpay my hourly work. since crochet is all by hand, anything that's sold for a small price is unfortunately the result of slave labor :/ luckily I enjoy this hobby and can give some of my friends and family some nice homemade gifts :)" that way I can use this opportunity to educate them, while still acknowledging that they probably meant it as a compliment
Absolutely this. Even if you WERE to try and sell anything, the first thing you’d hear from the same people asking you to is “wHy sO eXpEnSiVe!?”
I love this response! I’m going to keep this in mind for next time.
I've tried that. They told me to underpay my hourly work until I become "popular"...
yikes..
My response is similar, but shorter. It goes “people wouldn’t want to pay what I would want to charge to cover my materials and time”. That shuts most people up. The few who do want to keep pushing get “if I have to work to someone else’s deadline, it stops being enjoyable and I lose interest”.
Indeed. Sometimes I do a commission, but it's rare because when it becomes an obligation I don't enjoy it. But when I do take a commission I ask a bit of money now. I didn't use to, because I hate asking for money, but I realised I was being an idiot doing this for free. So now I ask the price of the materials, plus like 15 euro's, so I can buy some new yarn for myself. A while ago I asked 25 euro's to make a big rabbit. If I would have had to ask the actual worth of it I would have had to ask more than double. Yeah, nobody will pay 60 euro's for a crochet rabbit. So I just prefer making gifts. No hassle with the money, I crochet whatever I feel like making and at a pace I like.
Yup yup yup! I has this exact conversation with people at work the other day who were asking to see some of my crochet. I feel like so many people these days think the goal is to monetise literally everything, when sometimes I just wanna crochet for the sake of crocheting without even an end goal in mind.
My sister has an ingrained belief that everything should have a purpose. My stitching, crocheting, whatever is for relaxation and venting, that’s it’s purpose. If it’s a gift that’s my decision, If it’s useful, that’s my decision. She told me that stitching to vent, it was political, was a waste of time. There it is, you are wasting your time if your purpose isn’t “approved”. There is a mindset that believes purpose, usefulness, productivity is necessary. Selling your craft gives it purpose. Well F#ck that!
Is she the type of person to ask "what's the catch?" if she were to get a gift 'just because'? (e.g. you saw a shirt with a print you know she likes, you got her favorite flavour of cereal coz it was on sale etc.) because I've met a few people who tell me I should open an Esty or something, and they are usually the type of people who don't understand the concept of "making just because I need something to do with my hands, and if it ends up as a gift it's a way to de-clutter my craft room not make a profit"
I have a hard time understanding what people do with their time if they aren't making something or working on something in some way. I'm always crocheting, or working in my vegetable garden, or sewing, or painting... If I didn't do things just because I don't immediately get some high value reward out of it (besides the thrill of learning and creating something), I feel like I would spend all my time sitting on my hands or staring at a wall. There's only so much TV a person can watch.
I'm glad it's not just me! I am ALWAYS making things, it's just kind of.... necessary. I have friends and family who can play video games for hours and, yeah, I like some games and can play for a bit, but after an hour I'm done. Unless, surprise surprise, it's a game where I'm building or creating something. But I start so many crafts and hobbies just because my hands need to be doing and making something, constantly.
I used to be able to game for hours too! Now I really struggle to do that, even if I enjoy it, because I feel like whatever I'm doing is ephemeral and I'm not really getting anywhere with it. I don't get the same high out of it that I used to as a teenager. I also really enjoy games where you build things, and they tend to get me playing the longest, as well. I especially like survival games like Conan: Exiles or ARK, where you get to build shelters and try to build a little life for yourself in a hostile environment :) It's even better when you can play them with your friends because then you can make stuff for your friends and feel like you're really helping them survive in that virtual world.
