free patterns vs paid-for patterns

I've been debating for a while now, whether or not to write a post about this, since this is something that has affected not only myself, but several other designers out in the knitting and crochet community.

I've got quite a few patterns available for free, as you can see... but these are all for small projects (1 skein or less) - I haven't posted them for sale largely because I personally only would want to post larger patterns for sale, for items like shawls or sweaters. This perspective will vary from one designer to the next. The knitting community has, for the most part, greatly & graciously appreciated the quantity of free patterns out there, and whenever possible, supported designers who chose to charge for their patterns.

Designers should never have to feel guilty for charging for a pattern. Most people - whether they knit or not - can appreciate the quantity of work that goes into knitting a garment. There's as much work that goes into writing out that design, and making sure that it's as accurate as possible.

Now, it will happen, on occasion, that there'll be a pattern that will come up for sale online or in a book or magazine, and there'll be free patterns that are very similar to it that will pop up. Assuming that the authors of the free patterns aren't purposely and deviously trying to make a sale pattern available for free, but rather these free patterns are merely coincidentally similar, then whoever decides to make the pattern that's for sale shouldn't feel any sort of guilt from having to buy the pattern, despite the availability of the free similar ones.

In my case, what happened a couple years ago, was I designed a sweater similar to the one worn in the movie The Big Lebowski. My brother was a huge fan of the movie, he loved the sweater, he wanted one, and he had requested one from me. At the time, there were no patterns available. So, I had to somehow improvise one. I did, and as I knit mine, I wrote out my pattern the best that I could. I had never written a sweater pattern before, but I had already knit several sweaters, so I had a fairly good idea of how to go about creating one.

My brother's sweater was gifted in September, for his birthday. The pattern became available for sale soon afterwards in the etsy shop I had at the time. As it turns out, exactly a week after I had mine up for sale and linked to ravelry, another designer had come out with her own version of the Lebowski sweater, and had decided to share it for free.

I have to admit, at the time I prided myself in finally coming out with a sweater pattern that seemed to be in such high demand; people had been posting online for years, desperately wanting a Lebowski sweater pattern. And it did bother me a bit that someone else not only came out with a pattern pretty much exactly at the same time I did, but I felt a little undermined that it was available for free. But, our patterns were different enough, and at the end of the day, it was really coincidence that we both had a Lebowski sweater pattern that came out at the same time, so I really couldn't fault anyone for that.

The problem came, though, soon afterwards. And it largely came because there was a free pattern out there, which inevidably conflicts with a pattern for sale.

I had sold a few of my patterns, and as far as I knew, everything was fine. A year had passed, I had quite a few people buy my pattern and knit it, and I had received quite a few emails of people who had finished my design and they all seemed to turn out rather well. The issue, rather, came about on ravelry - I had a couple people buy my pattern, and within a couple months, wrote very mean messeges to me about how they believed I was trying to rip them off, SIMPLY BY HAVING A PATTERN FOR SALE when there was another one out there for free.

In my defense, I told them, that my pattern and the free one had come out within a week of each other, and a basic pattern search on ravelry would show both of these patterns. They chose to buy my pattern, I couldn't be held responsible for that.

It was only AFTER that, that I was told that my pattern was apperently riddled with mistakes, although those mistakes were noted absolutely nowhere. The couple who had complained about my pattern said they would ONLY let me know what these mistakes were on the condition that I paid them for it - which is unheard of, at least as far as I was concerned.

Sidenote: I've frequently come across mistakes in patterns, in both ones I've bought AND ones I've used for free. In EVERY case, I have not only contacted the designer with the mistakes I've found, but I've also made note of them in my notes on ravelry. If for nothing else, that there is SOME mention of erratta SOMEWHERE, and there's a chance that the next person who knits said design MIGHT come across my notes and can make the necessary adjustments. So far, in all of my years at least on ravelry, this has been what other knitters have also done with the patterns they've made. I've even posted, out of curiosity, in ravelry's forums, if a designer should pay their paying customers for pattern corrections, to which I've got an astounding 'no'.

Back on topic: I came to the conclusion that what these couple buyers had was buyer's remorse. I get it, it sucks to have to pay for something when you later discover you could've gotten something very similar for free. This was something that was reiterated a few times to me by these few people: I owed them because they believed I cheated them out of something. I even had one person wanting me to pay her back for the yarn she bought, because she used the colours I did in my original design, rather than using the origincal colours from the Lebowski sweater. Huh?!? And another knitter who, even though she bought the right yarn, knit much too tight and would up with a tighter tension (and therefore, a smaller sweater) so, according to her, I owed her for that as well.

