Stitches

Can I make pocket money by crocheting?

I used to crochet once in awhile, and it was a lot of fun. I'm 16 and have a lot of free time. I would love to make some pocket cash. My grandma told me that she will teach me how to crochet different patterns, and knit. My aunt told me that she could teach me how to sew. If I like it, I'll probably ask for my own sewing machine for Christmas. I was thinking that I could crochet baby blankets and things like that. Then in good weather set up a stand outside. Do you think that it would be a waste of money and time? Can I actually make some pocket money by doing this?

Public Comments

1. Probably you'll only make enough to pay for your yarn. But you could get lucky now and then!
2. Try etsy. And also try learning armigumi. You can get a good chunk per peice ($30 and up). I also know baby blankets go well. So do like obscure themed stuff like game and show theme.
3. i think so! lots of people really appreciate home-made things as such! idk how much business you could get from making a stand outside, but maybe if you made a few sample pieces to have to show. and let it be kind of word to mouth. tell your friends that if they know anyone who would need things like that to give you a call (maybe make a business card:) so you can make things kind of "personalized" people would pay more for a "special personalized baby blanket" for their child!! best of luck to you! sounds like a great idea to me!
4. People sell all kinds of goods and get good pocket money. Maybe if your conservative with your yarn and creative, you could get some serious cash! Here's an equation that might help you with costs. Yarn / 3 X 1$ for square foot For example, for a 5' by 5' blanket, made from 5 dollar yarn, you could make a nice 8 dollars(Total. You would actually make just 3 dollars, but if you love to do it, follow your dream!) Tweak this as you may for your 'Local' economy, and you have got a fair priced stand. Tell me if this helps.
5. The problem is that with most projects, and especially things like baby blankets, if you add up the hours you work on it you'll find you're making far below the minimum wage. I'm doing pretty good to net $1 per hour after expenses. This is fine if what I'm after is a way to support my knitting/crochet habit (a way to purchase more and more luxurious yarns) but not if I actually want to make any money. About the best I've done is on miniature sock earrings and that was still only about $3/hour. At your age I did much better financially with mowing, raking, babysitting, etc. My best money maker was braiding horses for shows. I could net almost $15 an hour, enough to cover my own entry fees, though by the fourth horse my fingers were pretty stiff and I had to start at about 4 am. If you get good enough to teach lessons in knit/crochet/sewing you can make better pay that way too. I'm not saying don't do it, just understand that if making money is your main goal there are better ways to go about it. But like others have said if you just want to support your knit/crochet habit, sure it can be done. Many are successful at that.
6. If you get in the habit of making lots of items in a short amount of time, you can make a fortune on Etsy.com which is a web site that is all about handmade items. Because of your age, you would need an adult to register, but you could keep the profits that you make. E-bay is also a good place to sell these type of items, but Etsy is better because then people can actual place orders for items. As for setting up a stand, I don't think it would be very profitable, unless you set it up at a swap meet or something like that.
7. About the only way you might over come the rule "what you paid for the material times three" is to go to speciality shops and see if they will sell the articles on consignment. If a mother to be goes into one of these shops she would probably pick one hand made{get some stickers with "made by" on it } than the factory or China made.