The thing is, though, honestly? Up until recently, I've never really tried making new things. I've probably made enough blankets (or if I'm feeling fancy, afghans) in my lifetime to warm a small village. And if not, I've surely made enough hats and mittens to clothe a medium-sized village. I've made enough baby booties in my lifetime to cover generations of tiny feets. I've probably made a few scarves as well -- not the fun fancy ones, but the plain winter ones.
It has often been suggested that I could sell a lot of what I make. I have never really been keen to do so. Most of that is self-esteem; I don't think I'm all that good at it. Selling something implies some sort of guarantee. What if I make something for someone, and then a knot comes untied and it unravels? Or it gets a hole in it? Or it's not absolutely perfect and comes back to bite me in the ass somehow?? I never thought I could handle that kind of pressure. Besides, everyone knows how to crochet; so many other people are selling what they make, or can make it better than I can, there's no way I can compete. I'm not competitive, and I'm a crappy salesperson. I've been content just to make things to either keep or give away. I mean, I have taken a few commissions here and there: I made some dishtowel toppers by request once, and some boot toppers, those are the most recent ones that come to mind (and even those are at least 5+ years ago because they're from when I worked at the hospital).
It's been on my mind more and more lately. Maybe because I'm getting better at crocheting more difficult things. Maybe because I finally learned (pretty much) how to read patterns, which opens up a whole new world, haha. Maybe because I joined a couple of awesome yarn-craft-related groups on FB where others are talking about selling stuff all the time, and I'm looking at what they're making, and I'm thinking, I can make things like that! Whatever the case, I sort of bit the bullet this week...well, I took a little tiny nibble off the side of it. I posted a picture of my completed Lost Souls shawl on FB and made a somewhat nonchalant comment about how I might make some to try to sell because it was so fun to make (which is true, it was fun to make and I do want to make more). Yeah, so I was half-fishing for interest. And now, I have orders for 4 of them. :D
I'm actually super excited about this! I'm waiting for the first shipment of yarn to come in so I can start on the first one. Hoping I'm not completely sick of this pattern by the time I get through with these. I've done a couple of smaller scarves just for practice while waiting, because of course the ones I make for others have to be PERFECT. And even though I said (to myself) that I wasn't going to take commissions, that's what I'm doing. So next time I find a fun pattern that I want to make more of and that I think might actually sell, I'm going to make them first and THEN post that they're for sale.
On that note...I'm signing off for now. I've got to do some research. I have no idea what people are selling these things for, or how to figure out how much to ask...
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