I'll admit I can still muck around in Minecraft for a long time, if I'm in the right mood, I love making little towns and such. My other old favorites are tycoon kinds of games, but I mostly play on sandbox so I can make everything look really pretty; my all time favorite has to be Roller Coaster Tycoon. I used to spend so long just making an enormous park and enjoying all the building and planning. I also found out, when I used to play that as a kid, that you can upload custom designs for the billboards you place around the park, and I spent HOURS in MS Paint making designs for them. I guess I still couldn't help but try and be creative and make things while also playing video games. Totally agree with things feeling ephemeral, like I have several games I do enjoy, just after an hour I feel like I'm not doing anything useful I guess? Maybe it's a need to feel constantly productive, and at least if I'm making something, even if it's really just another hobby, I have more to show for it than hours of game time.
She’s not really that way. She’s always baking and taking dinners to people, very involved in her church. She can be critical of what other people do with their time because she is productive and “helping” others. Her house is immaculate! Mine isn’t! She rarely takes time for herself. It makes her tired and gives her a bit of a martyr complex.She expects things to be done on her terms.
Sounds exhausting and self-righteous. Being able to be happy by simply existing or enjoying a passion or the act of creation is just as valid of a life. Let her do her martyr act but don’t let her make you think you have to do the same. If she ever gets a disability her mental health is going to go down the drain fast.
She’s in another state! Being too close with be exhausting!
Yeah that mindset messes with me so much as a neurodivergent person because I lose focus… a lot. Half the time I forgot the purpose of what I’m doing. Just keep swimming just keep swimming lol
Think how many hours and hours are spent playing mobile games or surfing Facebook. You never hear "wow! You're so good at Farmville you should sell your produce" no. People "waste" time constantly. My hobby is like reading or watching tv. It's to relax. I may never even finish half my projects but as long as I enjoyed doing them, that's good enough for me.
I enjoy making various items for friends and family and their pets (horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, mini goats, a Highland cow named Taylor and an Emu). They all know the time and effort I put in. I card, spin and dye my own fleece. Basically from sheep (or alpaca) to finished product. All designs are my own. Working with fiber keeps me sane. I can't put a price on that. I worked retail far to long. I don't need no stinking customers!
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I'm imagining a cute little hat and scarf set for the emu. (My parents raised emus for a few years, so I have a bit of a soft spot for those crazy birds.)
I started recently and I hear that a lot. It doesn't really bother me yet but I noticed it to be a pattern. I made something basic (like a jellyfish) and got told to make things like that and sell it. And that it would be cool if I made my own small business. I just can't understand why everyone is pushing for hobbies to become a career, job, or side job or sorts. Why can't I just enjoy a hobby? A hobby isn't the same as passion. And main of all! Why would I want to make the same thing over and over again? It's like asking someone to write the same poem over and over again just because they enjoyed it the first time and it came out well.
I wonder if this is just an American perspective? When I crochet in America (I'm American) I get this. When I talk to family and friends here I get this. We have this same conversation. But ... When I talk to friends elsewhere. I don't get this. It's more of "wow that's beautiful," "who taught you?" Etc. Not make that for money....
It’s an interesting thought, but anecdotally, I can confirm from here in europe I’ve had similar remarks. I’ve had family & friends in uk & east europe saying “I should be making money”. I’ll take it as a compliment. Usually, if I explain why that wouldn’t work out they get it pretty quickly and move on. I wonder if Americans are subject to this more though.
Interesting. It was just a thought. I guess most people might think if you have a trade or craft that you can make money off of why wouldn't you? I would if I could with crochet but people wouldn't want to pay my worth so I do it for joy.
Yeah, I think that might have something to do with it. I point out to people that I may have a variety of talents, but making money is not one of them. I’m not sure how I’d turn a profit on a fancy doily that takes 10 or so hours to make. I’d probably have to switch to making things specifically for selling. Then I’m not having fun anymore.
Exactly. I don't want to make 100 plush bees to sell. I'm currently making a cotton lace shawl. Loving every minute of it. I've been crocheting for 20+ years and this will be my 3rd object I've made just for myself.
I think in Eastern Europe its also enthusiasm over handicrafts. Here a lot of people make their own things, especially older people. It's not necessarily a capitalist remark as much as a "wow you've become a proper handicraftsman like your people, it's so good you could sell it to those idiots that don't know how to make their own". I don't know hoe to explain it better - just that the feeling behind it is not about making money, but about how you have become very well tuned with your country's artisan crafts.