Eesh... one has really nothing to do with another.

I want to note, only because I've been asked and this has been commented on, that I've absolutely not had a problem with the other (free) pattern, nor an issue with its designer. She's a wonderful designer and we've had a good chat about our sweater patterns when they were first released in the ravelry communtiy. The issues solely lied with the few knitters who have a) bought the pattern, and b) commented on their own issues of these seemingly conflicting designs.

On a personal note, it has hurt me quite a bit when my pattern came out that I was given as much grief as I had, simply because I decided to charge for my design, and I apparently had a very selfish audacity to offer a pattern for sale when was out there for free. I took it very personally then, and it still bothers me a bit to this day, to be attacked in such a way not only privately, but also blatently and publicly, online, simply for having a pattern for sale. I didn't steal the design, and yet I felt like I was being crucified simply for having a pattern for sale.

It had been, after a year of being available, taken down. I had completely removed it and was since very much discouraged for even considering sharing another pattern (for free OR for sale) because of those couple incidents.

I have, though, a number of times since, been asked to at the very least share my intarsia charts for the Lebowski sweater pattern I made, and I stood on the fence of whether or not I wanted to even share them privately, because of all that had gone on. So, I simply declined.

Now, 3 years to the month later, and after several more requests for at least the charts (and a few requests for my version of the pattern as well) I decided to post it up as only a ravelry download here - charts and all. I'm posting with a great amount of hesitation, but hopeful that maybe even part of my pattern is helpful to anyone who wants to knit a sweater, and that there's an effort for positive construction to move forward.

Seven Year Itch (totally improvised!) sweater for myself!

I can't believe that I finally finished knitting a sweater for myself! Woo hoo!

Last September, DH & I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary - and one of the traditional wedding gifts for the 7th year is wool, so DH quite wonderfully gifted me a gift card to knitpicks. :) I bought some Wool of Andes yarn in Winter Night, used a cable design from Cables & Arans by Erika Knight for the sleeves, and improvised away.

 The whole thing is seamless in a sense - the decreases make it look like I've knit the sleeves in seperate peices, when in fact it was all joined together in a yoke-sweater fashion. I officially finished it very early Saturday morning (at 2:30am!) and it has been blocking for the rest of the weekend!

Today is Sweater Day - World Wildlife Fund

Today is sweater day ... the World Wildlife Fund is encouraging everyone to wear a sweater, and turn the thermostat down by 3 degrees to help reduce carbon emissions. So, today I've done just that. Temp's down to 18 degrees Celcius and I'm wearing a handknit sweater that my grandmother knit me about 12 years ago, which I adore.

Hugging Earth today. :)

dog sweaters!

When I posted a few days ago that I was collecting dog sweaters for local shelters, I didn't think I would get a response so quickly! But, I already received a package from Anna over at puppypocket on etsy! She included these 5 lovely sweaters and some doggie treats: which are super lovely! Thanks so much!

 

... which are super lovely! Thanks so much!

collecting dog sweaters for local animal shelters

I started doing this a bit last year, but really didn't keep up with it, I think partially because I started too late in the year. But, this year, I think I'll need to start a bit earlier.

I've got three very local animal shelters, who would gladly take in knitted or crocheted dog sweaters - one that is local to me in Mississauga, and two others that are local to family members who live within Ontario but at least an hour's drive from me. I'd like to be able to collect @ least 20 sweaters per shelter - so a total of 60 at least. Although knitted or crocheted sweaters are prefered, any sort of dog sweaters would be greatly appreciated, as long as it's warm.

The sweaters must:
- wrap around the dog's front legs. No cape-style sweaters.
- made from a warm, machine washable yarn or fabric. If it’s not machine dryable, that’s ok, but at least machine washable. Many dogs are rescued in the winter and suffer from frostbite and hypothermia, so a warm fiber content would be needed for these dogs
- fit a 60lb dog or smaller. There's no minimum size, but anything that would fit up to a 60lb dog would be ideal.
- knitted or crocheted doesn't matter, but please nothing lacey or with big spaces in them. If you're making something with granny squares, make sure that it's a more 'closed' pattern. We're aiming more for warmth rather than pretty. 
-  All sweaters must be submitted to me by September 30, 2010.

To get my mailing address, please email me at purplespirit1 {at} hotmail {dot} com ... or via ravelry - I'm knitphomaniac there.

Some examples of this size dog (up to 60lbs) can be found here and here.

