Let’s do something scary. Let’s talk about money.

There are two arguments that make the rounds in knitting circles. They go more or less like this:

One: Things are hard. Folks are struggling. Knitting should be financially accessible. Therefore knitting patterns should be free/cheap, or else you’re not being inclusive enough.

Two: Producing knitting patterns takes a tremendous amount of work. Most designers make shockingly little (there’s substantial overlap between ‘designers’ & ‘people who are struggling’). Therefore knitting patterns should be more expensive, or else you’re not fairly compensating designers for their work.

These seem to be in conflict…but they’re not.

As is so often the case, the problem isn’t folks who don’t have room in the budget for extras, nor is it the folks who need to price their work high enough to earn a decent living. The problem is that capitalism has fucked us all over to the point where a huge number of us don’t have room in the budget for tiny luxuries, then convinced us that anyone trying to charge enough to make ends meet is the real villain & is responsible for everyone’s difficulties.

That’s bullshit.

That hurts everyone.

We should stop buying into that.

I want to try something different, so I’ve set up a community supported pattern program.

Details are over here, but the general idea is that as each new pattern comes out, I’ll make a small number of free copies available. I’ve also made a way for folks to contribute towards additional copies. If you want the pattern but it’s not in your budget, use a free copy. If you have extra room in your budget & want there to be more free copies available, donate to cover the cost for someone else.

We’ll talk more about this over time (especially about how, if I get a constant barrage of complaints about the codes getting used up, I’ll stop, because it really does hurt my feelings to be told again & again that the work I’ve done to set up & manage this program & the free patterns I’m giving away aren’t enough).

But I think it has potential!

Again, more details & a link to donate towards someone else’s pattern are right over here.