Knitting Socks? Not quite the ROI I expected ... at least so far.

I learned to knit this past summer.  My first grandchild was due in August and I felt that all grandmothers should know how to knit, so I took a class.  Three lessons.  I don't know if it was me, or my teacher, but it clicked right away.  My first project was a sweater for the new baby, then a hat and scarf for me, and currently in progress is a sweater, also for me. 

But I kept reading about socks, knitted socks.  Everybody seemed to be making socks.  They even have wars - sock wars - death by socks: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119766934184930123.html.  Every time I looked at the class listings for my LYS (Local Yarn Store) there were numerous sock classes: toe up, top down, two at a time.  What's a girl to do?  I had to see what all the hype was about.  Maybe I would make socks too.  Surely they couldn't be that complicated?  In January I signed up for a February sock class.  Toe up sock knitting, to be precise. 

Let's take a look at the tally

• $100 - Class Fee
• $21 - Special sock yarn, Georgia Peach by three Irish girls
• $20~ - Two small circular needles (not quite sure - no receipt handy)
• $10.50 - Stitch counter

So not counting tax, this particular pair of socks costs about $150.  Of course you can argue that the needles and stitch counter are reusable, and that's true, but still that works out to about $60 a sock.  Then there's the time.  If I had participated in sock wars, I would have been the first one dead.  I have been knitting since early February.  For the entire month of March I have knitted almost every day on the metro, and lots of evenings in front of the TV.  I am about 20 rows shy of completion on my second sock!

What did I learn?  I probably won't make a lot of pairs of socks.  Aside from the cost, the time commitment doesn't seem worth it, and someone is going to WALK ON THEM!!  My goodness, all that labor and it might get ruined.  Nevertheless, I don't believe I wasted either time or money.  I had only ever worked with worsted weight yarn and size 7 or 8 needles.  Size 1 needles will never seem quite as scary again.  I also learned to knit short rows, how to do 4 needle construction using 2 circular needles, and how to do a simple lace/eyelet pattern. 

What I really learned?  Don't look at the return on investment (ROI) for a hobby based on the cost and end product, it's the learning process and the pleasure it brings along the way that counts.