Thanks. :)  

help for Haiti

Just an fyi... I've decided to donate $6 from each purchase of my Lebowski sweater pattern to different charities and organizations that are currently helping out in Haiti, from now until Valentine's Day.

If you want to find the pattern via Ravelry, click here - and if you're not on Ravelry, then you can go directly to the pattern on etsy here.

Donations will be divided between Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, among others.

another sweater finished

I just finished knitting this sweater, which is too adorable. Intarsia is a pain in the butt to do, not my favourite, but love how it turns out.

More info about this sweater can be found here in my other (sheep themed) blog. :) Check it out!

another sweater for charity

I knit this sweater for afghans for afghans youth campaign using a little over 2 skeins of Lamb's Pride Worsted yarn, in old sage. Pattern is from a book called Paton's Back to Basics 2. I used an aran weight yarn for a pattern that called for worsted, and followed the sizing for an 8 year old. Buttons were 5/8”.

As it turns out, instead of having a ‘standard’ 25.5-26.5” chest, I think what I wound up with is a 33” chest. So, the 8 year old who winds up with this will be swimming in it. Oh well, lesson learned for the next time I make this pattern. (Or, to look at this more “glass half full” - this was purposely made to be loose fitting, lol!)

The pattern in the book says that a size 8 would fit a 25.5” chest, and according to the craft yarn council's site for sizing for an 8 year old, a 26.5” chest. Anything 4-6” bigger is considrered loose fitting, and 6” or more is ‘oversized’… hm… well, hopefully it’s a garment that will nonetheless be put to good use, it should be warm enough.

finally finished - DH's sweater!

I started knitting this sweater back in May... and because I was distracted with knitting my brother's Lebowski sweater and other projects, this got pushed off more and more.

Had I stuck with it, it would've been done for DH's birthday @ the end of June, but it has now become an xmas gift! (He of course knows about it, because he has seen me work on it... but he can't have it until actual xmas!) I also got him some other items, which are a surprise, which will all be gifted with the sweater!

In case anyone's curious, the pattern is Aran Pullover, from the book Knitting with Balls by Michael del Vecchio... love this pattern!

dog sweater drive

I know that this is a crazy time, everyone's knitting and crocheting for the holidays... but, if you happen to have some time and yarn available, dog sweaters would be greatly appreciated!
I'm collecting sweaters of all sizes, preferably for dogs that are 60lbs or less. Here is what I'm looking for:

- the sweater must wrap around the dog's front legs at least, please stay away from 'cape' looking sweaters. Sweaters that cover the chest as well would be ideal.

- use a warm, machine washable yarn. If it's not machine dryable, that's ok, but at least machine washable. Many dogs are rescued in the winter and suffer from frostbite and hypothermia, so a warm fiber content would be needed for these dogs

I would like to be able to create a care package to donate for around the holidays or by the end of this year, if I can, at least 25 sweaters. These will be going to local shelters, in southern Ontario, Canada. Any colour(s) would be great.

If you could help, that would be wonderful. Please contact me for my mailing address, at purplespirit1 <at> hotmail <dot> com (title the email 'dog sweater donation').

I know, again, that it's late in the year and we're all busy, but this would make a great destashing project, if you have some extra yarn laying around the house and you're not sure how to use it up!

abiding still by the dude

A few weeks ago I blogged about being inspired by The Big Lebowski to start creating a Dude sweater, since there was no pattern for it that I can find. (Despite endless searches and joining a few Lebowski themed ravelry.com groups!) So, I finished the torso today! Just have to figure out how to do sleeves, sew it all together, and I'm set! woot! ... Pictures will come soon!

more sweater progress

Here is what 2 skeins knit look like:

Not the best picture, mind you, but you get the idea. Lighting sucks, sorry. Lucky to have this much done so far. Hopefully no more frogging!

anti sweater progress, froggery and recovery

(insert curses here)

I stupidly realized that I had knit 8" of sleeve w/o starting any increases at 6". So I've had to frog 2" worth of cables and reknit that part, which took me all of Friday and yesterday. Ack.

But thankfully, now it's fixed and I'm on my merry way.

sweater progress

My goal is to keep progress on my sweater via my blog ~ and hopefully it'll become a weekly contribution. I hope to knit at least 1 skein's worth of sweater a week, so it'll get done before winter ends!

So far I've been working on this sweater for a few days (not even a week yet!) and I've already got one skein's worth done, in the sleeves:

If the cables weren't taking me forever to do, I'd have a lot more done, but the cable's only on the sleeves, so it's worth its intricacy. Also, knitting a sweater on 4mm's is also contributing to how long it's taking, but I'm sure it'll be well worth it!