I have an unusual job. I write instructions for other folks to make things. Most of the time I write knitting patterns. Sometimes I also write recipes, mostly for baking with food restrictions.

I’m of the opinion that patterns and recipes are nearly the same thing. The words are functionally equal. I’m an Explainer, above all.

Warmth and Color
A few years ago I wrote a pattern called the One-Day Neckwarmer. It took not much yarn, and not much time, to make a very functional and cheerful cowl-like warmer. In stripes of contrasting yarns, it has been made in subtle and feminine colors, contrasting school colors and fashion colors from sophisticated to energetic.

It’s a pleasant knit. Rita B. made at least 5 one year for holiday gifts, if I remember right. She didn’t get tired of them, as the colors changed and the projects ended before boredom could take over.

A Little Help from My Friends
There’s a website online called Patternfish where knitting and crocheting designers can sell their patterns as PDF electronic documents. They started online in 2008. I started selling my patterns through them in 2010.

Last week, Patternfish went back through all of their sales records since the beginning. They tallied total quantities sold and came up with bestsellers. There was one big seller above all, and then top honors for many different categories.

My friend and teacher Lucy Neatby snagged 11 spots in this tally, including the most-sold pattern of all, her “Sea Lettuce Scarf.” I was at a class she did in Lake Orion, Michigan when she came up with the name of that piece. I’m delighted for her success… as she’s a fine human as well as a brilliant designer/artist.

Squee!!!
I’m extra-delighted to say that my One-Day Neckwarmer earned a spot on the top 10 Cowls/Wimples/Moebius category. See?

Thank you to every single person involved with this. Thanks to Patternfish for the acknowledgement. Thanks to them also, for advertising this item in Knitty which was a great boost to my sales. Thanks to every knitter who has knit the pattern. Thanks to those who helped me test knit the pattern so that it didn’t have any hiccups for the subsequent knitters of this piece.

What a lovely boost. Hugs to all.

Added 2/24/2012: Link to Patternfish February 2012 Newsletter with all the top-selling patterns listed.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 7:44 pmand is filed under Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.