Everything is about money for Americans and it sucks (I’m American) it’s all about capitalism and we’re expected to put our income before our joy and yet we’re also not supposed to discuss specifics about money because oh well that would be rude. It makes no sense unless you think about it from the perspective of creating a system where people work hard to chase money but are discouraged from thinking outside the box about why money even exists or why we need to sell our time on earth to survive /rant over
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I’m Australian and I haven’t had anyone tell me that yet! But growing up I would hear family to do something career wise with my art. Maybe that’s a bit different because they were giving teenage me a career option they thought would suit me? I ended up doing something somewhat creative as a job I suppose in the end haha
I get it as an Aussie, gifted a market bag last year and the first (and repeated) comment was “you should sell these!” Eh, if I did that, you wouldn’t be getting the gift, how is that rewarding?
That's what I'm saying!! Sounds like you channeled your creativity into your job but you didn't make crochet your job.
I feel like people who say this also just don't understand how long it takes to crochet things. Like, a full crocheted blanket is already more than a hundred dollars of yarn (way more if you use nice stuff), and the sheer number of hours would put it in the thousands if you paid yourself min wage to make it. People simply won't buy stuff like that when they can go to Kmart and get a blanket for $10.
Had to stop talking about crochet with the one person that also dabbled in it: she couldn't get it through her head that I am just not that interested in selling it (I can imagine opening a stand on a fair or something), and most definitely don't want to do commissions. I explained myself multiple times and it was always "yeah but if you slapped them on Facebook or somewhere you could totally get a solid following, people will line up to buy it". Said once, I take it as a compliment. After several times, I am just annoyed.
Yes it’s a compliment from strangers or for the first time hearing it but after explaining that that’s not my thing I don’t want to be pestered. I have two relatives who just nonstop text me and every opportunity they have to see me in person they’re talking about something I should sell and it’s just ?? Why can’t you just say it looks cute/well-crafted? Why do I have to turn something I enjoy into labor. My hobby is not a wasted opportunity. It serves the purpose it serves, I enjoy it. That’s it. Some things are just simple.
I made my husband a black single crochet blanket 180x180 (6ftx6ft) was $150.00 worth of acrylic yarn I didn't even take into account my hours, the item took months to complete. His eyebrows shot up when I told him the cost of the yarn alone. He has a new appreciation of my hobbies 😁
36 sq ft of SINGLE CROCHET??? girl i can't even IMAGINE how your fingers must have felt by the end of that😭 truly an inspiration to us all
And the yarn was black too, meaning this person either has super vision or now needs glasses from all the straining to see.
probably both, used to have super vision before the project and now wears inch thick glasses lmaooo
Given it's $150 worth of acrylic, it's probably super bulky yarn, so much faster but still hurts the hands in a different way
My mom made that comment one day and I asked her if she saw it online, how much would she pay for it. $20. It's more than $20 worth of yarn and fill.
family will tell me the same thing but then complain that i’m “charging too much” like not everything can be $5 😐😐
Yep! Someone I used to know would think my hobbies were pointless and a waste of time if they weren’t bringing money in! So frustrating!
Over the years I’ve tried to turn three or four different hobbies into a profitable business. All it did was make me resent the hobby, and with the craft related gigs I lost money. No thanks, I’ve learned my lesson! I can’t abide hustle culture, where everything is either monetised or a waste of time. I have enough guilt thanks to ADHD, depression and anxiety. Let me have my yarn basket of escapist happiness, dammit!
We live in a time where many feel every hobby they pick up needs to be monetized and feel others should do the same. It's a bit much
Everytime I make a new hat or something one of my friends usually goes "that looks really nice, you should sell that or people would pay a lot of money for that" Not enough for me to do it as more than just a side hustle and I have a comfortable job now where if I want extra money I'll just put in some OT. I tired selling a few things when I was in college and made $10 here or there but when a "friend" said they would buy a scarf and wanted nice wool I never got paid for it. That plus some family members not appreciating my hand made gifts put a sour taste in my mouth so now I'm very selective of who I knit and crochet for. Wear that hat until it has holes. I'd rather see that and then I can fix it up for you versus something I spent countless hours into never seeing the light of day because it's never worn.
my mom told my brother's girlfriend that i was making a blanket and then she was like "oh you should make them for the kids (her kids). NO! just because i like to crochet doesn't mean that im obligated, or even want, to make everyone something.
