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You have your design idea, and you've started to write out your knitting pattern. But suddenly you're at a standstill: what all do you need to include? What if you forget something? I've found there are seven key components that knitters (and your tech editor) are looking for in knitting patterns. Include these parts and you will avoid several edits from your tech editor, and many questions from knitters working your pattern. What do you like (and dislike) about other knitting patterns? First of all, I think it's always helpful to reference patterns that you love to work from. What makes those patterns so enjoyable to work? Think about the parts of a pattern that you always use; make sure you include those parts. Then think about patterns that have left you feeling lost, frustrated, and stuck. What pieces of information were they missing? Make sure you include that information in your pattern(s). Then take a look at your favorite knitting patterns to work from, and take notes on the key features that you want to be sure you include. Identifying the parts of a pattern that you find helpful – and then determining the way you present each part – will help you create your unique pattern style. Of course, even though your pattern style will be unique to you, there are some key components that most, if not all, patterns should include. We will talk about those in just a minute; but first, one more thing that will make your patterns unique: your customer. Always keep your customer in mind. It's important to think about the customer you're designing for. Ask yourself: What do they already know? What will be new information to them in this pattern? What do they need to be reminded of each time they work a pattern? Do they need written instructions or charted instructions (or both)? Do they need additional descriptions or linked videos? How do they prefer to go through a pattern? Once you have an idea of what they need (and don't need), you can filter which parts of a pattern are necessary for them, and which aren't. It will also tell you the best way to organize the information within your knitting pattern. Key Features to a Knitting Pattern First and foremost, it's important that your pattern has instructions that are clear and easy to understand for your customer. Some knitters prefer short, concise instructions; some knitters prefer lengthy instructions with a lot of detail; and some knitters prefer to have a video to watch rather than a written pattern. Be sure that you cater your pattern instructions to your customer so they will enjoy working through the pattern and find it easy to follow. If you can, I always recommend working with a professional tech editor, who will look over your pattern for clarity and accuracy after you've completed writing the pattern. The next important part of the pattern is the part that tells the knitter how they can create exactly what you've created. This includes yarn information, needle information, sizing information, gauge information, and an abbreviations list. How to Share Yarn Information Within a Knitting Pattern The knitter working your pattern will need to know what kind of yarn they will need, and how much they will need. If you know a knitter is likely to use the exact yarn you used, you can include the number of skeins, balls, or hanks that you used. But I think it is always important to also include the specific amount of yarn you used, particularly for knitters that will be making a yarn substitution. There are many reasons a knitter may choose to work with a different yarn, for example: financial accessibility, location accessibility, interest in a different fiber type, or the yarn you used was discontinued. Sometimes a yarn company may provide a yarn in different quantities (i.e. a 50 gram skein or a 100 gram skein), so providing only the number of balls, skeins, or hanks can be very confusing. When you're including the amount of yarn used for a design, be sure to include the weight (grams and/or ounces) and the length (meters and/or yards). It is pretty common to include yards, meters, and grams. Don't forget: It's common practice to add an extra 10% to the amount of yarn you used when listing the amount of yarn required for a pattern. This is because every knitter may use a different quantity of yarn, and this ensures that knitters working your pattern won't run out if they follow your recommendation. While you want to include the amount of yarn necessary for each size, it is also very helpful to include the information for just one ball, skein, or hank. This is especially helpful for knitters substituting the yarn and wanting to ensure they've found an adequate replacement. Bonus: This isn't necessary, but something that I like to include in the yarn section is a link to the yarn dyer's website, especially if the dyer provided yarn support for the knitting pattern. It's basically like giving an extra shout-out to the yarn dyer by making it easier for knitters to check out their website. Even if they've already picked out their yarn for this pattern, maybe they'll find something for another project! What Information Do I Need to Include About Knitting Needles in My Pattern? The most important information you need to share with the knitter about their knitting needles is the size of knitting needle they will