Is anyone a good knitter for a business?

[Elphaba]

I have been approached by someone who knows Im into crafting asking if I knit. They are looking for knitted toys and they will sell them in a shop. If anyone is interested let me know.

[Lioness]

I used to knit a lot but sadly don't have time to do much now. To be honest it takes such a long time to knit an item, I cannot see this being lucrative enough for anyone to take it on. Has the shop indicated how much they are willing to pay?

[Elphaba]

I used to knit a lot but sadly don't have time to do much now. To be honest it takes such a long time to knit an item, I cannot see this being lucrative enough for anyone to take it on. Has the shop indicated how much they are willing to pay?

No, they haven't- but it is in an expensive area. I lady who owns it is lovely.

[Ellen Durow]

The area may be expensive and the lady may be lovely but you can bet your bottom dollar she won't want to pay you anywhere near what it has cost you in time and skill to make. Remember you need to factor in not only your time but also a sum for lighting and heating.

Yes, I know you'd need light and heat if you weren't knitting but that's not the point. Even if you charged half the basic wage per hour - say £3 - leaving light and heat out of it and the toy was very simple and you could do it in four or five hours (an evening) you'd be looking at charging £12-£15 and that isn't including the materials which I assume she would supply. To cover that and her other shop overheads and make a profit she would be charging between £20-£30 per toy at the very least.

If you do go ahead don't let her talk you into "sale or return" or any other system where you don't get paid until/unless the item is sold. Cash on delivery or no goods. If they don't sell and you have to take them back they will have been mauled over by the world and his wife and his cat and his dog and will be fit for nothing on earth but the washing machine, after which you couldn't sell them as new.

[Granny Penny]

There is a lady on Debbie Shore's forum http://www.serifwebresources.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=6&forumid=194553 who knits for a lady who supplies high end shops although this is machine knitting rather than hand. Have you asked if she is supplying the patterns, wool, etc. If she is then the only outlay is your time and, while you may not receive a lot, sometimes something is better than nothing.

[craftycat]

Another thing to be aware of with knitted/sewn toys, maker needs to be EU registered (health and safety) and that costs money.Plus all toys have to have official labels with EU registration number, firmly sewn to the product.

This is the reason that charity shops sometimes have to reject soft toy donations. Hand made goodies can't be sold on without their pickle labels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark

I think this can be avoided, sort of, if the items are labelled with "this is not a toy"

[Granny Penny]

Another thing to be aware of with knitted/sewn toys, maker needs to be EU registered (health and safety) and that costs money.Plus all toys have to have official labels with EU registration number, firmly sewn to the product.

This is the reason that charity shops sometimes have to reject soft toy donations. Hand made goodies can't be sold on without their pickle labels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark

I think this can be avoided, sort of, if the items are labelled with "this is not a toy"

I didn't know all that CC - very interesting and useful. You really do learn a lot on this forum.

[craftycat]

Reason I knew is that I used to make Jean Greenhowe and Alan Dart knitted toys for charity. Only really practical doing one or two because of time/cost. Then run a raffle. Even that though is problematical if said item is considered a toy

Original post should have said "lickle" not "pickle" by the way. MAC computer does automatic spelling changes and causes chaos on unrecognised words.Didn't notice this one being got at.

[Lioness]

I didn't know anything about the EU registration either - it does make it difficult if you want to make things for charity etc., however I can appreciate that toys need to be safe if children are playing with them. The down side to overprotection is that they don't learn what is safe and what isn't.

[alwayscrafting]

And don't forget that as well as the time knitting toys it can very often take a considerable time to make up the items...very often lots of small pieces and ends to sew in.