The Knitters Thread

pennib

Keiss_21 wrote: »

Morning all, gearing myself up to ringing the lady about knitting this coat and skirt.



I have been advised to quote a total cost, rather than an hourly rate. So going to charge £250 excluding materials (:eek:, I know, but ii will take ages to knit!). It is a 1970s pattern from an unknown magazine and the yarns are now unavailable, so will need to source different ones. I will charge more if I need to this as well.

What do you seasoned knitters think?

I am off now to write down all the statements and questions I want to say/ask, so I don't get muddled. After all she can alway say "no"!! It would be a great income if I get it though!

Plan on ringing her this afternoon, so if anyone can give me any advice beforehand, that would be great.

Have a great day everyone x

I don't think that what you are charging is too much. It will take some time to knit up. I would make sure that you get the money at least for the yarn up front. (just in case)
Is the 70's back in fashion now?

Mary-op I knitted a couple of patchwork jumpers back in the 80's. Wish I still had them could sell them as retro!! Good way to use up left-over yarns. I'll have to dig out the photo and show and tell:D

Orkney; Lovely makes as usual.

Euronoriss; It depends how fast you can knit and how complicated the pattern is and how many interruptions you get as to how long it would take to knit something. A bit like how long's a piece of string
Start with summat small and work up.

meanmarie

Keiss....I am a fast knitter and could not see myself knitting and finishing that ensemble in less than 100+ hours, so you are looking at a meagre £2.5 per hour for your one-off handmade to measure garment, so I hope that you have had a think before you made that phone call, as somebody else said, the stitching up and finishing alone is going to be a slow process.

Good luck

Marie

Keiss_21

Thanks for all your lovely and wise comments...I did phone, but she wasn't in, so I will ring her tomorrow.

Still not sure how much to charge...I too am a quick knitter, and it is simple garter stitch pattern. I would carry the colours up the sides, so no ends to sew in, well, not so many!!

I have been looking into replacement yarns, and Black Sheep have a few that are reduced, Saying that, the materials will cost at least £150, or much more, if the lady wants different more expensive yarns!

On trawling the net for handknitted, I found this....quite a lot of pennies, :eek:! Perhaps I should re-think my pricing system!

I haven't knitted such a large piece before, though I have knitted numerous jumpers and cardigans, but they would get done when when I had the odd free moment..this would be "a proper job", so I would have the luxury of "having" to knit. Mind you, this could become a chore, so I will have to be careful about it all.

Think I will have to sleep on it again and make (yet another!) decision tomorrow morning.

Thanks again everyone for your very helpful messages.

charlies_mum

[QUOTE=Keiss 21;47077153
I haven't knitted such a large piece before, though I have knitted numerous jumpers and cardigans, but they would get done when when I had the odd free moment..this would be "a proper job", so I would have the luxury of "having" to knit. Mind you, this could become a chore, so I will have to be careful about it all.

[/QUOTE]

I used to knit for a wool shop, and the payment was a pittance, but paid for my wool.

It did get to the point where it became a chore, and I started to resent having to knit, so gave it up.

OrkneyStar

babyblooz wrote: »

OOOoooohhhh my daughter would love one of these! Where did you get the pattern from?

Not sure if you were asking me or not ?
If so, it is this. Really quick and easy and only used a small amount of yarn.

euronorris

Merry_Wanderer wrote: »

Maybe you want to begin with things that are going to be quite quick and easy, and help you build skills. Wrist-warmers, hats, scarves, mats, type of thing. Personally, I love things that knit quite quick.

Yeah, I would actually love to knit a scarf as I would like one that isn't made of acrylic! lol

I was looking through some of the patterns on Ravelry, and fell in love with this: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gap-tastic-cowl But I am thinking that it might be beyond my skills at the moment.

I also need some arm warmers (I think that is what they are called). So that might also be a good project to start on if I can find a cool pattern

Thanks for the help

linni

OrkneyStar - I would love to make some of those fingerless gloves. They look lovely and warm. Do you have the have the pattern for them as well?

OrkneyStar

euronorris wrote: »

Yeah, I would actually love to knit a scarf as I would like one that isn't made of acrylic! lol

I was looking through some of the patterns on Ravelry, and fell in love with this: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gap-tastic-cowl But I am thinking that it might be beyond my skills at the moment.

I also need some arm warmers (I think that is what they are called). So that might also be a good project to start on if I can find a cool pattern

Thanks for the help

That cowl might not be that hard you know, once you got used to circular needles and having quite a lot of stitches at once!
As for arm warmers I have a few on my projects pages, with links to the patterns (I am OrkneyStar on there too!), though a simple search would no doubt bring up loads more.

linni wrote: »

OrkneyStar - I would love to make some of those fingerless gloves. They look lovely and warm. Do you have the have the pattern for them as well?

This is the pattern I used. You have to be a member of ravelry.com (free) and then you can search to your hearts content for all sorts of patterns.

euronorris

OrkneyStar wrote: »

That cowl might not be that hard you know, once you got used to circular needles and having quite a lot of stitches at once!

Ha! That's the part that worries me. I'm thinking start on an arm warmer, gain some confidence, and then try the cowl.

As for arm warmers I have a few on my projects pages, with links to the patterns (I am OrkneyStar on there too!), though a simple search would no doubt bring up loads more.

I found you! I am euronorris on there too! lol (I see you already found me ). Wow! You have made so much stuff! You're really good at this!

I did do a search on the arm warmers, and found some I like here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/twisted-maiden-fingerless-gloves

If they go well, I think I will make some for my sister, for Christmas too. She seems to feel the cold more than most (she already has those little gel heat packs for her hands and feet! lol).

OrkneyStar

euronorris wrote: »

I found you! I am euronorris on there too! lol (I see you already found me ). Wow! You have made so much stuff! You're really good at this!

I did do a search on the arm warmers, and found some I like here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/twisted-maiden-fingerless-gloves

If they go well, I think I will make some for my sister, for Christmas too. She seems to feel the cold more than most (she already has those little gel heat packs for her hands and feet! lol).

Yeah those are lovely, I would like to make something like that too one day, most of mine are a little shorter. I suffer from the hand/feet like ice-block syndrome lol, so I like warm woolies!