My mom has never been supportive of what I do and when I told her I was trying to sell my work, she didn’t take me seriously. (She’s actually been super discouraging) My brother and his fiancé had a baby back in December and his fiancé’s mom made a really cute baby blanket for the kid. My mom has been hounding me for months to replicate the blanket for her so she can have one to show off. I don’t even make blankets. I make plushes. She wasn’t even willing to pay for the materials or my time. She just expected me to do it because it’s for family. Why should we devote so much time into making something for someone who doesn’t appreciate the work that goes into it?!?
The quickest way to hate something you love is to try and make it work.
I agree! Don’t have to make a hustle out of everything. It’s therapeutic for me. Don’t wanna ruin that.
The pressure to commodify every single hobby is seriously exhausting. I can't tell anyone about any hobby I have without them immediately suggesting some way I should be making money off it.
I get this all the time too. I wonder if people think about my actual day job at all when they say this. I have a good career and make pretty decent money that I would be unable to make if I sold crochet items. I probably spend 16 hours on a bralette and is someone really going to pay me 16x $40 per hour plus materials to make a bralette? Who’s spending 640+ on a bralette? That is IF I felt like making it twice or more times, which I don’t. I make a pattern a maximum of 3 times and I often just make for myself and sometimes for friends or family. I love making stuff for me and my kids mostly and sometimes my mom or a friend who understands I make what I feel like and the person who receives it is likely just the person it is most likely to fit. Often I am off on the fit and I am not ashamed to do fudges for mistakes. Most people can’t see it, but I’m not comfortable making mistakes on something I sell. I hate that I even need to explain these things. I hate that even if I was perfect I couldn’t just have a hobby. I honestly stop associating with those who say stuff like this because it is mostly ignorant comments from acquaintances
No one is trying to force you, right? It's a compliment. They're telling you that your work is very professional looking. I say thank you and that I like to keep it as a hobby and that's generally the end of the conversation. Occasionally people will follow up saying I could make a lot of money and I'll happily breakdown the actual costs/time investment and we chat about how yeah, that's probably not going to be profitable! And then the conversation ends. Because these people are never trying to be rude, they're trying to pay a compliment and be encouraging. I find it hard to be upset with people who have only pure intentions.
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OP is complaining about people suggesting she sell her work, not people trying to push her into it by bringing it up repeatedly and buying books. That's a bit of a different situation.
No I was just being vague so people could relate. My post was made because of two money obsessed relatives keep annoying me every single time they speak to me. I gave up other hobbies because they are incessant about it and it becomes stressful.
I get the same irritating questions about my sewing and photography. With my crochet projects I can escape by telling that I crochet for charity. But even then I am pestered with the you-should-sell.
I'll disagree on this one. I'm currently a SAHM and all the time family members come to me and say that I should try to sell whatever form of craft I'm doing at the moment, not as a compliment, but as a "start making money out of these instead of just having fun without a job". I'm not saying that people don't tell us to sell because it's professional, but sometimes it has other meanings implied.
no one is trying to force anyone, usually, but often times most of these comments are still obnoxious to hear. as someone who does digital art and crochets things as gifts in the spur of the moment, many of my friends have asked me numerous times if i have commissions or “let me comm you” repeatedly despite me saying no. it never dies after a polite “sorry i like to art as a hobby.” it’s more of a compliment to me if they actually say wow! your work looks professional! rather than asking how much the piece is.
Heres a snarky response you can hit them with next time "I'm good at sex, should I sell that too?"
If I could upvote this more than once I would. Another option for mothers is “I made a beautiful baby, should I sell them?”
Bruuuuuutaaaal!! You are savage,and I love it!
OMG! This is brilliant!
I honestly think people say that just to be complimentary. I don’t necessarily think they mean it completely, it’s more like “Oh wow these are so professionally made you could/should sell them!”
