The Stock(inette) Market: March 25th-April 7th

An interesting couple weeks in the knitting world this time around--we had promotions, magazine previews, pattern copyright controversy, and a chicken in a dress.  Let's jump right in:

The pattern categories that averaged more than one appearance per collection point did not change from the previous time, indicating that these 9 categories (plus Other) are the core categories for this time of year.  It will be interesting to contrast this to mid-winter, for example, or late summer, to see what changes might occur.  Most garments remained relatively steady during the fortnight, with a slight rise in cardigans and vests due to some strong showings from the Knitscene Summer 2013 preview, which went live at the beginning of the time period, and a few free-for-a-limited-time vest patterns from Elegant Economy Designs at the end.  The most notable shift, however, was right after Easter, when Romi Hill launched her very clever Easter Egg Hunt promotion.  She had hidden 16 pictures of Easter eggs throughout her patterns, and those who found them and reported their location were entered into a drawing.  The upshot of this is that her independent pattern views and clicks skyrocketed, sending her patterns to the front page.  At the peak of this promotion on the evening of March 31st, Romi held 29 of the 48 spots on the first page.  As she is predominantly a lace shawl designer, this greatly affected the make up of the data for this edition.  Shawls did drop once the promotion was over, down past their normal average location, and so I look forward to seeing where they go in the next few weeks.

As you can see from the above percentages, neck accessories continue to dominate on average, with the normal crop of patterns present in addition to Romi's spike.  It's interesting to note that cowls and socks made less of an impact this time around than last, denoting that it's not a general accessory upward shift, but one specific to shawls, scarves, and wraps.

Yarn type remained incredibly steady over the two weeks, with spikes in semi-solids concurrent with Romi's promotion.  This correlation rings true, as many of her patterns are knit in yarn from independent dyers.  There was also a slight rise in two-color projects over the two weeks, but not with any specific impetus, nor outside the realm of the normal fluctuation over a longer period of time; 3+-color projects also dropped slightly.

The spike in lace reflects Romi's promotion midway through the fortnight, but fabrics were mostly constant through the weeks.  There was a slight uptick in cables, but it still averaged lower than in the last edition.  This is concurrent with what I'm seeing in data collection for the upcoming edition--cables seem to be taking a backseat for the spring and summer.

Despite a large downtick in modeled shots during Romi's promotion (many of her patterns are pictured flat or on a dressform), there was a slight rise in modeled patterns over the two weeks, and a slight downturn in those pictured flat. 

Color remains incredibly variable; the strong reds we were seeing previously have gone way down. Orange continues a slow climb, but the other strong colors that rose last time--blues, greens, and yellows--fell.  Purple, white, and grey rose slightly, and other neutrals continued to fall.  I would be curious to tie this to weather conditions in the northern hemisphere; after a somewhat promising week of nice weather, there has been snow and cold in a lot of places, perhaps bringing back some of the more wintery tones. 

That's it for this time--relatively steady numbers all around, with some spikes due to shrewd marketing and industry publications.  In the wings for the next edition--get ready for a spike in men's garments!