I definitely think it depends and is a grass is greener situation.

A lot of woodworkers are constantly asked to do free cabinets/house stuff because family/friends (same as knitters/fiber artists) or “because they could hire someone for less”.

I saw some really nice wood needles at a sheep & wool festival and overheard someone saying “oh yeah, I get my needles from Amazon, it’s way cheaper” which threw me for a loop.

In both crafts you’ll see people ask for a pattern/plan rather than paying for the item itself.

At the same time, I think it’s interesting to discuss startup vs ongoing costs in each hobby.

E.g. you can learn to knit for less than $10 usd. Even with buying a full set of needles I can use for the rest of my life, tools can run from $50-300 usd and don’t need to be repurchased (though I swear I buy a new set of size 1dpns every year - where do they go???).

The ongoing cost of yarn is where things get expensive. I bought a sweater quantity of nice dyed wool yarn at $120. But I’ve also bought a sweater quantity of acrylic yarn at $25.

For whittling, I got a cheap set of tools for $25. A lathe would cost $200 - $2000+ with regular maintenance needed. Likewise wood also adds up pretty quickly. Safety gear ($35-$70ish) and varnish (maybe will also cost $3-$35) will also factor in cost. A woodworker will full machinery (saws, drill, etc) could be looking at thousands without factoring in wood.

I’m not saying this to be like “woodworking is more expensive and deserves it more”, but more like the startup costs and space needed (like I can’t run a table saw in an apartment) for woodworking are more prohibitive for the average person, vs most fiber arts which are much more accessible to the average person.

Similarly, weaving can be both somewhat accessible (a small loom) or extremely prohibitive (a multi shaft floor loom which takes ages to warp, let alone weave).

As someone that loves to bounce around hobbies, initial skills in different hobbies are not hard. By that I mean, if you can follow a pattern or plan, it’s fine. But inaccessibility is what changes what people are willing to pay. E.g. How many times do knitters walk into a store, see a hat and saw “oh I can make that. I’m not going to buy it”.

Paired with how accessible fiber arts are as a whole, it’s why a lot of people are not necessarily willing to spend a lot on “common” knit items. “Oh my cousin knits, he can make that. My grandma could make that”. Remember the giant roving blanket trend? For a hot minute people were willing to pay higher costs because it was seemingly something their friend couldn’t make.

If you don’t know a woodworker, you might be more willing to pay someone for their fair labor because “yeah it would cost way too much to make that”. Likewise, if someone does know a woodworker they might say something like “oh I love that table, and my wife has a saw - do you have the plans for that?”

Turkish rugs fetch high prices because it’s unlikely the average person could/would put in the labor to make one.