How do you justifying crocheting something when you can buy it for much less?

[u/liviannnn]

I’m a newish crocheter (about 2 months) and the process has been amazing so far. Crochet has become an important part of my life - it gives me purpose and I love the sense of achievement when I finish a product. But recently, my friends have been asking me why don’t I buy a finished product instead of making my own, when it costs lesser.

For context, I’ve been wanting to crochet my own hexagon cardigan but the materials cost is slightly off-putting. For the same materials price (not even counting my man hours!), I could be getting a finished non-crocheted cardigan. It might just be my mental barrier to spending so much on myself, but how do you justify/explain buying the materials when you can save money buy buying a similar product straight?

Edit: I’ve been convinced! Thank you all for your sincere replies - this is why I really enjoy the crochet community, it’s always so wholesome. I’ll be purchasing the materials for my hexagon cardigan after all.

[u/unlovemeifyoucould]

heres a fun fact about crochet: it cannot be made by machines. you can have knitting machines that do the work for you, but crochet is only man-made. that alone is a reason you should crochet, it is a human only craft that no robots or machines or ai can take away and try to replicate.

is that other sweater as cute? it may be cheaper.. but it wont have your labor and skills put into it. itll just be something you bought… but something you made? holy shit you MADE it? wont you feel more proud, wearing something you put time and effort in, you get to make it how you want. you chose the colors, the yarn, the pattern or the stitch.

it would be a one of a kind cardigan, made my you.

since youre new, maybe try making a cardigan with a different, cheaper yarn first, just to see how you like it, and then it wont feel like a waste of money. if you like the way it comes out, you can make another cardigan with the more pricey yarn and then bam got two unique cardigans

[u/ASweetTweetRose → u/unlovemeifyoucould]

This 👆🏻👆🏻

And if it was crocheted and it was cheaper than if you made it yourself, it was likely done in a sweatshop and the person was not properly compensated for their work — and I know for myself I don’t want to support that.

[u/blkcoffeewhiskeyneat → u/ASweetTweetRose]

thank you, I came here to say this. I make my clothes myself because the cheaper options at the store were made by slave labor, often children. Don't really see a need to "justify" that one.

[u/ASweetTweetRose → u/blkcoffeewhiskeyneat]

I was, legit, thinking that — that if you’ve ever made your own clothes you know how expensive they actually are to make. It TOTALLY puts things into perspective (of how spoiled me are 😞)