Socks for $250/each, or $500/pair

Thanks to jeribrock for pointing out this article on Yahoo News about expensive socks and tights on Ravelry.

Truth be told, we think these knit socks are ugly. Also, they're incredibly impractical since they're full of holes and can't be washed. ...While we fully endorse staying cozy in wool socks and knit tights this season, we were astounded by the abundance of $50, $100, $500, and $1,000 pair.

I have been enjoying making socks this year, especially now that I live in Chicago.  My socks are very washable, warm, practical, comfortable, beautiful, and colorful.  Here are some of the socks that I have made this year:

People generally have two reactions when they see me knitting socks.  They either tell me that I can buy socks or they tell me that I can sell socks.  I am interested in knitting socks, not buying or selling them. 

I knit socks because socks are a small project that goes anywhere, I get to use a wide variety of wools that I can't buy in ready-made socks, I can custom-fit the socks to my foot, and there are some really cool sock patterns out there.

I am thankful that I do not make a living knitting socks for sale.  It would turn something I enjoy into a chore, a job.  There wouldn't be much choice in patterns, because it would have to be what people were willing to buy.  There would be too much thinking involved, because right now I make only one size - my size - and having made many socks the pattern is pretty much memorized. 

Finally, most people don't have any clue what a fair price for handmade socks really is.  The materials cost is somewhere from $10.00 to $36.00 for wool socks and the time involved is approximately 15 - 25 hours.  Most people stop their request when they hear the materials cost, and in truth, $500/pair for hand knit socks sounds a little low to me.

Where has all the Wollmeise gone?

my very own skein of Wollmeise
Originally uploaded by batsheva7

When is a craze for a brand of yarn a frenzy? a bubble?

I heard about Wollmeise yarns on Ravelry soon after becoming more active. People rave about the colors and the quality; speak endlessly about how difficult the yarn is to obtain and share strategies for getting some. After seeing all of the interest, I checked out projects made with this yarn, and found deep saturated colors and person after person saying that the yarn is wonderful, there is no better yarn.

With the popularity, comes scarcity.  Wollmeise is very hard to purchase. Very few places sell it and those that do sell Wollmeise sell out moments after making it available on their websites. I wasn't interested in staying up all night to try and get in on the Wollmeise craze. When I checked out Wollmeise available for sale or trade on Ravelry, it was soon obvious that FSOT is really FT when it comes to this yarn. People who have multiple skeins of yarn are only interested in trading for other colors, not in selling.

Against the odds I managed to order a skein of Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash in Blue Curacao at the beginning of the month and it arrived soon after. The color is indeed very beautiful and saturated.  I don't know if this is the best yarn ever because I haven't settled on a project for it yet.

While I was waiting for the yarn to arrive, I went on Ravelry to see what others have done with their precious skeins and I found something very interesting. There are only 8,357 projects made with Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash, but there are over 30,000 skeins stashed away! Even knowing that not every knitter or crocheter is on Ravelry, to my mind, the numbers indicate that everyone is falling over themselves to get their hands on the yarn, but no one is making anything with it.  This vast difference between Wollmeise acquired and Wollmeise used smells like a bubble, with too many people going after too few things, bidding the price up, and speculators investing in the yarn for sale rather than for knitting.

I like my solitary skein of Wollmeise, and I might buy a companion for it one day, but I am leaving this yarn bubble alone.