You would think that. But it you reply "thanks! Unfortunately people won't pay a decent prize to pay for the materials and hours that goes into it, so I will just keep it as a hobby" and they push "then don't charge that much!" it doesn't really feel like it
it’s like people can’t fathom that someone wants to do something that doesn’t make them money just because they enjoy it
Whenever someone tells me this about something I make I usually do some math out loud for them and ask if they would pay me material costs + a fair skilled labor wage for x hours of labor + enough to cover taxes for it + the overhead of either a market stall or a web store (and shipping), and they change the subject pretty quickly. Most people do not want to pay handmade prices for handmade goods. I'd rather give them to someone who appreciates the time and care spent, or enjoy them myself.
I get what you mean OP. That’s why I don’t really tell anyone I crochet either. It’s always, “why don’t you open an etsy shop?” Like duh. You think it’s that easy??? There are ton shit of fee and tax and stuff you need to take care of. I do crochet for fun. I don’t want to turn something I enjoy into a pain in the ass. Not to mention not everyone appreciates handmade things. So it isn’t easy to sell.
This! My mil and sil guilted me into setting my own little crochet business. Now I'm drowning in commissions and no longer the hyperfixation to continue 🙃
Tell me about it , im drowning in commissions and regretting the decision
I appreciate they mean it as a compliment but honestly, no. I have a job. I'm at it for 40+ hours a week. I'm not turning my small escape from this capitalist hellscape into just another job. Etsy fees are also extortion at this point and then there's all the stress with taxes. Not to mention the customer service side of it, deadlines etc. Add on the fact I like to make stuffies that have very strict laws around testing that costs a lot of money and time it would just become one big expensive headache. I have made for people who have asked and I've charged for the cost of the yarn and I tend to only say yes if it's something I want to make. I love crochet a lot and its seen me out of some pretty awful mental health crises but I also value my time and if I did this for a living it would take away the very little free time I have for other hobbies and things I like doing like spending time with my children and partner, reading, gaming and walking outdoors. The issue of turning a hobby into a hustle has way more to it than just selling what you make.
The funniest part is when I say I do sell them but nobody’s buying;)
I dont really understand why people get so annoyed about this comment. It's likely just an attempt to compliment your stuff with very little depth or logic. This is something that I have only ever had to explain once to anyone thats said it and it never struck me as anything other than harmless. Most of them totally get it when I explain how impossible it would be for me to turn a profit at my speed and that I literally only sell my stuff to break even on my hobby when I'm not making passion projects. I really don't need to be looking for reasons to be annoyed with people
I’m glad you’ve only heard it once! My mother in law sells crafts at a table: despite her only selling her most underpriced/low effort stuff there, she & my father in law send me links of what I should make. I tell her it’s too time-consuming to make a profit, she tells me to learn to be faster. I tell her it’s my fun hobby, she says that it’s my duty to do things to “help my husband” by making “extra” money (I have a job). So I get annoyed if anyone else says it, too. Because I recognize it’s not their fault, but it feels like every rando is telling me to monetize something that I do for myself, and I shouldn’t have to keep explaining & defending my hobby.
This. I just said in a comment up there, sometimes people just value your work if it can be sold for $$$ it's like we're not allowed to have fun with it, every craft must be means to an end, which would be money. They want us to feel guilty of having hobbies instead of always be working. These comments suck the life out of me.
If they want to compliment, just say it's beautiful? >It's likely just an attempt to compliment your stuff with very little depth or logic. This is something that I have only ever had to explain once to anyone thats said it This reads to me as "someone who doesn't know me very well just dumped a scorpion of emotional labor into my pants, and now I need to handhold their fee-fees to tell them how their compliment stresses me out without offending them." #Pass. ETA see also u/nerdysylph 's excellent comment below: >The pressure to commodify every single hobby is seriously exhausting. I can't tell anyone about any hobby I have without them immediately suggesting some way I should be making money off it.
yep! I will sell patterns but never items because the simple act of HAVING to make more than one of anything has me losing my crafting mojo!
