How much to ask for this?

[Flossyfloof]

I have almost finished knitting this throw. A friend has asked to buy it. It is made mostly of Colinette hand-dyed yarn from my stash, some of the wool was given to me, so I haven't actually gone out and bought any wool. I have no idea what to ask for it! Colinette used to do a kit which I think retailed at about £75.
What would you expect to pay? I have used 11 different yarns.

Do you have a photo of it?

Haha I thought I had put one on, sorry!

I just need to do the fringing.

It's supposed to be cosy of materials and an hourly wage. It's beautiful and I can appreciate the effort and craftsmanship but people think that crocheted and knitted items will beach cheaper than those cosy calculations. Bitter experience.

Cost* It looks cosy too 😁

And be much *

Pricing work is a 'black art' in my work and we crafters are often very reticent about our talent.

How long did it take you ? multiply that by an hourly amount, so if it took you 10 hours and you charge the national min wage, that would be £72. I personally think for a skilled crafts person, you should think more in term of at least £10 per hour. However its a friend so you could offer 'mates rates', although I would be very tempted to let your friend know its 'mates rates' so that if any of her friends ask for one, they don't expect the reduced rate.
oh and charge for the materials - even if you received them for free. You may wish to replace them for another project and if you haven't charged for them, you have lost money.

The throw looks stunning by the way!

I think how big it is makes a difference. A throw is double bed sized?

Or is it a lap blanket?

People don't realise how much raw materials cost. I made a celebration cake the other day and the ingredients alone cost £20.
They might be a bit shocked or embarrassed by how much something is if they were hoping for a bargain. You could start by saying that the materials cost X amount and you spent X number of hours on it on top of the cost of the wool, so that would be £... at mate's rates if she's still interested.

It's beautiful btw!

Echo some other posters.
Non crafty people have no clue how it costs and how much time it takes.

For example, I have some circular looms and have made hats and scarves for friends children as starting school gifts.
I view it as cheap as the wool wasn't much and I got pleasure out of doing it.

I'm currently making a set for my mum. Big hunky knit scarf and hat. She will be over the moon as she is crafty and knows how long it takes and how much it costs (expensive wool!)

My point is I guess, do you need paying for your time? Just cover your costs and move onto the next project?

I'll happily give my time to do/make/bake things for people as I enjoy doing it. But they always cover the cost (unless it's a gift from me)

I believe in catering it's often costs plus additional 40%. In art I'd imagine it's higher for time consumption.

If you enjoyed making it, you could say a lower than minimum wage hourly rate, however, as you were enjoying the process?

Personally, Id say costs and £30-£40 if I'd enjoyed making it and it was a friend whom would appreciate it.

www.colinette.com/pages/arizona-dreams.html

I just wanted to use up some of my stash when I started it - I keep on thinking I should open an Etsy account but I never get around to it. My intention wasn't to sell it. I am thinking if I ask £75 it would enable me to buy a kit like the ones above.
It certainly isn't the size of a double bed. Not sure how big a lap blanket is but it's about the size of the ones in the linky.

To make one the same, buying wool rather than using stash would be about £75

I had a friend of a friend message me asking me to make something she'd seen on Etsy as she couldn't believe the price they were charging... I quickly worked out that the yarn alone would be £35 - she was shocked and didn't order it

Still think you should charge for your time, even if you enjoy knitting and it for your friend!

Thanks all and glad you like it! I suppose it is harder because I had the wool anyway and I wasn't intending to sell it when I embarked on it. No idea how many hours I have spent on it. Many!!

I'd guess about £200

I know you had the wool in your stash buy will you want to replace it anyway? If so you definitely need to charge for the yarn.

Batteries I love you!!
Eventually yes I would like to replace it, the idea is that I get rid of my stash really, but we all know that isn't going to happen 😀😀😀

I do think you need to charge at least double the cost of the yarn. The amount of yarn is a good indication of time spent after all

I'd say tell your friend the cost of materials and see what she says.
My friend wanted me to make 3 quilts for his nieces. He said he'd pay for materials and give me a tenner as a thank you I told him cost of materials and he decided he didn't want them after all lol

Just seen this thread and would agree £200 for a single bed sized throw... £75 sounds incredibly cheap for the materials plus all the time and love that went into it.

Greenyogagirl I've had similar with my quilts, someone asked me to "whip" one up for them once. I can spend hours faffing about with how to even place the pieces :)

That is absolutely beautiful!!!

Absolutely beautiful. It's really hard because people completely underestimate the cost of handcrafted items. For anyone interested Molli Sparkles ran a series of blog posts about the true cost of quilts

Plus your piece has lace stitches which take more time and effort. How well set is your friend? For some of my friends they wouldn't blink at £200, for others that would be a fifth of their monthly take home pay.