Struggling to create new ideas that are fun, intriguing, fit your audience, and aren't just another version of something you've already done? There are several methods to generating new ideas. In this blog post, I'll take about five s...

Join us for the first featured designer of the month, Hannah Thiessen, the knitting pattern designer behind Hannah Belle Knits, author of the Slow Knitting books, and owner of By Hand Serial. In this live chat, we talk all about Hannah’s creative jo...

As a new knitting pattern designer, it's often a dream to think of collaborating yarn dyers. I remember feeling like I'd be a "real" designer as soon as I started collaborating with yarn dyers. {Spoiler alert: I still didn't feel like a "real" desig...

As I was collecting information from my Instagram audience about their perspectives and opinions on test knitting and tech editing, I received several responses from test knitters for what they wanted to share with knit and crochet pattern designers...

When you've finished writing your knitting pattern, you've only finished the first step of the process. Often the following steps, where your pattern is reviewed and edited, take even longer. If you're familiar with the design process, you're likely...

Do you like to hang out and interact with fellow knitters? Do you enjoy casual conversation that is always sprinkled with knitting chat? Do you like to get to know the personalities of the people you buy from online? Would you like to get to know me...

When you've finished writing your knitting pattern, you've only finished the first step of the process. Often the following steps, where your pattern is reviewed and edited, take even longer. If you're familiar with the design process, you're likely...

When you've finished writing your knitting pattern, you've only finished the first step of the process. Often the following steps, where your pattern is reviewed and edited, take even longer. If you're familiar with the design process, you're likely...

We're used to conforming to the expectations of society, family, friends, all of the people that surround us... and so it can be difficult to actually listen to yourself. But, I've found the most important thing in building the business of...

You have your knitting pattern design idea, but you're feeling stuck. Where do you start? What process should you follow? Does it matter? What if you forget an important step? How do I design a knitting pattern? First of all, if these are the questi...

Have you ever thought about how much stories connect us as human beings? I've been thinking about it a lot lately. We are each unique individuals, with different paths, different interests, different struggles, different goals. There is so much...

Have you heard about the Design Circle?! It's a brand new group that I just launched for knit and crochet pattern designers. Our knitting and crochet communities are filled with hundreds of indie designers, but there aren't a lot of resources availa...

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 knitt...

Many of us start out designing patterns without any clue of what it entails and what sort of tools we will need for our work. As we run into a problem, we start searching Ravelry forums or try to figure it out on our own. So if you're in the ea...

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 you...