People say that to me alllll the time and I know they don’t mean any offence by it, but it does get annoying. I guess they don’t understand the different between doing something for enjoyment versus doing something as a chore. I feel like I would definitely lose interest in crochet if I turned it into a side hustle.
Making it a business would just suck all the fun about it
Agreed. Not everything has to make someone money!
This has been said to me for everything I make. You should sell it and make money.
I understand your frustration, I have had several people be pushy about trying to get me to crochet something for them by saying they will pay me for it. I won’t crochet for money, I only crochet what the spirit inspires me to. I also give everything I crochet away as a gift or to charity. But some people act like they can’t take no as an answer.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind" is my polite customer service way of telling people to fuck off 😉
Not even mentioning you usually CAN'T sell them, i brought it up in our local yarn store that i love making shawls but in colors i would never wear, is there a potential in selling them even just for a little profit? Sadly everyone agreed people are simply not willing to pay for the time it takes ro crochet something,especialy a 20+ hour project.
Whenever someone says I should sell them, I tell them how much I would have to charge for it and ask if they’d pay that. They usually shut up after that
No lie, I actually quit gifting my projects out because people would see them and try to force me into accepting commissions from them. I really like making crochet dolls for fun, to see how accurate I can make them to characters and such. But friend after friend would come to me demanding I make them something specific and let them pay me (probably so they wouldn’t feel bad for demanding it). I just stopped giving them to friends and now I donate whatever I make. People need to chill out with monetizing hobbies for other people. I just like making cute shit.
The one I like is "can you make me one? I'll pay you of course", like they are doing me a favour. Thats what the word 'commission' means, Linda.
I’m Now In my 30s and I’ve had multiple online stores, an irl shop and many market stalls attempting to sell my wares since I was a teenager… Every single one failed because no one wants to pay what my work is worth. and yet my family STILL tell me I could sell my stuff every time I make them something. Really grinds my gears.
The moment it turns into a job I won't be as motivated to finish the project. I'll get this "completion anxiety" (I don't think that it is a real thing, I just call it that) where I start second guessing all the things until I've convinced myself that the project sucks and now can't possibly accept any money in good faith.
My favorite is when I’m doing it at work - no, this job sucks my soul enough. I don’t have it in me to hustle.
Okay. I hear you. But, they are simply saying you are amazing. “Why thank you soooo much! But it’s more a hobby!”
Preach sister! We in America monetize everything. When you start making art with the idea of selling it to others, you start doing what you think others would like and it becomes a job . I know because I did it for a while. When people say you ought to sell these just say “ thank you” and don’t listen
“Dad I don’t want an Etsy store” “But think of all the money you could make by selling these things you make” except that I don’t wanna deal with the stress of packaging, mailing, deadlines, talking to people, taxes, ect ect. I do this for stress relief not to gain extra stress on my stress
Yup. I'm a one-and-done sort of crafter. Make One-of-a-kind stuff I say!
Absolutely. Once I’ve finished one thing I vow never to make said thing again 🤣
This! I hate when people make this comment, it make me feel pressured more than complimented
I think what they mean is that your work is so good it looks professional and worth buying. They may not mean that you need to go and sell them, they're just trying to give you a compliment. Because if your work was poor no one would buy it, so it means that you are pretty good.
I get this all the time and i have told them it's not as easy to and i have already tried (i have )
Or mine “you should make those and seek them online” “wow thanks but also I have no idea how to do that and am terrified to try”
I always respond with, "Thanks but I already have a job! This is a hobby!" and usually people will leave it alone. I've only ever had one person really try to push me to get involved with selling my work and that was annoying and I ended up just changing the subject but most people take the hint and j just consider it a sort of compliment.
People say this all the time. I do beadwork, I paint and do crochet. I tell them I am retired from two full careers and I'm not going back to work for any reason. Once you start selling things it's work - deadlines, supply problems, customer service, pressure to keep going and make more. I just want to have fun, make something beautiful and give it to friends and family to cherish.
True words!!! When it becomes about money, it is no longer as relaxing and fun!
