Crocheting blankets

[JGwinn]

I am starting to make crochet blankets to sell on an Etsy store as a way of making extra income. How feasible would it be to bring crochet supplies on the road? The yarn itself isn't the issue, it is going to be the blankets as I complete them. What do I do with them? Should I ship them home until they are bought? Keep them somewhere in the van? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[SoulRaven]

You might take them to local crafts fairs to sell quickly.

 

[gypsychic]

Although I have yet to move into my van I don't have to tell you that space is at a premium unless you are a true minimalist. I can not even imagine two people in a van. Having several family members who have crocheted all my life I am aware how bulky crotched blankets can get. Will you be putting rooftop storage on your van? That might be the only way you can store them. If you have someone at home you can ship them to who will also be willing to ship them out if they sell that might be an option.

Not sure how much profit you will make, especially after the shipping twice. Yarn is expensive, even on sale and most people wouldn't pay for the real cost of a blanket, I.e. yarn cost plus your time. I've tried to get my mom to sell her blankets for years but she hasn't been successful in marketing them in a niche market to make money just to cover her yarn expense. I guess if you were going to crochet anyways because you enjoy it so, then any money made could be looked at as profit as the expense would be there whether you sold it or not. But that's not a profit in a real sense. Maybe you know something my mom and I don't. Best of luck making it profitable if you do.

As for storage, I would think it would be hard just to have space to work on a blanket once it starts getting bigger in a van occupied by 2 people let alone storing it and proceeding to start another. Maybe someone with more experience with hobbies and living on the road will chime in. I wouldn't think it was doable unless you have at least rooftop storage, maybe even pull a trailer. I don't think pulling a trailer is in Matt's plan at all if I remember correctly. Sorry to be a Negative Nancy...

Have you and Matt been to an RV show or dealer just to check out class Bs? If not I'd suggest doing that together. Take some crocheting supplies also if you want. Just sit in the van and spend time in it together. Bring books or something. Ignore the salesman. Pretend its raining out and try to imagine spending many hours in that space with Matt, your cat and your hobby supplies. That might give you a better sense of how you might feel with all those things around you. Some people don't mind close quarters or lots of stuff everywhere. Others do. The best way to see how YOU might react to storing additional items like a crocheted blanket that you can't use because you are selling it is to spend some time in the closest thing to your yet to be purchased van.

 

[Almost There]

I am starting to make crochet blankets to sell on an Etsy store as a way of making extra income. How feasible would it be to bring crochet supplies on the road? The yarn itself isn't the issue, it is going to be the blankets as I complete them. What do I do with them? Should I ship them home until they are bought? Keep them somewhere in the van? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Larger items like that would be problematic in a van for several reasons...yarn enough to complete is going to be bulky, keeping it clean while in progress is going to be difficult and yes, finding space for a completed blanket or two or three is going to be nigh unto impossible, particularly given that there's going to be 2 of you plus perhaps the cat AND Matt has already planned on taking a substantial amount of the precious cargo room for equipment.

Shipping them home will eat seriously into any small profit margin you might be making on them because that will essentially double your shipping costs (once to home and then again to customer).

Large hand crocheted or knit blankets are something that it is virtually impossible to make any money on, even if you consider your labor rate at a buck an hour. To prove to yourself what you can or can't make, take your yarn costs, track your actual hours to make the product, add in your advertising costs (listing on Etsy), figure out your average shipping costs for the product. That's the bare minimum that you should be selling the product for. Now try the calculations for labor at a living wage because you are not willing to work for slave labor rates.

Small, easier to make products can generate better labor rates (baby items for example), you might want to think about something like that but generally speaking, hand knit or crocheted items are not viable from a labor cost standpoint.

I lived on the road for 14 years and supported myself entirely with money made from my art/craft work. I had a trailer in which to store raw materials, craft booth set up and finished products. There was no way there would have been room for me as a single AND my craft supplies etc, in a van. I had the trailer even when I had 35' motorhome to myself.

When my living quarters was a van I  set up my 10x10 show booth in my campsite complete with weather protection sides as needed and worked inside that.

 

[CrazySister]

Have you ever seen Space Bags? They are available in alot of sizes and you can squeeze out most all the air and seal. The result is something much smaller than the original item that stays dry and clean. When you open them up the material puffs right back up.

 

[compassrose]

I suggest that instead of blankets, you make shawls and use a fine yarn. They are smaller, more compact, you can make them faster. Pack them in the box for shipping and label the exterior of the box. Even better, store the finished product in a large ziplock bag.

 

[Matt71]

We have a bunch of space bags that we intend to use for our winter clothes. Using them for blankets is a good idea.

We don't expect to make a lot of profit on these, but if it's something Janet can easily do on the road that she enjoys and can bring in a few bucks at the same time.

We'll be moving around a lot our first year out, so getting regular jobs isn't really an option. This is something that doesn't require internet access to do, and can be done anywhere, any time. The space will be an issue though.

We may try to have a stock of blankets at home that are packaged and ready to ship, so we'd only have to keep a few on the road.

 

[compassrose]

Tighten up your travel area. Rent a very small storage unit in a centrally located spot. Store the excess there and drift back thru every so often. Shift your "spot" when you shift your location. Alternative is to put one of those storage things on the roof of your vehicle (will make you get very bad mpg's.... I know from experience but it was a godsend) or get a hitchhaul and slap a cargo box on it (worked better but I had to add trailer lights to the hitchhaul and plug into the trailer plug of the jeep... thing covered up my rear lights).

