Stock(inette) Market: May 20th to June 17th

Hello again! Thank you for your patience as I get back in the saddle after my trip to Iceland! You're in for an awesome version of the Stock(inette) Market today as we work through a whole month's worth of data.  This marks the beginning of my transition to monthly posts; this will help us see the data in a larger picture, and also give me a little bit of a breather between posts.  We've got a little more catching up to do after this one, so there'll be one more post in a couple weeks, and then it'll be every month from then on out!

Before we start, I have to send a special shout out to Annika Barranti and Dianna Walla for their help in my absence; these awesome ladies made sure that all the data was recorded so there wouldn't be a huge gap in statistics.  Please join me in thanking them! (Pssst--Annika's got a sale going on one of her adorable patterns (coupon code: POSY50) and Dianna just put out a gorgeous tee.  Just saying.)

Neck accessories continue to be popular over this month, capturing 47% of the Hot Right Now real estate. There was a bit of a shakeup in the other categories--surprisingly, given an assumption that they'd be popular in the Northern hemisphere summer, vests have been replaced by toys.  Cowls and socks also took a larger percentage of the average than previously.  Cardigans and pullovers remain about the same.

There were some wild variations throughout the month in garment type, but most items remained steady overall. The beginning of the month saw mostly organic interest in patterns, with few major publications or sales.  While the few promotions during that time period (a sale from Thea Colman's BabyCocktails and a promotion by Brenda Burrell) bumped pullovers and cardigans, and shawls respectively, the biggest swing occurred at the end of May with the publication of Ashore with Friends, a collection by Cecily Glowik MacDonald that featured a number of sweaters.  This caused a spike in cardigans and a drop in neck accessories.  There was a further spike in sweaters and cowls in the first week in June due to the anniversary celebration of The Plucky Knitter, which featured sales and collections showcasing her yarns.  The end of the month saw a tick back up in neck accessories, which was a bit contrary to the big publication of the time, Knitty First Fall 2013, which only had three neck accessories this time around.  Other notable spikes include a kid's spike around June 7th due to the presence of many patterns by Elena Nodel, and a small spike in cardigans when Knitty debuted.

Solids and semi-solids continued to dominate, with semi-solids the clear winner this time around.  Semi-solids were present in Ashore with Friends, patterns associated with the Plucky Knitter, and in Knitty, so this dominance is unsurprising.  There was a small decline in 3+ color projects, a slight rise in 2 color projects and variegated at the end of the month, and stability in tweeds and self-striping yarns.

Model types also remained relatively constant, with a sharp dip in modeled garment coinciding with a rise in flat garments around the 10th of June. This doesn't seem to be attached to any publication or promotion, nor does it follow our hypothesis of lower modeled counts on the weekend.  There was also a drop in modeled/rise in flat at the end of the session.  Dressforms had a small spike around the 12th, also organically.

Fabric type saw a continued rise in lace over the month, even though there were several sharp organic drops throughout the time.  It had a steady presence both organically and in the publications of the time period.  There was also a slight rise in colorwork with several spikes towards the end.  Cables, though continuing to maintain a low profile during the summer months, had a slight rise.  Colorwork remained steady and stockinette, after starting high and with a big presence in Ashore with Friends, dropped slightly over the month. 

Color was as widely variable as ever during this time, but was relatively constant overall.  There were major spikes in blue, red, and green during Knitty First Fall, and blue continued to be a major player throughout.  Red and green both rose over the month, as did yellow and purple.  Grey and white fell, and black, though remaining low, did climb slightly.  This does raise the question of whether we do indeed favor bright colors during the summer months, or whether instead those colors are already pre-selected by the mood board and yarn support process of larger publications. 

Overall, while there were some large publications that debuted during this time, quite a lot of the changes that occurred were the result of organic searches and results.  It will be interesting to see if there is a marked difference between the two sources of traffic over time.  What do you think will occur?