One of my biggest pet peeves is when my good hearted friends constantly tell me that I should sell the things I make. Me, being me, I tend to laugh at them. Sell them??? And just who exactly would ever buy them besides my friends???

As an avid needleworker I've experienced comments from people that range from one end of the spectrum to another when attempting to sell items I've made. They love my items and would love to buy them, but they don't want to pay what I'm asking. Nobody thinks about how many hours go into each item I create. They don't know (or care apparently) that the yarns I use are not cheap, but typically high quality and durable, also, pricey. Forget the time I spent working just on the pattern! Keep in mind, I typically only price the items a dollar or so above what I've paid for the yarn, so I wouldn't ever make any money on my time anyway.

Well, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by what happened a couple of weeks before Christmas. One of my friends asked me to make up some stuff to put in her store (she actually owns a feed & seed store, but hey, it's an outlet right? lol). I made 3 pairs of sleep socks, in Caron Simply Soft of all things! I also made a couple of kids hat/convertible mittens sets and one set of ladybug convertible mittens. All of the sleep socks sold, my friend's son asked for a pair for himself too. I know I shouldn't get over excited by this, but it gave me hope. I'm already working on sleep socks for next Christmas. I have tons of afghan yarn in my stash and it actually makes up extremely warm socks. Not good for wearing with shoes, mind you, but perfect for keeping cold feet cozy.

In the end, I made enough money to pay for the twins Ariat boots! That, to me, was worth it.