You're right. I've made some things from old stuff I had around the house and it didn't cost a thing. I was mainly thinking of the crafts I've done-knitting, weaving and spinning. Knitting an adult sized sweater with nice yarn can be really expensive- even one with a simple design. And though buying hand spun yarn is probably more expensive than spinning your own, it is possible to buy very nice quality mass produced yarn pretty cheap. Knitpicks sells Peruvian wool for $1.79 a ball! Unfortunately for me, most of the crafts I've chosen don't save me money if I want to use good supplies. I spent $40.00 on fiber plus the pattern and shipping to weave my mother a beautiful scarf. She loved it and loved that it was made by me- but I'm sure I could've found her a beautiful scarf on sale somewhere for half that or less. But it wouldn't be the same- and that's what I meant when I wrote that. Making your own doesn't mean you will automatically save money or even make something that looks better than something you could buy- but people do it anyway. I think because of what keryx was saying in her post- people want to be able to be able to create- to have something they can perfect and control.