These don’t really conjure up ‘The Night Before Christmas!’

Plenty of people have more money than sense 😂

Just before Christmas I was in one of our local garden centres. I found myself standing next to an artificial Christmas tree. It was the same height and shape as the one I've been using for the last 10 years. The only difference was that this tree was £120 and my one can't have been much more than a tenner! They had had several trees there so someone must be buying them.

My friend who is rather better off than me treated herself to the Liberty advent calendar. When she showed it to me she gave me a tube of skin cream that was in it. It's very nice and is supposed to soothe your tired muscles. I Googled it and the retail price is £30! Who would regularly pay out £30 for a cream which smells nice but has no visible effect on any part of your body that other people see? It doesn't claim to be anti aging or moisturising, just relaxing when you go to bed. I shall enjoy my tube of it till it runs out, but I won't be rushing to replace it.

There are plenty of patterns for stockings on sites such as Lovecrafts. Quite a few have very fiddly/intricate patterns, but you could take any simpler one, just knit it on bigger needles in super-chunky yarn.

Yep and especially when it comes to pets, kids and Christmas...but you don't have to buy into it.

What size needles do you need for that? And what thickness of yarn? 😲

I imagine a local knitter would love to be paid £90 to make one of those!

Someone's making a huge profit and I'll take a bet that it's not the knitter!

I should have had a better look at the website, they are hand knitted

I suppose it's a lovely concept www.laurenastondesigns.com/about/ but over £300 for a jumper. I've bought a few jumpers off a local knitter which are nicer for @£30 each, though I don't think she charges enough. I've also bought some hand knitted stuff when in North Wale, who I also don't think charge enough. I suppose location might be everything here? but I think it's quite a nice story

Oh! Well, the prices are probably about right then because of the hourly rate per item.

It sounds lovely and also ethical, not someone making a profit from people slaving in a sweatshop in the Far East.

Allira

What size needles do you need for that? And what thickness of yarn? 😲

Apparently you need 25mm needles and 850g of jumbo merino wool.

I’m sure the expert knitters on here will be able to do the maths but it sounds like a lot of money for one stocking.
I do agree with your last comment though so maybe I was just having an, ‘Ow much??’ reaction! 😂

Apparently you need 25mm needles and 850g of jumbo merino wool.

My hands are hurting thinking about it!

Needles - about £9
Yarn - £37.20 for 1kg
Time - how long is a piece of yarn?

^ how long is a piece of yarn?^

…about the same length as a piece of string?
(Sorry, Allira, I couldn’t resist!)

So the retail price isn’t quite so OTT then. Looking at the size of the stitches, a good knitter would probably knock them out quite quickly (says she who still hasn’t sewn up a gilet I started four years ago) 😂

Squiffy

^ how long is a piece of yarn?^

…about the same length as a piece of string?
(Sorry, Allira, I couldn’t resist!)

😁