Knitting on Ravelry
Ahh, the joys of Ravelry. I don’t know what they are, personally, as I was late joining the party and am still awaiting my invite. I have heard a lot of discussion about Ravelry, so it will be interesting to look around. Granted, most of the discussion I have heard has been on some of the lists for designers that I belong to.
Those discussions led to other discussions, such as the question “What is a Designer?”. For me, it is rather similar to cooking vs. being a chef. There is the hobby segment, the talented home enthusiast, and the professional. What does it mean to be a professional designer?
The first obvious answer to that quesiton is that it has become a business. In as much as it is a business, it has to be treated as a business. This is hard for people to do when they begin their journey as a “real designer”. I prefer calling it a Professional Designer.
An interesting thing I see as a professional designer (and something that causes professional designers a lot of angst) are invitations to submit designs for publication where they have the honor of having their design in said publication, and it will be great publicity for you, it will get your name out, wonderful exposure, blah blah blah. Did I mention that their is no monetary compensation and that they want the copyright? Thereby ensuring you will never recieve any income from that design for the work that you did on it.
In the design world, that copyright is the coin of the realm. There has to be a balance between getting your name out, and paying someone to do this for you by giving away your copyright. The ONLY time I consider such an arrangement (where I do not get paid, or the amount is small) is if I retain that copyright. At that point I can use the design for other things, which greatly enhances my chances of recouping my investment in the design.
LaMancha, for example. The test knitting was $200, and the tech editing $165. That does not include my time in sizing, writing the pattern, layout of the pattern, chart and schematic, and corrections after tech editing. Really puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? Yes, I could have knit it myself. But, the knitting would not really be free even if I knit it myself. I would simply be paying for it with my time rather than money. In the end, time is money too. Time spent test knitting is time that is not spent working on writing patterns or working on the layout of the chart. And tech editing? It does take your patterns to a more polished level.
It is hard to catch everything that needs changed on your own. And it is hard to see where you may need to be a little more consistent.
On the side of the knitter, there are a lot of choices out there. Among them are the many free patterns that abound on the net. The question has been posed, “Why should I pay $5 for a pattern when I can get one for free?”. I take you back to LaMancha, and the figures I shared above. Finding a free pattern that has that much thought and attention to detail, sizing, accuracy and so on for free is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Why? Simply look at the economics of it and you will have your answer.
That is not to say that you won’t find good free patterns. There are designers that offer some on their sites to help promote interest in their patterns. Should you find one from a designer that you like, strongly consider purchasing a pattern from that designer.
There are more and more designers every day. There will always be “designers” that are so excited to get published that they give their copyright away. They remind me of Sally Fields clutching her Oscar, saying “They love me, the really, really, love me!”. In the end it hurts all of the professional designers, as reimbursement for designs has not kept up with other wages in other industries. I had one company (quite popular too so I won’t name names) who responded to comments regarding the cost of design”We love your work, but we can get less experienced designers and have three or 4 designs for the amount you want”.
We were not talking about an amount over $300 either. Granted this was not for the copyright, it was for licensing the design. Who really stands to make money on the design work? When a design is popular, not only are their sales in patterns, but sales in yarn. This discussion happened after a pattern they had carried was their all time best selling pattern. They wanted exclusive rights for one year. I wanted fair reimbursement for what I was expected to provide: a sample garment (I did not have to provide the yarn), and a complete pattern that was “press ready”. If I did not have to do the final press ready layout on the pattern and provide the sample garment it might not have been so bad. I walked away from it, as I would rather do business with folks who understand the economics of it for me as well as their own bottom line. I just want to be treated fairly.
Another distinction of the professional designer, in my honest opinion. Look at who the pro’s are, the names you admire and respect. Where do you see their designs? The difference is they treat it as a business. And they have to, it is how they earn their living. I consider myself a professional designer, as I treat it as a business, although it is not my primary method of earning an income (I work part time as a nurse). I can say without hesitation if I did not work as a nurse, I could not afford to do the design work. It does not pay enough for me to do it as my primary method of income. If I had a bigger name that would be, I am sure, a different story.
That’s okay with me. I enjoy what I do, both as an RN and as a professional designer. I design what I like, with an eye to what I would like to knit or wear. I work with who I want to work with, and the yarns that I want to use. Even where my designs have been in publications and the yarns have been more or less chosen by someone else, they were yarns I liked. I had input on the yarn as an integral part of the design.
So, when you see discussions or groups for designers, remember that there are all kinds. And hopefully know when you are looking at your pattern that there is a tremendous investment in time, energy, and income to produce that pattern. The designer has trusted you not to abuse their copyright by making copies for friends or selling the finished item in a cottage industry. It amazes me how many times we see the “C” word crop up still in this day and age, customers in yarn shops who expect to get a xerox copy of a pattern because they just spent $80 on yarn. I hope (although I know it will never dissappear) that knitters stand up and say this is not right. Just as I hope (although I know it will never change) that budding designers quit giving their work away.
Peace and Knitting, JoLene Treace