likely need, the type of knitting needle they will need (circular, double-pointed, or straight), and the length of knitting needle they will need. When talking about the size of the knitting needles used for a particular pattern, it will always differ from knitter to knitter based on how loosely or tightly they knit. For this reason, it is important to provide a needle size that will work for the "average" knitter. Since I am a loose knitter, my patterns always call for a different needle size than I used for the design. I always plan to increase the needle size by about two sizes, then I take into account all of the needle sizes my test knitters used, and I refer to the chart of recommended gauges and needle sizes for different yarn weights in Amy Herzog's Knit Mitts book. The chart gives me a good idea of what needle sizes are typical for various gauges, and the test knitters give me a good idea of how the specific stitch patterns work up. The reason I really like referencing the chart in the book is that it allows me to ensure that my test knitters' results make sense and fit the 'average' knitter. You can learn more about this book, and other resource books that I use, in my blog post talking about tools for designing and selling knitting patterns. If your pattern requires multiple needles, make sure you include information for each needle type the knitter will need to work your pattern. In this section, also be sure to include information on any other tools the knitter will need for the pattern, such as cable needles, stitch markers, progress keepers, darning needle, or waste yarn. Always include the number of each item they need, as well as any particular information on sizing that would be important. Including Gauge Within Your Knitting Pattern While isn't gauge information isn't absolutely necessary for someone to work your pattern, it is absolutely necessary for both you and the knitter to be confident that their project will end up the size that you promise in your pattern. Therefore it is important that you include gauge information for each stitch pattern that is prominent within the pattern. Providing a stockinette gauge is helpful, and makes for a simple swatching experience for the knitter, but if your design isn't primarily worked in stockinette, it isn't a very accurate representation of the design. One, because not every knitter is proportionately tighter or looser with every stitch type, and two, because the swatch is also supposed to give the knitter a good idea of what the fabric of the finished object will be like. So, when you're including gauge information, be sure to include the row and stitch gauge for all of the important stitch patterns used in the design. I say most important because I don't think it's necessary to include a reverse stockinette gauge in a garment design that only uses two rounds of reverse stockinette. Also be sure that your gauge is the blocked gauge (and indicate so in the pattern) if the knitter will be blocking their finished object. If it is necessary for your particular design, and/or it is information your customer will need, be sure to include any additional information for the knitter to successfully swatch for their gauge. This may include a page that gives very specific instructions on how to work their swatch in the necessary stitch patterns. Sizing Information In Your Knitting Pattern Now that you've provided all of the instructions the knitter will need to work your pattern, and the pertinent information for replicating your design sample, it's important to include information on sizing for the pattern. Even if there's only one size in your pattern, it is still important to include the dimensions of the finished project, so the knitter knows how large (or small) they should expect the finished project to be. If there's multiple sizes in your pattern, it is important to include the dimensions for every size. Always include any dimensions that are important for fit, and especially any dimensions a knitter may want to customize. For example, my hat patterns include the circumference of the hat (and the circumference of the head it will be designed for, since the hat includes negative ease) as well as the height of the hat. This allows the knitter to select the pattern size that they need to knit in order for the hat to fit around their head, and it allows them to decide if they want more or less length on the hat to fit the way they want. When including your sizing information, be sure to include the blocked measurements if the project will be blocked. List of Knitting Abbreviations to "Unlock the Code" You've written out the instructions so they're clear and easy to follow, but what if the knitter doesn't know what it means? Until a knitter knows what the abbreviations stand for - and how to work the required techniques - a pattern can look like a foreign language. And we don't want your pattern to seem like a foreign language! Be sure to include every abbreviation that you use in the pattern in your abbreviations list, and make sure the description clearly indicates what the abbreviation means. For example, some stitches like SSK need a little bit more information than just what each letter stands for. Trying to figure out what the proper abbreviation is for a stitch technique? The knitting abbreviations included in Craft Yarn Council's Standards & Guidelines for Crochet and Knitting is the industry standard. Supplementary Information in Your Knitting Pattern What Questions Will Your Customers Have? Now that you've included all of the information that your customer needs to correctly work the pattern, it's important to think about any additional questions they will have. Will they need additional support with a certain technique? Do they need to have a photo of a specific part of the design? Do they need information for making customizations or modifications? This information will be very specific to your design and your customer. As you work through test knitting and tech editing, you will also receive questions and feedback that will give you a bit of insight into what additional information you can provide to help your customers. Include Photos of the Design Sample While a photo isn't technically necessary in a pattern, it is very helpful as a reference point when a knitter gets stuck. This is especially true if they're confused about a certain part of the pattern and just need to see how the piece is constructed to understand it. It is also very helpful for times when a knitter isn't sure if they've done something correctly or not; having a photo (or photos) can reassure a knitter that they've done it correctly, or let them know that it is incorrect. Always include at least one photo of the design sample within your pattern. Schematics Is there anything about the construction of your design that isn't intuitive to knitters working your pattern? Are there any dimensions in your sizing section that need some clarifying? Is there a specific shape your design should be blocked to, that isn't obvious to the knitter? If you answered yes to any of these questions, a schematic will be very beneficial in your pattern! They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and your schematic will clear up a lot of confusion. Two more things to check... if you're included charts, don't forget the key! And did you remember to include the pattern name? And that's it! You're already familiar with working from knitting patterns, so now it's time to deconstruct what you like and use, and apply it to your own pattern design. How do you feel? Does it feel doable? Is there something you've been missing in your knitting patterns? If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed and want an easy way to keep track of everything you need in your knitting pattern, download this What to Include In Your Pattern checklist so you know you aren't forget anything! You can print out a copy for each pattern that you write, if you find that helpful!

Why go to the effort of writing, testing, tech editing, and charting a pattern if you aren't going to make some money from the pattern? Of course you're going to sell the pattern! But where? There are many locations where you can sell your knitting patterns, and there's no reason why you shouldn't be selling them in more than one location. Here's a summary of the main platforms knitting pattern designers are using to sell their patterns, including a pros and cons comparison and a fee comparison between Etsy, Ravelry, LoveCrafts, Payhip, Ribblr, and using your own website. Selling Knitting Patterns on Etsy Etsy is a great location for selling knitting patterns. They make it easy to set up a shop, create a listing, and have it available for the world to purchase. Another great advantage to using Etsy is that you get to tap into their (very large) audience, some of which are already searching for knitting patterns! The main disadvantage to using Etsy is that there are a lot of other sellers also on Etsy, which means you have to get good with your SEO (search engine optimization) and photography. Etsy also doesn't have the same filter capabilities that a platform specifically created for patterns has. The other disadvantage to Etsy is that, even if your patterns aren't selling, you'll have to pay $0.20 USD every three months, or every time you sell the pattern, for every listing you have just to keep it listed on their website. Fees: Their fee structure changes periodically, but currently they charge a listing fee, a transaction fee, and a payment processing fee The listing fee is $0.20 every time a listing is published. If you have multiple of one item available, you will be charged the listing fee every time that item is purchased, since there's now another of that listing available for someone to purchase. Your listings expire every three months, at which time you will have to pay $0.20 for the listing to renew again. The transaction fee is 5% of the listing price, shipping, and gift wrapping, and is charged after your item is purchased. Of course, if you're selling digital patterns, you won't have any shipping or gift wrapping fees! If you choose to have your payment processed through Etsy, the fee varies by country, but the United States payment processing fee is 3% of the order amount plus $0.25 per order. Selling Knitting Patterns on Ravelry Ravelry is another great platform for selling your knitting patterns. They also have a large audience, and this audience is specifically looking for knitting and crochet patterns. And since the website was created for knitting and crochet patterns, it has a lot of really great filter options that make it easier for a knitter to find your pattern when it's exactly what they're wanting