Read the first two posts here and here.
I left off Part II with why it’s not always a good thing and left you with ’sound judgement’ as advice. Part III: DIY: How to figure out if it’s good or bad will hopefully elaborate some more on it.
Questions to ask:
1) How much will it cost to do this project versus calling a professional or buying a new one? Include things like, safety equipment, new tools, time waiting for permits, time off from work, etc.
2) Can someone else do this better than I can? Will it last a long time if I repair it myself, or will I just have to do it again later?
Here are some concrete examples on this.
My friend asked me to hem a pair of jeans for her. I said I could do it no problem. I needed to hem some pants I have as well. It cost about $2.00 for the spool of gold thread to match her jeans. What’s funny is that she was going to pay for it. I told her I would since I was going to keep the spool. She won’t use it anway. She’ll just ask me to hem her next pair. This is usually a $10 job at a tailoring shop. Easy and it takes about an hour. DIY GOOD!
A lady at knitting group told me it cost $60 for a tailor to alter her husband’s old suit to fit her teenage soon. She told the tailor to leave in the extra fabric so it could be let out later. (wise move) The woman told me the $60 was worth it for the difficult alterations and she didn’t have to buy her son a suit he’d likely grow out of anyway. (He’s only a sophmore.) DIY BAD!
I love wooly socks. It costs about $12-14 for nice sock weight yarn, plus about $5 for needles. It takes me about 2-4 weeks to knit them. A comparable pair of socks might cost $7-10 at REI. In terms of enjoyment, DIY GOOD! In terms of cost, DIY BAD!
Take those same handknit socks and darn them so they last another year. Whereas regular socks I would just throw away. DIY GOOD!
Handspun yarn is about $1.00-$3.00 per ounce of wool. It depends on the type and amount of preprocessing. This gets tricky because most yarn comes in metric form, like those sock yarns. So 100 grams = 3.5 ounces, therefore the sock yarn is about $4.00 an ounce, but I didn’t have to card it with nylon for durability, nor did I have to spend 6-10 hours spinning it myself. Again, In terms of enjoyment, handspinning is GOOD. Otherwise, it’s a money losing proposition.
I hope this illuminates some of my DIY points. I realize I’ve just illustrated why my knitting hobby is a bottom line loser. I know I only do it for the fun of it. Plus I don’t want to pay $50 for a pair of handknit socks.
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