Does anyone sell their crochet/knitting?

[drinkyourmilk]

Can I ask where you get your yarns from and what you use?
My grandma wants to sell her knitting at craft fairs (interesting resolution for an 86 yr old! ) and I said I'd try and source some bargains for her.

Also- which cottons do you use? I'm using Rico creative but finding it splits easily (crochet). First time I've used cotton so it could be normal.

Many thanks!

Can't suggest what she might use - it really defends on what she is making and the market she is aiming for. I suspect that unless she can buy yarn cheaply, she won't make much money.

Kemps - www.kempswoolshop.com/ often have bargains

That's

www.kempswoolshop.com/

I sell odd bits and pieces. I raid the bin ends at my local yarn store for suitable stuff. I find smaller items sell for greater profit than larger items. For example at Christmas I sold snowflakes the ball of wool cost £3.99 it made 20 of various sizes which I priceless at between a £1 and £2. I sold them all for £35. I also made some table decorations and Christmas garlands wool cost £10 if I had old them all they would have made £27.50, but they didn't all sell.

Yep, creative cotton can be annoying - but if you take your time with it, it is a great value yarn.

I am hoping to sell some items this year too - it is always interesting to know what sells well. My guess is anything cheap!

Thanks for the advice. I'll speak to her this evening after work. I think she has visions of baby cardis being snapped up. I'm going to suggest she visits a few fairs before she commits.

If she wants to sell baby jackets they absolutely have to be in nice yarn (good feel, nice colours-not necessarily expensive) as lots if people want hand knits but often they are in nasty pastel shades in cheap feeling acrylics.

Drink - shredded also needs to be aware.of copyright laws and that she should not be using other people's patterns without their permission.

starfishmummy is correct. You can't make items from commercial patterns and then sell them. Some designers will allow very limited production, but your grandmother would have to hunt them out or design her own.

Making any kind of profit from selling hand knitted and crocheted items is virtually impossible because of the cost of quality yarns and the time it takes to make. Stylecraft Special DK is a good quality and fairly cheap acrylic yarn and they also make some other yarn mixes which don't look cheap and nasty. I know some people who make and sell knitted things and to be honest they don't do terribly well. Too much nasty acrylic in garish colours for the modern taste.

Your grandmother would also need to register as self employed with HMRC, keep basic accounts, fill in an annual tax return and I would highly recommend taking out insurance. It's quite inexpensive, but I wouldn't trade without it.

I made and sold items made from fabric and sometimes knitted and crocheted things for a few years. However the knitted things were to add to the variety on my table and ended up being loss leaders rather than profit makers.

I really like the Stylecraft Classique Cotton. I think it is much less splitty than the Rico Creative and a very reasonable price, but far fewer colours sadly.

I spoke to my grandma last night. She says she is only planning on selling once, just for the experience as she has always wanted to do it. She's very good and will knit her own designs/variations. Can't see her declaring anything but I will advise her to!

Thanks for the cotton recommendation. Pay day on Friday so I feel a shopping spree coming on! Yey!

Lots of choice of yarns at Deramores. The cotton I have used has been Rowan Glace (not sure if tht's discontinued now?) and more recently, Paton's Eco Cotton, which was fantastic.

I'm hoping to start an Etsy shop soon selling my own natural dyed fibres. There'd not be enough profit in finished items, for me. It can be hard to get a stall at local craft fairs as it can be a very closed-in world. Good luck to her, though - it's a great way to stay mentally active and to be productive!