i thought of a money maker for my wife

[scotty]

she is very good at crochet, and she is currently making a blanket for use in the v berth of our boat. its a V shaped crochet blanket being made with the boat colors and it means no massive pile of blanket in the narrower foot area. one nice thing about em is she can make them heavier or lighter for different seasons as well as patterns, and they can also be used as a wrap/shaw for sitting in the saloon.

i wonder what custom made blankets in a boats colors and a pattern custom chosen ( think basic triangles or strips plus a few others ) would sell for.

what do ya think?

[Ex-Calif]

How much one will pay (boaters are cheap = $100?) / How fast can she make one = Income per hour...

[Pelagic]

Not a problem Dan….once you get all the kids with their tiny little fingers working on it, cram them into the 27ft sweat sloop, cost of production should go way down making them attractive for us sophisticated, but thrifty, cruisers.

Scotty! …. You know I’m just kidding? …lol

[Ex-Calif]

Actually, living in Asia, child labor did cross my mind - LOL.

I met a lady who made shell jewelry on-board. Beautiful stuff that she managed to sell, usually in bulk, to touristy places at ports of call. However, that stuff is as cheap as chips in this part of the world so she really didn't make a bunch.

[Therapy]

My wife is very "crafty". She can knit, sew, crochet anything and has made hundreds and hundreds of things. Most all as gifts. No one will pay what the hourly labor is worth for "hand made" items that I know of.

She made a pile of ornaments on plastic canvas (cross stitch really) and sold them at the hospital "flea market" one year and was so proud of the bucks she got (I forget how much) till I (the consummate jerk) reminded her of the number of hours it took to make one that sold for a couple of bucks.

If however one has a lot of time and does not want the Devil to set up shop then what the heck. Plus, someone somewhere will pay 500 bucks for a "custom, one-of-a-kind, hand made, color matching, perfect fit" item. You (she) just has to find that person.

I would not spend my beer money counting on that income for it though!!!

[Morgan Paul]

No one will pay what the hourly labor is worth for "hand made" items that I know of.

I agree. No money to be made.

[Vasco]

When cruising men will pay for repairs (if no free help is available). Women will pay for jewelry (beach glass and beans and coral) and paintings and wraps(not the eating kind). So if you want to make money, have mechanical/electrical skills or jewelry making. This is based on my observations over the last eighteen years. No money can be made on labour intensive crafts.

[scotty]

well she can do one in about 10 hours. so in my mind worth it is about 200 bucks... but hay it might keep her quiet

as for the other stuff i am an electrician who is good with motors so i am okay

did i mention i am spending the next 2 days rewiring a boat

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by scotty

she is very good at crochet, and she is currently making a blanket for use in the v berth of our boat.............................................. .......well she can do one in about 10 hours.

Crochet a blanket in 10 hrs?????

OK, put her to work.

<edit> The wife says if she is using a broomstick lace and it is fairly open weave she could do it too.
Sounds amazing to me but if the wife says it then it is true.

Put her to work.

[Jack Long]

I bet if West Marine carried such blankets in the store they would retail for 300ish. A lot of cruisers are very cheap but there are plenty with more money than sense. Not to say the shaped blanket is a bad idea- just that there are enough too-well-funded boaters out there to skew traditional value assessments.

Price the hell out of them. For every 5 people who shake their head and walk away there will be one guy who will pay 8x a fair price. Its how WM stays in business I am sure.