Saturday 3 September 2016

Thank you for the freebies...

Today you're going to get the benefit of some of my thoughts of one of Ravelry's hottest topics - free patterns. This isn't however going to be a discussion of the pros and cons of independent designers posting free patterns - there have been plenty of arguments about that - it's more aimed at free pattern users, who presumably want designers to keep offering free patterns, just to explain a bit more about how you can say thank you and make sure (without it costing you a penny!) that offering free patterns stays worth our while?

First question, I guess, is why is it important to say thank you? Well, here's how much work goes into writing the pattern. First, you write the pattern. You don't of course just sit down and start writing - a designer will swatch, maybe do some maths, check standard sizes, spend some time thinking of a pattern name. The yarn then needs to be sourced - either the designer has paid for the yarn herself, or she has spent some time and effort getting yarn support. The designer then knits the sample (or pays a sample knitter to do it for her). There's then a photo session, involving either getting somebody to model it or somebody to photograph it, spending some time taking different shots and thinking about how to present the pattern - I usually try & find an attractive or appropriate location as well. And spend a bit of time rowing about it with my photographer aka husband ("Take more. I look fat. No, now I look weird.") Then you choose your photos, lay out the pattern and proof read. Next the pattern will get tech-edited (for which the designer pays a tech editor) or tested (a process of several weeks even for the simplest pattern) or both, and corrections made.



I hope I've persuaded you that, if you're then able to get the results of this work (for instance, my Beaujolais Mitts, above) for free, it's worth taking some time to say thank you.

When you're thinking of ways to say thank you, take a minute to think about why the designer (and I'm talking about professional (full-time) and semi-professional (design & have a day job) designers here, not people who just do it as a hobby) might post the pattern for free. Patterns which are posted for free permanently are usually to allow people to test out whether or not they like the designers work, and also help to keep up the designer's profile on Ravelry by getting more people to look through her shop. Patterns posted as a short-term promotion essentially are aimed at the same thing (although I will confess to having offered one after a rubbish week because I basically needed to bring a bit more love into the world - even if it's only love for a knitting pattern...). However, there's not much point for her in doing this if all that happens is lots of people download the pattern to their Ravelry libraries and do nothing else.

So, if you like free patterns and want them to keep being offered, here's some things you could think of doing when you download a free pattern, whether it's permanently free or on special promotion:


  • Favourite and queue the pattern as well as downloading it;
  • Make a comment to say thank you, and if you like the pattern, say so;
  • Take a look through the designer's shop. If there are other patterns you like, why not share the love and favourite them as well?;
  • Post in the groups you're in on Ravelry about the pattern you have downloaded;
  • Best of all, make the design and post your project onto Ravelry. Many knitters just have no idea how much we love seeing that people are making and enjoying our designs!
If you want to look at my free patterns, you can find them all here. Don't forget to say thank you!