Money for nothing, kicks for free

I just posted a new sock pattern on Ravelry for free two days ago.  I made a deliberate decision to give this pattern away.  My decision was based a a few factors:  I used a technique that I’ve not used before in a published pattern, it was not test knit, nor did I hire a technical editor.  There was another consideration as well.  I was curious to see how many people would download the pattern because it is free. 

Other than writing a blog entry about the pattern’s availability, I did not announce that it had been published.  Within an hour of putting the pattern in my Ravelry shop, it had been downloaded 10 times.  As of this afternoon, it has been downloaded close to 100 times.  I find it fascinating that I can give away so many copies without promoting.  What would happen if I actively promoted the pattern?  Perhaps several hundred more downloads? 

Which leads me to a question.  A serious question about knitters.  Why are so many unwilling to pay for patterns?  I understand that for some $4 or $5 many be a financial stretch.  Yet many of us (and I include myself) willing pay the same for a large latte and several times a week at that. 

Which leads to another question.  Do knitters expect free patterns to adhere to the same standards as patterns that are available for purchase?  In other words, do knitters expect the pattern to have been tested by others, edited by a technical editor, and offer multiple sizes?  

And a final question.  If you download a free pattern from a designer that also sells patterns, do you consider purchasing one of their patterns? 

I am not trying to start a war here.  I realize that we are motivated by many factors, including our financial means, our desire to support designers--well-known or not, our desire to see our craft thrive, etc.  I ask these questions because I am genuinely interested in the answers. 

Vicious cycle

I thought that being unemployed would leave me with plenty of time to write, knit, cycle, bake, and play with the dog.  I also thought I'd finally paint my bedroom.  I haven't done much of any of these things really.  Especially the writing and painting the bedroom parts.

I've been knitting and making up new sock patterns, which I duly work out on graph paper in my notebook.  I make up patterns faster than I can knit them.  Which frankly makes me sad because I think I will never knit all the socks I've designed and then I lay awake at night telling myself that I need to go to sleep now but I can't because I've got to figure out out to make a design work.  So at 2:00 AM the light goes on and I drag my graph paper out and fuss until the design looks like it will work.  All of this over thinking sock design interferes with my sleep which interferes with my ability to do much of anything else.  But I was also unemployed.  So I had plenty of time to do all those other things.  Right?

Well, not really.  Because you see I've landed a sweet, little short-term job in Napa.  Now I spend time driving to and from Napa and when I get home, wait for it, I'm tired.  For real tired.  I guess at the end of the day, I'd rather have a job and a bit of time to do the other things I love like knitting, cycling, and playing with the dog.  Funny thing is that just as much knitting, cycling, and playing with the dog gets done as when I didn't have the wee job.

Oh, and the bedroom really doesn't stand a chance of being painted any time soon.

PS  All patterns in my Ravelry shop are 50% off during the Tour de France!

In honor of winter finally arriving

Winter has finally arrived in Northern California and in honor of it's late arrival, all patterns in my shop are 20% off through March. 

Pyroclastic, Revisited

I've been meaning to publish the pattern for Pyroclastic with the charts for the arch shaping since the copyright reverted back to me last year.  Well, I finally got around to it. The pattern is available in my Ravelry shop. 

I've clarified the reason for the marker placement.  If you have thought about knitting Pryoclastic but were confused by the written directions, this version should eliminate all doubts about what exactly is going on with the arch shaping.  I also added some other yarn suggestions. 

The sock in the photo is knit in Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock Solid Pond Blue, which is now available in 100 gram skeins.

New sock pattern

It has been a long time since I published a knitting pattern so this feels really great.

The new pattern is called Indigo Waves and is available for purchase on Ravelry. I used Siren 2 sock yarn from Pigeonroof Studios.  The color way is Indigo Ink.  It is a beautiful semi-solid showing dark blues at their best.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve for 2012 including an improved written pattern with charts for Pyroclastic.  Look for it soon in my Ravelry shop.

Not socks

I love the images I've seen of Sufi whirling. The cable in these mitts remind me of this movement. These started life as an idea for a sock that just didn't work. I couldn't let go of wanting to use this specific cable. I just couldn't figure out where else I could use it. So the unwearable socks languished hidden in a drawer for about six months. (And, I do mean socks; I had to knit a pair to prove to myself the design really didn't work.) I moved on and worked on other designs. One night while doing mental inventory of my designs, the idea of using the cable in fingerless mitts hit me.

I knit these out of A Verb For Keeping Warm Creating in Supernova on US #1/2.25 mm needles. They use less than a 100 gram skein of yarn and are fast to knit.

The only tricky bit is the cable. It is a ribbed cable over 11 stitches. An 11 stitch cable is a bit tight to work on the cross simply because of the number of stitches crossing one another. Because it is worked over an odd number of stitches some of the knit stitches become purls and some purls become knits. If you follow the directions, it works--you just need to forget what your brain tells is logical and trust that it works as written.

Dervish was test knit by members of the Free Pattern Testers Ravelry group. Michael Del Vicchio provided the technical editing. The pattern is available in my Ravelry shop.

Stitches West

This year I worked the A Verb for Keeping Warm booth on Saturday and Sunday. It was so wonderful meeting everyone who stopped into the booth. It was especially thrilling to talk to people about my sock patterns. I still can't believe that knitters like them.

What else can I say about Stitches. It is very different to experience this show working a booth compared to being just an attendee. I meet other vendors and designers, which won't have happened if I had been only an attendee. I saw a lot of people whom I only know about because of Ravelry. It is so nice to put not only a face but a real person to a familiar name.

Watching Kristine grow Verb for the past year has been so much fun and to be a part of it has been incredible. If not for Kristine, Adrienne and Kathleen, I won't have ever put one of my sock designs out there in the world. So thank you to the three of you for pushing me in one of the most exciting directions ever!

Stitches West

I spent yesterday at Stitches West in Santa Clara. I had a great time, met a lot of people from Ravelry including the guys from Yknit and Jenny and Nicole from Stash and Burn, and visited a lot of vendors that were new to me thanks to the Ravelry passport game.

I'm still recovering from the yarn fumes, so here is my day in pictures.

The patterns:


The books:


The yarn:
Sock yarn from A Verb for Keeping Warm; for my mom.

Primero from Brooks Farm; also for my mom.

Sock yarn from Tactile Fiberarts; for my mom.

Millends from Blue Moon Fiber; medium-weight Socks That Rock.

The roving:
Fire on the Mountain merino superwash from Blue Moon Fiber.

50% merino 50% bamboo from Creatively Dyed Yarns.

Merino in "Cosmos" and polwarth in "Correopsis" from A Verb for Keeping Warm's Garden Series 2007.

I'm a lemming!

Or, am I a sheep? I received my invitation to Ravelry a few days ago. Today I finally had an opportunity to poke around a bit. Like many people, I found myself sucked in. I've only posted my profile (marlowec) and a few of my finished projects. I can see how one can easily spend hours or days browsing and joining groups. However, this has brought up a question for me. Do I want to spend much time (any time?) drooling over other people projects or work on my own? I realize that this is not as ponderous as "to be or not to be?" and that the kingdom of Denmark or any other kingdom is not at stake. But it does present a conflict in my life and I probably shouldn't spend much, if any, time thinking about it. So tonight, I'm going to continue my quest for the perfect neckline for my top down sweater. (I would post a picture but it looks like all of nothing.)