Have you looked at selling in eBay? You can get free boxes thru them (which reminds me, I need to order more boxes), print out shipping labels (address & postage) plus other things. It would also give you the opportunity to sell things other than the crocheted stuff.

 

[AimlessWanderLust]

Just a thought, as I've been looking into selling handmade things on Etsy as well: made-to-order things take up the space only briefly as you're making them and then they're shipped off. And people may be more inclined to buy hand-made things when they can specify exactly the colors and fibers or whatever that they want. Also, I don't know how attached you are to making blankets specifically - you could make smaller things that take up less space (I'm currently trying to sell crocheted jewelry) as I now see others have suggested as well. In any case, I wish you luck selling your handmade items!

 

[akrvbob]

I know this is completely off the wall, but do you have any interest in learning to frame and matte pictures? That way your two hobbies could compliment each other.

If not, then I'd think about switching to knitting hats-gloves. They are faster to make, take less room every step of the way and probably would sell faster. I have a friend who spun her own wool and made the hats and people really liked that it was 100% handmade. She di well at it. She even spun her own dogs hair!
Bob

 

[gypsychic]

I would buy a handmade 100% wool hat but couldn't afford or want to carry around a 100% wool afghan. (Mom made a gorgeous wool afghan for my sister. Wanted her to make me one. When we priced out the yarn it was over $350 and that's buying all yarn on sale. And it's heavy. I'm glad now I decided against it.) Less weight for shipping and you could sell on the spot also.

 

[Matt71]

I know this is completely off the wall, but do you have any interest in learning to frame and matte pictures?  That way your two hobbies could compliment each other.

I don't think I'd be comfortable putting one of my prints in a crocheted frame... too tacky.
Making Gloves, hats, hand warmers and stuff like that would work. Baby blankets are good too, they're a lot smaller.
We found a pattern online to make crocheted Death Stars. If they weren't so big they're probably sell

 

[akrvbob]

Sorry, I wasn't clear, I meant traditional framing and matting. The mattes wouldn't take much space or weight the frames are fairly flat and fairly heavy. It was just an idea, probably a bad one.
Bob

 

[Matt71]

I was planning to do that. I'm going to buy the mattes precut, and store them in the bed frame platform. Then I'll do prints periodically and matte them as they sell.

 

[gramakittycat]

Don't know if feasible for you but think little ie. baby blankets,lap sized. I don't crochet but I have made quilts and using scraps you can get from used clothes.You can make some beautiful patterns.There are small sewing machines and also a lot of quilting is handstitch detail.As far as selling another option no one mentioned is flea markets;they are everywhere.

 

[Matt71]

I have a few big flea markets marked on our travel map that we might snag space at. We do want to be careful about ending up totting around a bunch of stock from place to place. Storing a few items is one thing, storing enough stuff to stock a flea market booth might be too much. We'll have to see how things play out.

 

[JGwinn]

I appreciate all the ideas and input into this plan. I originally thought of the idea of crocheting blankets as something I could do to help in our finances while on the road. My other hobbies (scrap booking and reading) wouldn't do much in that area. The scrap books would make great memorabilia, but all the paper, embellishments, pictures, etc that it takes to make a book would take up more space than the yarn would.

 

[grumpygrizzly]

When I used to travel to remote Alaska Bush villages working for an Anchorage based company, I'd take my knifty Knitter looms with me to knit hats and scarves. The problem with storage space was taken care of with vacuum seal bags, or even the bags you seal with a vacuum sealer itself.

I get bags of yard at yard sales all the time for pennies on the dollar.

It's amazing how many relatives want you to make them a hat but, won't even bother paying for your thread or the shipping involved.

If you make them, sell them and don't tell the family unless you want to give it to them as a gift.

I pick up the Knifty Knitter looms for around a dollar a piece as well.. Stay away from the yarn hoiuses.. Even with the 40% off coupons you get for Michaels and stores like that, you'll find it a lot cheaper at Wal-Mart.

If you have to invest $7.00 for a skein of yarn for one hat, there's no way you'll make anything when you go to sell it.

Here's a great website that lists flea markets all over the place. I think they even have a book or catalog that you can subscribe to so it will be up to date. http://theoriginalclarksfleamarketusa.com/

 

[grumpygrizzly]

When I used to travel to remote Alaska Bush villages working for an Anchorage based company, I'd take my knifty Knitter looms with me to knit hats and scarves.  The problem with storage space was taken care of with vacuum seal bags, or even the bags you seal with a vacuum sealer itself.  

I get bags of yard at yard sales all the time for pennies on the dollar.

It's amazing how many relatives want you to make them a hat but, won't even bother paying for your thread or the shipping involved.  

If you make them, sell them and don't tell the family unless you want to give it to them as a gift.  

I pick up the Knifty Knitter looms for around a dollar a piece as well..  Stay away from the yarn hoiuses.. Even with the 40% off coupons you get for Michaels and stores like that, you'll find it a lot cheaper at Wal-Mart.  

If you have to invest $7.00 for a skein of yarn for one hat, there's no way you'll make anything when you go to sell it.  

Here's a great website that lists flea markets all over the place.  I think they even have a book or catalog that you can subscribe to so it will be up to date.  http://www.work-for-rvers-and-campers.com/clarks-flea-market-guide.html

 

[GotSmart]

One of my daughters makes and sells custom cartoon critters.  She uses the expensive hypoallergenic yarn suitable for newborns.  She gets $50 to $150 depending on the complexity of the creature.  It has taken her a couple years to  get her on line business built.  Perhaps in a few more years she can make some money from it.   :s

She has to make her own patterns, and deals exclusively with the gamers... :-/