to knit. Unlike Etsy, it is completely free to list your patterns for sale; instead, you only pay fees on the purchases that you receive. One of the big disadvantages to Ravelry is that there are a lot of free knitting patterns available on the website, and not every visitor on the site will be willing to pay you for the hard work you put into your knitting pattern design. Another big disadvantage to Ravelry is that, since their website updates in 2020, many folks aren't able to use the website due to headaches, migraines, seizures, and more. Because of the way Ravelry responded to the situation, there were many crafters that left the platform in 2020 and 2021. I also find that Ravelry's process for listing a new pattern for sale is a bit confusing, especially the first time you try it. Unlike LoveCrafts, Ravelry does allow you to create several coupon and sale options for your marketing, but I don't find it quite as easy as setting up a promotional discount on Etsy. Fees: Ravelry charges a transaction fee, plus you will be charged a payment processing fee by PayPal. Ravelry's transaction fee is 3.5% of your sales each month if you make between $30 USD and $1500 USD. Below $30, there is no fee. Above $1500, the fee is reduced. PayPal's payment processing fees have just restructured. Now they charge 3.49% of the order price plus $0.49 USD per order that is processed using PayPal's payment options, or 2.59% of the order price plus $0.49 USD per order that is processed using a credit or debit card. Selling Knitting Patterns on LoveCrafts LoveCrafts is also a platform that was created specifically for crafters, so it has done a great job of gathering a large audience that may be interested in knitting pattern designs. They do also allow for some filtering of the search results, but it isn't nearly as robust as Ravelry's filter options. Like Ravelry, LoveCrafts doesn't charge you to put your knitting patterns on their website. Unlike Ravelry, you don't have to pay them every month for the fees that you owe; instead, they take the fees out of your payment before sending the money to you. As a new knitting pattern designer, it's also really nice that LoveCrafts has lower fees if you sell less than $40 USD in a given month. However, LoveCrafts isn't a favorite platform among most knitting pattern designers. For one, it can be a bit annoying to upload a pattern, and then you have to wait for them to approve and publish the pattern before it will be available for purchase. And even then, it takes a little while for it to show up in your design profile. This is especially annoying when you're trying to push a brand new launch. If you're tight on money, another disadvantage to selling through LoveCrafts is that you can wait over a month to receive payment for a pattern that you sold, because they send all payments out on the 20th of the month following the purchase. And lastly, although LoveCrafts caters to crafters, they sell a lot of different supplies for knitters, crocheters, cross stitchers, embroiderers, paper crafters, and more; so selling knitting patterns isn't their top priority. Fees: LoveCrafts makes their fee structure pretty simple. They charge a transaction fee of 2% of the pattern cost plus $0.20. If you make more than $40 USD in a given month, they will charge an additional 3.5% selling fee on your month's total sales. Selling Your Knitting Patterns on Payhip As there has been an influx of knitters and designers leaving Ravelry, Payhip has become a relatively popular option among knitwear designers. Essentially, Payhip is a free website shop. For the most part, you aren't going to be getting traffic from Payhip, and knitters aren't going to Payhip to search for knitting patterns. Instead, you'll need to drive the traffic to the website. This is an especially great option if you already have a following of knitters interested in your patterns, but you don't want to create a website of your own. While it is free to list your patterns on Payhip, it isn't my favorite option. From my experience, knitters aren't as familiar yet with Payhip, so they're more likely to go through Ravelry or LoveCrafts to make a purchase. And after I launched my shop on my own website, I immediately received several more sales on my website than I ever did on Payhip. The other thing that I don't love about Payhip is that, while they allow for some customization of your shop aesthetics, it can be very frustrating to adjust. All of that said, if you want to implement a "pay-what-works" option, Payhip may be a great place to test it out! You can set a minimum purchase limit, and customers can pay that price or any amount above that price. Fees: Payhip charges a 5% transaction fee if you use the free plan, a 2% transaction fee if you use the plus plan (which costs $29 USD per month), and no transaction fee if you use the pro plan (which costs $99 USD per month). Plus, you will be charged a payment processing fee by PayPal, which is 3.49% of the order price plus $0.49 USD per order that is processed using PayPal's payment options, or 2.59% of the order price plus $0.49 USD per order that is processed using a credit or debit card. Selling Your Knitting Patterns on Ribblr Ribblr is a relatively new knitting pattern platform on the scene. The website was created for knitting, sewing, and crochet patterns, so it's definitely a great place