I was delighted to find out that my design, Gowanus, was mentioned in the latest podcast of Stash and Burn (episode 99). I want to make sure everyone checks it out because it’s a really fun knitting podcast.

They talk about the Gowanus scarf being a one skein project, which is something that I also love about the design. I’ve got a corner of my stash that’s just odd balls of whatever is left over and I’m always trying to think of what to do with them. I should warn, that I used all but about 5g of the 50g skien for the sample. It was seriously cutting it close. If you select a heavier fingering weight yarn, you may come up a tad short.

Original Sketch of the Miss Myrtle fingerless gloves

My Miss Myrtle fingerless gloves, another one-skein project, were originally supposed to coordinate with the Gowanus scarf. I still think they do, but they kind of became their own animal. You can see some similarities with the picot edging and eyelet motif. Also they use the same kind of yarn. Miss Myrtle became much more frilly though in the end.

At the Williamsburg waterfront park in Brooklyn

I recently released my Miss Myrtle Fingerless Gloves pattern here on my own website, on Ravelry, and on Knitpicks. I’ve had a huge response, so thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments and messages. I’ve had more people buy the pattern in the first month than I ever expected. I’m hoping to start seeing some pictures of FO’s on Ravelry soon too!

The gloves were a project for me to work on while traveling around in Ireland. As I boarded the plane, all I had was a lace chart for the leaves (the result of at least half a dozen swatch experiments), and some yarn. As my design process seems to dictate, I had to frog the first glove several times and completely rethink the design. By the time I returned from my trip, I didn’t have anything to show for the hours and HOURS of knitting, but I did have a pattern. I got back to work on the samples and was so surprised at how fast the projects went.

I’m not usually into such girly stuff. There’s something slightly edgy about this design that somehow balances the prissy frills. I think fingerless gloves have kind of an 80′s punk connotation. Miss Myrtle is  sort of like Laura Ashley meets Billy Idol. There’s something kind of Madonna circa “Like a Virgin” about them too. That’s fun.

I love my gloves and I can hardly wait to get the first pair back from Knitpicks. My friends want their own pairs. My mom wants a pair. Every time I wear them on the subway, a stranger asks where I got them. Convinced yet? Okay! Go here to buy the pattern!

All of the patterns for sale on THIS website are sold through Ravelry.com. I have recently agreed to let Knitpicks.com sell some of my patterns on their site in their independent designer program. Today I got a message from someone with a question about Knitpick’s pricing on my patterns. I think maybe other people wonder how this works too, so I’m going to post my response here on my blog.

Her question regarding my Red Bud Gloves pattern was: I love your pattern, but I wasn’t happy to have paid $4.00 here on Ravelry when I could have purchased them for $1.99 on Knitpicks. Can you tell me why you have two different prices?

The simple answer is: I am an independent designer and Knitpicks sets their own prices for which I am not responsible.

When I first self-published this pattern I set the price at $4 because that’s what I felt the pattern was worth. Later, I submitted my pattern to Knitpicks, and $1.99 is the price they set for it. Knitpicks does not have a contract to sell my pattern exclusively. Because of this, I can sell my pattern anywhere I want, including Ravelry and at my local yarn shop, for any price that I think is fair. Knitpicks uses their low prices on IDP’s to attract customers to their site so they will buy more yarn, which is fine by me.

You may ask, why bother with knitpicks if they undervalue my pattern? I’ve got to look at it with a business point of view. For one, they are able to sell many more patterns than I can all by myself. Also, when I sell my pattern through Knitpicks, I get 100% of the profit. When I sell my pattern through Ravelry I only get around 50% of the profit because all the middlemen (like paypal etc) want their cut. I get the same amount of money per pattern one way or another. I have no incentive to lower the price that I personally set. And Knitpicks is selling lots of yarn, so they’re happy to not take a cut.

One incentive to buying through Ravelry which might justify the higher price for you is that they’ve got fabulous pattern support.  For instance, if I notice an error in a pattern and I make a new version, anyone who purchased the pattern through Ravelry will get the new version automatically.  Additionally, you can always have access to your pattern in your Ravelry library from any computer with an internet connection, which is something my friends and I use often. Knitpicks doesn’t do anything like that.

I hope this answers all the questions regarding this topic. I don’t want anyone to be confused or upset about my prices because I really do think they are reasonable and fair. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

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