Knitting for friends and the thorny issue of payment

A work colleague of my bestie is pregnant, and bestie has asked me to knit her something. well knit the baby something. The colleague goes on maternity leave on 19 April, so ideally the knitting will be done by then. Obviously I haven’t even started it yet. I'm still working on my Knit Now submission, but the good news is that this is nearly done.

I’m doing a very simple cardie and one that I’ve made before, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get it done in time. It’s a Debbie Bliss pattern for her gorgeous Cashmerino yarn. Which is a deadringer for Rico’s Essentials Merino DK – a machine-washable, super-soft merino that’s about £1 cheaper per ball than the Cashmerino. Last time I made it in Rooster Baby and was a bit disappointed with the yarn – it was quite hard and had obviously broken and been knotted together in the spinning process. But I love the Rico yarn, so that’s what I’ve bought this time.

This is the one I knitted a few years ago for a friend's baby.
My own photo.

I’m doing this for free, which is probably insanity, but working out payment for hand knitting is a very thorny issue. It’s going to take hours to make this cardie. The minimum wage is £6.19 – is it just me or does that sound really low?. Even if it only took 10 hours to finish the cardie that’s still more than £60, just for my time and at a really low rate. Plus another £17 for yarn, we’re looking at the best part of £80. For a baby cardie that won’t even fit in six months’ time.

So instead bestie is buying me dinner. And call me crazy, but I’m happy with that and so is she. What does anyone else think? How do you work out payment for items knitted for friends?