to find knitters. Of course, their audience base isn't nearly as large as Ravelry or LoveCrafts, but it is growing. While they don't have the filter options that Ravelry and LoveCrafts have, they do allow you to filter by the techniques used in the pattern. Ribblr also does not make you pay a fee for listing patterns on the website. The part that makes Ribblr unique from other knitting pattern platforms is that it's an interactive tool for knitters that will give knitters only the instructions for the size they are working. It also allows you to link videos throughout the pattern so knitters can easily watch tutorials as they work through the pattern, and link yarns within the materials section so knitters don't have to go searching for the yarn you recommend. As knitters work through the pattern, they can easily track where they are in the pattern by marking a section as complete. While I think this technology is really neat, and a great method of modernizing knitting patterns, it does require a lot more work from you as the designer to add your patterns to their system, because you have to follow their formatting and manually input information rather than just uploading the PDF of your knitting pattern. If you include charts within your patterns, you will also need to completely recreate the chart within Ribblr. The other main disadvantage, in my opinion, is that you can't lay out a pattern how you'd like to aesthetically. Fees: Ribblr currently only charges a sale fee of 4%, or $0.25 USD, whichever is greater. Plus, you will be required to pay Stripe's payment processing fee of 2.9% of the order plus $0.30. Your Own Website Last, but definitely not least, you can set up your own shop on your own website to sell your knitting patterns. This scenario is a lot like selling your patterns on Payhip (you have to direct your own traffic), but you're able to completely customize the way your shop is set up and how your customers experience it. You will likely have to pay an annual fee, in addition to your general website fees, for hosting this shop, but the fees you pay for each transaction should be less than any other platform you use. Fees: Fees will vary a lot depending on the website you are using. You may have to pay for an upgrade on your website annual fee, or you may have to pay for a transaction fee to the website host. You will also likely pay the payment processing fee to the website host, PayPal, or Stripe. I use Wix. While it requires an upgrade to collect money on my website, I had to make that upgrade for my membership plans as well. Then Wix only charges a payment processing fee; the customer can choose to pay through Wix (payment processing fee is the same as Stripe) or PayPal. Alright, so those are the main platforms that knitting pattern designers are using to sell their patterns. Let's talk a bit about comparing each of the platforms. A Comparison of Platform Features Below is my summary, in table form, of everything I've talked about so far, with exception to fees. A Comparison of Fees Ok, so what do all of the fees end up meaning as a business owner selling your knitting patterns? It's hard to compare when each one uses a different structure. So here is a graph comparing the total fee based on pattern price, assuming each order only includes one pattern. It uses Ravelry's mid-range fee, assumes you live within the US, assumes anyone using PayPal uses a debit or credit card, assumes you use the free Payhip plan, and doesn't include any additional website costs you may have to pay for your website. It also includes two lines for LoveCrafts: one before reaching the $40 threshold, and one after. Ultimately, this graph shows us that LoveCrafts fees and website fees (assuming you're only paying the payment processing fee and not additional website fees) will be the cheapest options, and Etsy and Payhip will almost always be the most expensive. It also shows how, as pattern price increases, the fee difference between platforms also gets larger. Making Your Pattern Platform(s) Choice Now that you know about the different platform options, it's time to just getting started. Since LoveCrafts and Ravelry can run on autopilot once they're set up, I recommend starting with those platforms. Then I recommend testing a few patterns on Etsy to see if it's a platform that will work well for you. If you're interested in riding with the flow of a new platform (and its technology for reading knitting patterns), go ahead and test out Ribblr. And once you're ready to send your own traffic to your shop, check out Payhip or create your own website shop. But remember, you don't have to do all of this overnight. It can take you several years to try out the different platforms and decide on what's best for you. It's much more important for you to focus and get good at one platform than to try all of the things, get stressed out about all of them, and never establish yourself well on any of them. So where will you be starting today? If you love receiving these helpful tips and resources around running a knitting pattern design business, you'll love the Design Circle, a community of knitting pattern designers asking questions, sharing their tricks and trips, and discussing the ins and outs of running a knitting pattern design business -- plus there's monthly guest speakers talking about business, designing, and more.