Scarves

For Yule I gave my family and friends scarves. I love to knit, so I knit almost a dozen scarves. And as much as I like to be modest about the things I do, I make really nice scarves. I only use quality yarn, I love picking out what yarn for what person. It’s like thinking of the person I am knitting for and choosing their colours and style. There are so many different types of yarn, so many materials. I could go on and on about it, and maybe one day I will. But that is not what I wanted to talk about today. I guess this post is a “thunder post” for me.

As I said before, I love to knit, it is calming, relaxing, and a lot like meditation. I also like to knit when I am watching a movie, as I like to do something with my hands. I think I get that from my Grandma and Mother, they both have to do something with their hands while watching tv.

Any ways, to get on with the story, someone said something to me the other day that was rather annoying and made me very upset. This girl had seen one of the scarves I had made for a friend, and asked if I sold them. Now I guess I should have been flattered, but people ask me all the time if I would make them a scarf.

I want to explain about my scarves. If I were to sit down and knit a scarf with out stopping, it would take me between 10-18 hours. Obviously I can’t just spend all my time knitting. So in reality, it takes me closer to a week or a fortnight, depending on life. And I like to pour my happy chi into it, so people feel good when wearing my scarves. Now, that is just the knitting, I also pick out the yarn and the ‘extra touches’ I add on. I put my signature in it. I love these silly things.

Okay so the story, this girl asks if I would sell her one. It’s not really a big deal, really, and she has no idea what I put into them. She just likes what she has seen. I don’t blame her really. And I have never had trouble when people ask me this type of question. It’s just this time I answered differently. I usually tell the person to go get some yarn (and tell them how much fun it is to pick it out), and some needles, and I would be more than happy to teach them to knit. I know that might not be a very nice answer to some people, but most just laugh and say “yea, okay”. If the person shows up and is willing to learn, I will teach them the basics to knitting and they usually enjoy it.

So what happened this time is I thought about selling scarves. Now don’t get me wrong I have thought about it before. I just have not really thought about acting on that thought. Yea, that doesn’t make any sense, but I will explain. When she asked me, I jokingly ask her how much one of my scarves would be worth.

Yes, I said it in those words.

She then says she wouldn’t know and how much would I sell them for. Here I had a thought to myself. This is a typical american, who like the rest of america shops at wally world. Most people have no sense of, how can I say it? Assessment of quality, value, worth, or just real beauty of a thing. Only wealthy people who go to art fairs can buy such things. Things that the rest of america can get for an hour of minimum wage at super stores, who in turn get it from countries that don’t have rules and freedom like us.

~Yes, look for post in the future about that funny pun, freedom and rules my ass~

I tell the girl how long it takes me to knit a scarf and ask her how much she would pay an hour. Now, I know that was a rather rude thing to say, but this girl has never been really all that nice to me- not that that is an excuse to be mean to someone. She asks me if I would make one for 25 dollars. I didn’t know what to say, I could see all the thoughts going on in my head. No one would pay even the minimum wage of last year for each hour. That would be way too much money for just a scarf. They are happy paying cents to all those poor kids in china who need it. So few people know that not one item of clothing in wally world is made in the states.

To finish my story, I told the girl the same thing I tell every one else. Go pick some yarn out, bring it in, and I will teach her how to make one herself.

I feel sorry for all the lost beauty in the world. At least I can add my own.