A Cost-Benefit Analysis

I am often told by friends, colleagues, acquaintances who have seen my skill level as a knitter, “You should sell this stuff…it’s really good!” After thanking the Muggle (non-knitter), for such statements almost always come from non-knitters, I have a pretty standard explanation.

“If I sold what I knit, I’d either get paid pennies per hour, or have to charge way more than people will pay, even if using crappy yarn,” I’d answer. “Besides, if I did it as a job, I don’t think I’d enjoy it so much.” According to Daniel Pink’s book Drive, and I agree, the greatest way to stop motivation in its tracks is to attach a dollar value to the task. I know that seems counter-intuitive in our culture, but his research looks sound and I think he’s right.

So how can I justify the craft of knitting in my life? After all, as a button a friend gave me states, “Yes, I know I can BUY socks for TWO BUCKS at Wal-Mart.” How does it make sense to drop 20 bucks on a hank of sock yarn, no matter how hip the colors are?

Joy.

I love to knit, and as entertainment goes it’s pretty cheap. For that $20 I have a guarantee of around 30 hours of doing something that brings me joy, considerably more than that if I’m knitting anything by Cookie A. That’s a cost of about $.67 per hour. These days, what entertainment can you buy for that price? Not much.

It costs:

*$11.00 to go to a 2-hour movie by myself with no snacks.

*$16.00 to attend a 2 1/2-hour community theater performance.

*Between $15 and $25 (plus parking or train fare) to go to a concert at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston.

*$4.50 for a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks and though I could hang out there for a while, I’d have to hang out at the coffee shop for 6.71 hours to get that kind of hourly price and my coffee would be very cold after that.

*Dinner at a nice restaurant with a special someone: about $50-70.

*Retail therapy (aka shopping) could vary in cost, but I think I’m safe in saying it’d be more than $.67 per hour.

That’s just a short list. Granted, there are other things you can do for comparable price, such as watch TV, read a book from the library, or play the guitar. My point is that as entertainment goes, knitting is a real bargain. And as an added bonus, unlike any of the above items, it produces something that is generally pretty fabulous and will continue to bring many hours of enjoyment as it is worn.

So when was the last time your $2 socks from Wal-Mart gave you as much joy as my $20 skein of sock yarn?

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