Discussing Women

I really appreciated Marvia's comment yesterday, and recommend you look at her website, discussing women.com.

Please look it over. I guess it's more important to leave comments about it on Marvia's site, but I'd really like to know what you think.

Pricing on etsy is widely varied. Very successful shops, like whimsiedots, whatshername, AprilAdriance, and sally1, have low prices. (Low enough I could afford to shop there.) On the other hand, I have wondered how much that works out per hour for them, and myself. Perhaps we're trying to compete with THAT store. Other shops , usually based in NYC, I think, are successful with higher prices.

One issue is inflation. When I hear that the average American income is $65,000 per year, my first reaction is to not believe it, and my second is to say, "We're selling our products too cheaply on etsy." But with food and fuel so high, how long are families going to buy from the internet and pay shipping? Shipping, of course, may be cheaper than driving to the mall. Perhaps the prices don't seem, on the coasts and in large cities in America, to be so high.

So I have to work out, in my head and heart, what I want to charge. Opinions?

The Giggle Hat

Above is a photo of a hat for the etsy shop. The yarn is 50% wool and 50% acrylic. It's ModaDea Swerve in the color Giggle. Herrschnerr's had a sale on it for only $1.49 a skein and I got free shipping on it. It took two skeins, so the yarn was only about $3.

By the common method of figuring prices for knit and crocheted items, I should charge $9-$12 for it. I have a little problem with that, both plus and minus.

Women have never earned enough money for their handwork. Through the centuries, widows have taken in sewing, knitting, etc. (not to mention laundry) and have barely kept themselves alive with the proceeds. So in this century we respect Women's Work. Really? Perhaps we respect the women working in factories in Bangladesh, but if we knew the reality of the situation...

So, I'm all for buying handmade for enough money to show that we value the work.

On the other hand, I've made a lot of gifts for family and friends and usually felt that the making of them incorporated my prayers for them. Recently when I knit, etc., even though I'll never meet the ones who will wear it, I try to remember to pray for them. I should make money on this?

Enough obsessing. I think $9 during the Christmas in July sale and $12 starting in August.