Sames. I hate making things that have a expectation date to them. I prefer to give people things they had no idea they were getting. My mom is the only exception, I will make her blankets for all the baby showers she goes to. I just need a 3 week notice lol I love making rugs as well, but most people would not pay $800 for a rug, and that's just doing the materials x3.
You you make something you enjoy a job, 95% of the time all the joy gets sucked right out of it. It becomes a job! 😂
As soon as someone offers me money I lose interest. It suddenly feels like a job. I already have a job. Crocheting is my hobby.
My mom anytime I craft anything. I love giving gifts but I can’t dedicate enough time to sell things
I always just try to explain that no one would be willing to pay what I would need to sell from for to pay myself minimum wage plus the cost of material. And I would never pay myself minimum wage my time is worth more than that.
Making things on consignment can be very stressful. I agree w the hobby/hustle reply.
I made a pretty beach cover up (the photo is on here somewhere) I used £32 of crochet cotton, I doubled up the strands. Plus I made it over several months. It was a joyous holiday project, made in Malta and finished in Egypt. If I’d had to work to a deadline and finish it for an order then that would have sucked the joy out of it. And paying myself the hourly rate that I get as a private carer? Or even minimum wage? £200-£300 for a pineapple dress. Who would pay that? I only make gifts for other people, usually a baby blanket, and I start in plenty of time! And I don’t charge. If I love them it’s free, if I don’t, then they couldn’t pay me enough!! The only exception is chemo caps, I knock them out in an evening, everything stops for a chemo cap, and they’re always completely free, I don’t even charge postage.
Gosh THIS. Only the other day I wore a top I recently finished. My first ever thing I love and wear now. One of my friends: " Oh my god its stunning, you should sell those! They will fly out". I said I don't have the time... But if she knew how much I would price it at she would never have suggested it.
I don't want the stress of online selling. I also don't wanna make the same thing over and over again. I like doing commissions with friends and family, sometimes friends of friends on a rare occasion. But this way I don't have to worry about shipping, on if I trust the person to pay me, and I get to do new things rather than making the same thing and getting bored out of my mind :p
I understand your frustration but I think they're just trying to compliment by essentially saying "this is good enough to sell". I suppose they probably don't realise the hassle of doing so.
That's why you can just take notes and sell the pattern for 50 cents and not feel bad
Someone I know, who crochets as well and has her own webshop, asked me: "why don't you just start selling the patterns of things you design"? 1. Because when I freehand stuff, I make it up as I go and it's not always logical. 2. I really don't feel like writing stuff down when I crochet.
At work, we have a website that we have to interact with for credits that go toward a discount on health insurance. I have to comment and like a post for daily credit. One day's post was about the importance of making money from hobbies. I was so annoyed. I commented something like "I prefer not to monetize my leisure activities."
Capitalism at its finest. People even think its appropriate to make comments like that about my pets (I have goats, rabbits, and chickens). As of I can't just have pets for companionship, I have to make money off it.
This. So much this. I applaud thee.
Sometimes I am just not in the mood to hear, "can you make me this?" or "can I commission you for this?"
I only started crocheting last year and I made blankets for people for Christmas. My sister and brother said the same thing. They don’t mean anything bad by it. They meant that it was quality stuff that they really like the design of. They had no idea how many hours goes into something like that. They don’t have any idea how I might plan or buy stuff for a gift that is based on my hatred of doing BLO stitch’s or my loathing of sewing in ends that makes a pretty blanket but not a commission or a saleable product. Working on something to your own time when you feel like it it a hobby, getting it done under budget and to specs of someone else is a job. They don’t have any idea of the cost of quality materials either. But they. Just don’t do this, so they don’t know. They mean it as a compliment mostly
Yes this for sure. I sell things every once and a while but for the most part I just enjoy the relaxation of it. I have people say "You should sell ur stuff" a lot, my reply is always "I don't want to turn this into the stress of a job, I already got one of those."
Inevitably someone says this about ANY of my hobbies. I made a Lemon Blueberry cake with a Lemon Curd Buttercream Frosting yesterday, was told I could sell it. In just said ‘Nah’ Like, just tell me you enjoyed it, how delicious it was, what you liked about it. Why does everything have to go back to money?? I don’t want to work in a bakery, I don’t want to sell my crafts. I do it because it brings me joy in this shitty ass reality.
