As I have shared in my previous posts here, here and here; my crochet journey hasn’t been so long. Hardly 6 months, and a few projects old… And I’m questioning if in should continue or not. Here’s why.

2 days ago, I was feeling a bit agitated. I had a little headache, blurry vision, and a lot of stress of office work. Tired of typing and debugging, I thought let’s crochet for some time to get that much-needed break. To my surprise, crocheting also felt like a task. Like I’m chasing a deadline. The whole process irritated me – holding the yarn, counting the stitches, checking pattern length… I blame it on the stress but that led me to one question.
WHY AM I DOING IT ANYWAY?
After the agitation subsided and my logical brain kicked in, I started to realize, again, the reason behind my new addiction.

• Time pass
• Keep negativity at bay

However, I’m super calculating so I started to analyze if crocheting is really worth.
I totally and truly respect crochet as an art form. I understand how time-consuming and at times painful it is. My only question is, is it economic?

Let’s do the math. I need roughly 500 grams of medium worsted yarn for a cardigan, which costs me 200 INR. I’m a beginner and slow, so it takes me about 20 hours to finish a full sleeved medium-density-crocheted cardigan. If I’m to charge 50 INR per hour (which is very less, guys, as I’m doing handwork) then labour charges are 1000 INR. Leaving aside the cost of buttons etc, the cardigan cost is 1200 INR. I can easily get a cardigan in local market with that price. A lot of variety and colors to choose from. It will not be hand-made, it will not give that proud feeling of oh-I-made-this. But it’ll be economic.

Today I put everything into a spreadsheet to get insights of how much I’ve spent on my “yarn stash”.

Yeah, I’m super crazy. The spreadsheet contains data of all orders, total price, what I bought, etc. I’ve spent ~2500 INR on all the yarn I’ve bought so far and I’ve many projects in various stages.

• Completed:
  • 6 beanies in different sizes and stitches
    

    

    

    6ply dc beanies

    

    3ply pop stitch beanie

    

    Beanie7
  • 3 top down adult cardigans
    

    Top down crochet cardigan

    

    Top down crochet cardigan 2 completed

    

    
  • 3 clutches
  • 

    

    
  • 2 hobo purses
    

    
  • 1 market bag
  • 
• In progress
  • 1 shawl
    

    

    
  • Diamond best of both worlds cardigan
• Hibernating / Planned
  • Circular vest
  • Granny square hobo purse

Would I get those many items in market for the amount I’ve spent. Maybe, or maybe not.

Should I continue crocheting? I’m still on the fence.