Here are some of the hats that I have made recently:

Crochet Beanie with Brim in Taupe

Crochet Beanie with Brim in Parfait

Crochet Beanie with Brim in Tudor

Crochet Beanie with Brim in Olive - this one was made with some random yarn I had lying around - not sure what brand it is.

My favorite so far is the Tudor color combo – it’s a gorgeous rainbow of colors, but they are more abstract without being pastel, which I really like.

I’ve also been making tons of house slippers, but I don’t have any photos of those yet. In addition, I’m working on a blankie that has the basket weave stitch. It’s a yarn-thirsty project but I LOVE the look, and once I’ve made some progress I will post some photos of that, too!

I tripped across a prayer shawl pattern that I liked and decided to make a little shawl myself.

This is the face I make when I'm reeeeeeaaallly trying to stretch my arm out so that I can get a good full photo LOL

On our way to the drugstore to get some more cough medicine....

Its dimensions are roughly 60″ wide by maybe 30″ long or so. I really like the way the yarn lays, and it’s not too hot. That seems to be my tendency with scarves – I make/buy super warm ones,  then feel like I’m sweating to death half way to the place I’m going to. This one doesn’t feel like it would cause me to overheat.

I think I will make a bunch more of these – they are so fun and simple and have so many uses!

So how much should you price your products for? Well, lots of crafters use the pricing formula below (transformed into a pretty picture by me) to determine the price of their products:

materials + time = cost; cost*2 = wholesale price; wholesale*2 = retail price

Setting Your Costs

For an example, I will use my crochet house slippers (click the link to see the item in question) to create a cost guideline. Each pair of house slippers requires two skeins of coordinating fabrics. Say that I spend $6 per skein on something that is mid-range in price, like Patons yarn or Caron yarn – the material cost comes to $12. I generally pay myself $10/hour to create crochet items, which may be high or low to other crafters, but considering I charge a minimum of $15/hour for my freelancing work, I think it’s pretty meager. It takes me a little less than an hour to make a pair, so say about $8 in labor. The total for my first formula of materials + labor = $20.

So, if I wanted to charge a wholesale price to someone, it would be $40. And if I were to charge a retail price for them, they would cost $80! To me that seems pretty high for a pair of slippers. Not that I personally don’t think they are worth it, but most people would not purchase a pair of slippers for $80. And even though I believe that I could sell my slippers for $40/pair, I don’t – I sell them for just $20, which means that I very rarely, if ever, make a legitimate profit from each pair.

What Did I Learn?

It’s obvious that I am selling myself short, and that I really need to take a look at my pricing structure again if I ever want to actually profit from my crafting. However, I get so many orders at the $20 price point, and I LOVE making things for people, so I haven’t raised them. I work very hard to make great products, and if I am not 100% happy with the finished product I will go back and revise/fix/improve until it’s perfect. The love, integrity, and time that I put into each product is worth something, and I fully believe that $40  is a fair price for that. Some people may not agree, but in the end, wouldn’t you want to sell your products to someone who truly wants them, and will truly cherish them for what they are – labors of love?

Conclusion

As you can see, it is very hard to set your pricing at a point that is fair to both you and what the consumer thinks is a valid price. If you want to actually profit from your crafting, you HAVE to charge what your product is worth. It’s going to be higher than Walmart pricing, and that’s okay, because your items are made by hand and that takes time, effort, materials, and more. If the consumer truly appreciates the products that you are selling, they will buy it, regardless of the price. The biggest factor is demonstrating the value to your customers. Once you do that, people will realize that your products are worth their cost, and you will see more sales!

I made a big deal out of it – I gave her a new blanket to go with it and some stuffed animals to snuggle with. She thought it was great! When nap time came around she laid down and didn’t give me any problems. I thought to myself, “hmm – well that wasn’t so bad”.

Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong WRONG! Bed time was the true test. It took two hours to get her to fall asleep. Little Foot kept getting out of bed to play with her toys or wander downstairs to come see us. It was horribly frustrating, and I was having a really hard time not getting pissed off about it. After all, it wasn’t her fault, and my gut feeling was that she simply wasn’t ready for it. But I grit my teeth and told myself that this was a trial period for these things and that I needed to stick through it.

I gave up the next day at nap time. It was a three-hour process that took so long that I had to stop trying to put her to sleep and feed her, which totally ruined the whole “let’s go to sleep” mood I was trying to convey. I decided to put the crib wall back up and that would be the en of my problems.

It was – kind of. Little Foot, however, was still getting out of her crib sometimes. I knew that I couldn’t stop that but I didn’t know what to do. Then something horrible happened.

It was just another day, a day when Little Foot didn’t feel like napping. She kept getting out of her crib and I kept putting her back in, and we went about this for about an hour. I went up to check on her to find her bleeding – her legs, her face, her hands! I totally fucking panicked. She was crying and I was trying to maintain my composure. I picked her up and put her in the bath so that I could find the source of the bleeding. Luckily, it was just her finger – she had cut it on something and managed to wipe blood all over herself before I went back upstairs to check on her. A bandaid and some Neosporin later, she finally took a nap.

It took a few days to find out what she had cut herself on – the whole upstairs was baby-proof – or so I thought. Turns out she had been playing with the little lamp next to my bed, broke the lightbulb and cut her finger. I’m glad I solved that groovy mystery, and no longer have a lamp in my bedroom.

At any rate, the whole thing must have been traumatizing for Little Foot because she hasn’t gotten out of her crib in over a month. Now she does what she has always done, which is wake up and babble to herself until it wakes me up and I go into her room to greet her. I do have the baby gate up at the end of the hall, though, so that if she does escape, she can come into our room instead of wandering around downstairs by herself. Maybe when she’s two or so we will try again with the big girl bed. I’m pretty sure she’ll let me know when she’s ready.

I guess the moral to this story is to trust your instincts and your connection with your child. If you listen to them and are intuitive enough to their needs, they will tell you what they need and if they are ready for the next developmental stage.

And that’s the story of the battle of the big girl bed. Do you have your own big girl bed story to tell? I’d love to hear about it and how you dealt with it!

blue & brown crochet hat w/ brim

green & black toddler hat

blue & white crochet house slippers

pink & brown crochet house slippers

I think it’s interesting that I have been more successful by randomly posting stuff on Facebook than actively trying to sell on Etsy. I am taking custom orders online, both through Etsy and through my blog here, so if you have been following me for a bit and would like something you have seen here, please just let me know!

I used Patons wool yarn from Joann. The color was dark grey/white.

I originally wanted to felt the wool to make a case for my phone, but I wasn’t happy with the way the colors felted so I decided to make something for myself instead.

Santa brought me a new phone, so my photos are much better.

I was very happy with the results of my hat, so i decided to make (yet ANOTHER) one for Little Foot.

She’s zoned out watching Winnie the Pooh.

I used some pink Red Heart that I had in my stash, and was really happy with how soft this hat turned out to be!

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May you find your invincible summer this year as well.

Maybe I will actually do something with my hair tomorrow instead of just hiding it under a hat. It’s finally long enough to maybe curl or something. Plus, I finally have contacts again so I will be able to force field my face!

What are you doing for New Years?