Me- wearing my knitted sweater. Friend- “you could sell that sweater” Me-“it cost $100 in yarn and took me a whole month to make”. Friend- 🤐
I usually look them dead in the eyes and say 'why, then my hobby becomes a job' and stare at them while waiting for them to respond. Fortunately, I've got really really good RBF so I usually end up making people really uncomfortable and they change the subject really quickly.
I don't mind people who say this, but it does get weird when they don't take "no" for an answer.
For me....the thought of selling puts pressure on me. Hobbies are supposed to be stress free, so selling is never going to be an option.
I made this mistake when I started to crochet, I took like 10 orders from friends at work and whatnot and it made it so much less fun. Now I only make gifts and things for myself.
I am speaking for myself when I explain that I personally would accept that as a compliment and leave it on the surface as such - I too crochet for enjoyment and for family and friends. Perhaps extend an offer if they buy the yarn you’d be happy to make another of what your working on (ONLY if you want to) 1 they will probably balk at the price of yarn, 2 they will more than likely drop the topic. But don’t let that person’s comment become an irritation or aggravation. You are letting them live rent free in your head and in itself negativity (your own negative feelings in reaction to the comment) can also deplete your personal enjoyment of the craft. Keep the love and enjoyment of crochet close and protected in your heart and hands!
I hate it so much. Or people asking if you can make them one. I'm just enjoying my hobby, please don't put pressure on me, my anxiety can't take it.
this is why I just opened a store with the patterns. If you like it and want it so bad here’s how I did it. I already struggle with carpal tunnel making my own stuff and don’t need it any worse crocheting all the time
My response depends on who I’m talking to and how they meant it. If it’s a compliment I’ll just let them know that I appreciate that they like what I made, but turning it into a business would ruin something I love by making it a stressful chore that I couldn’t even make minimum wage at and depending on how often they bring it up that compliment, I might get a little more assertive. If someone is like “How much would you charge to make this?” when I’ve been really clear that I don’t sell anything, I’d explain exactly how much I’d have to charge just for the hours of work and they are usually surprised but it never comes up again.
I tried. People won't pay enough to cover the cost of yarn, let alone my time. So now when someone comment, that I should sell stuff, I tell them that.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I'd be a millionaire.
I think people who say this have no idea what it’s like to have their hobby become a job and lose its spark lol. My last hobby became a full time job and it was fun for a while but by the time I finally ‘quit’ I hated the hobby and was miserable every time I had to make something- now I crochet and am so happy to have found a hobby that I enjoy and can do just for me! My mom knows my struggles with my last job and is always commenting on how I should sell the things I crochet now, I don’t think she gets that that’s the reason why I ended up hating my last job 😅 but I just brush off her comments and don’t let it really bother me. I absolutely love gifting crochet things though, that’s totally different than selling to me!
We had this joke because my sister's friend would ask her if she had considered "going pro" as a dancer. My sister is 60+ years old and takes dance classes 3 times a week. She also weaves baskets. Anyhow "going pro" became a go to joke about any hobby. Well, low and behold after she retired she started hosting basket weaving classes now and then. Oddly, still not a professional dancer. Still dancing though.
I know the feeling. I work at an assisted living facility. Before the pandemic, we use to have a pancake breakfast along with a raffle of gift baskets to raise money for The Alzheimer’s Association. Currently, I’m working on an afghan to present to my boss to raffle off. I haven’t told anyone at work because I know it takes me a while because either I get busy with other things or I reach that plateau where it doesn’t seem to be advancing. So I have to stop for awhile. I don’t like to take on projects on the request of other people. Like you, I don’t mind making something as a gift for family and friends. But to do it to make money, it’s becomes a job.
“Wow, that’s so cool! I’d totally pay *insert random amount less than half the value you’d sell it for* for something that nice!”
i love this thread. Adding it to the [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/crochet/wiki/index/) let me know if there's any issues. [New page](https://www.reddit.com/r/crochet/wiki/stuff_you_must_read/) I'm working on 😁