For Love or Money

I was doing “show and tell” with some of my latest FO’s at my knitting group last night, one of my knitting friends (blogless Jenny) commented that I should consider selling stuff on Etsy. Now the idea is intriguing; earn a little extra cash while doing what I love. I did go check out some of the knitted stuff for sale there and yes, I do believe I could get a good ROI if I put some of my projects up for sale there. But here’s the thing, as lovingly pointed out by my Mom. I knit for pleasure. Mine and the pleasure I get of sharing my knitting with people I know who will appreciate and love knitted things as gifts. Also I knit as a ministry for the charities my church is involved with. Knitting for profit, as fun and easy as it sounds, is just something I’m not sure that I want to do. My Mom had a gift shop when she lived in CO and she sold some of her handcrafted items there. The thing she found was that the pressure to produce a product diminished the pleasure in creating the craft. I’m not sure that’s a road I want to travel.
Now, designing on the other hand, and possibly selling some of my designs – that appeals to me and may be something more worth exploring. I’d like to think that I can come up with some original knitted designs that would appeal to others. Enough appeal that another knitter would want to knit it and be willing to pay a few bucks for the pattern. That I think I can do. One, because I get the pleasure of knitting and refining an idea I have and Two, because I get to share it with someone else who can feel free to add their own unique stamp and share their love of the craft at the same time. That’s the win-win in designing for me. So selling products, no; selling designs, maybe!

Here are a couple of great quotes that I came across in my reading this week:

… I have learned that there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration. – Steve Martin (Personal History / In the Bird Cage; The New Yorker, Oct 29, 2007)

Sometimes you make just the smallest change and it can ripple across your life, and I love that idea. – Laurie Perry (aka Crazy Aunt Purl/ from Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair)

So, since I was busy cleaning, perusing Etsy and generally not doing much this AM; here are some Saucey pictures I meant to post yesterday:

Mmmmm… Chicken

Hand over the chicken and nobody will get hurt…..

Terminator Thursday projects to do today:
Finish Counted cross stitch Christmas ornament started in 1998 (just needs a loop for hanging - don’t know why it has sat this long!)
Fix collar of jacket that I’d like to wear again
Finish pair #1 of SWS socks

Tomorrow I get to go to the Jelly Belly factory for the Longaberger Event . My friends from MN are coming down for it and we are going to meet up and “make a basket” Should be fun. Hopefully I’ll get some good pics of all the fun!