Questions you can't answer

[triber]

I woke up to a question from a buyer this morning about a knitting pattern. "How long does this take to make"?

I explained that it would depend on how quickly you knit.

[2011limey1]

LOL - you should have said "depends how obsessed you are".  I love to knit, but don't that often because I become totally addicted and there I am sometimes at 2:00 a.m. still knitting!

[vintagenorth]

That's almost as good as "Will it look good on me?"

[gifts_of_elegance]

I can relate!  I used to do needlepoint, petit point and then counted cross-stitch.  Going 14-18 hours at a time was not unusual.  I have several projects I have not finished since I got hooked on the computer.  I don't dare pick them up for fear that I will be right back to non-stop stitching.  

At least my eBay addiction brings in money.

[triber]

I guess knitting is my addiction also. I have been knitting for stores since I was 12 years old, thats 58 years! I don't have a single item that I have knitted for myself, too busy knitting for stock.

In spite of all that experience, I still couldn't tell the buyer how long it would take her to make the item!

[melissasminis]

It's probably best to give them an approximate time, instead of beating around the bush with sarcasm. How long does it take to knit the pattern the customer ordered? Did you give them a straight answer?

[triber]

I didn't give them a sarcastic answer, I just told them that it would depend on how quickly they knitted. I said that it was quite a big project. There is absolutely no way to give an estimate of how long it would take someone to make a knitted full-length coat.

[melissasminis]

Oh, okay. A coat would definately take some time to knit, and it would depend on how quick the knitter is. I must of read your post incorrectly, sorry about that.

[aztecmcuprototyping]

"It's probably best to give them an approximate time, instead of beating around the bush with sarcasm. How long does it take to knit the pattern the customer ordered? Did you give them a straight answer?"

Are you serious?  My wife knits.  I have tried my hand at knitting.  She is about 30-40 times quicker than I.  So, what do you reasonably tell the person that asks such a ridiculous question "Oh, between 2 weeks and a year!"

Asking this question is like asking how much snow will fall during the 3rd snowfall in Chicago in 2015?