Stock(inette) Market: December 29th-January 29th

Hello and happy February! Okay, not so much with the happy if you're as cold as I am, but the days are getting longer and there's hope (or maybe just the smell of Valentine's Day candy) in the air.  Let's see what January brought us in terms of knitting stats--but first, if you haven't looked yet, take a look at the list of designers participating in the Olympics/Ravellenics donation drive.  It's growing daily, and I have a wee bit of a cry anytime anyone else signs on.  I couldn't be more proud of my community! 

Also, after a lot of discussion following last month's post and query about monetizing The Stock(inette) Market, I had decided to add a PayPal donation button to each new post.  However, in researching it further, PayPal places certain strictures on the open-ended "Donate" button, as opposed to the set-price "Buy Now" button; you must be (or it is strongly recommended that you are) a registered non-profit to use it.  So I'm still looking into further options.  Thanks for your input so far--much appreciated!

 Now! Back to stats.  Neck accessories gained back some percentage points in January, up from 22% in December.  Hats and cowls, while staying popular, shrank from 18 and 19% to 13% each, and garments rose from 7% each to 10 and 12%.  This is bringing us more in line with what we saw at this time last year, so I'll be curious to see what happens in the next month or so--whether garments regain dominance over hats and cowls, indicating a seasonal trend, or whether accessories stay on top, indicating a change from last year.  There were two other changes this time around--despite the release of patterns from Stephen West's Crazy for Color collection towards the end of the month, men's garments dropped out of the top grouping, and mittens and gloves gained a place for the first time ever. 

Garment types didn't see a whole lot of change over the month, despite several sharp spikes in multiple categories.  The three big movers were neck accessories, which fell over the month, and pullovers, mitts, and mittens/gloves, which rose.  The former saw several spikes both organically (as over the around January 6th-12th) and concurrent with promotions (including one by Mademoiselle C late in the month).  The latter three all had organic spikes throughout the month, but garments (including cardigans as well as pullovers) were well represented in the many and major publications of the month: Knitpicks Gloss Collection at the very end of December, Brooklyn Tweed Winter 14 on the 7th-9th, Berroco Folio and Norah Gaughan vol.14 from the 10th-12th, Amy Miller's collection with Malabrigo, Classics, on the 15th and 16th, the Scrumptious Collection Vol. 3 from Fyberspates, and the Interweave Knits Spring 14 preview.  We saw a sharp sock spike concurrent with a promo from Louise Tilbrook, whose Ravelry store is predominantly socks, multiple organic hat spikes throughout the month, and a homegoods spike at the end of the month related to the Ravelry Spotlight on chevrons.  This is probably the most varied month we've seen in terms of predominance; five different categories took the lead over the time.  Given that December is almost universally given over to gift knitting, we may be seeing three possible options: one, an organic shift back to the normal patterns that preceded the holidays, with a gradual mix of gift knits fading out and the regular distribution of knits fading in; two, a shift to a completely different algorithm altogether; or three, a sense of relief that, since gift knitting is over for the season, you could knit anything you wanted--and therefore the knitting populace ran amok.  Something to think about!

Yarn type was also relatively stable over the month as a whole, but there were many spikes and trades during that time as well.  As usual, solids and semi-solids traded for dominance, with tweed taking over during BT Winter 14.  Semi-solids had an organic spike early in the month, and then two later concurrent with Amy Miller's Classics and the Scrumptious Collection.  Solids didn't have as many spikes, just the one organic one later in the month, but had a steady presence that caused them to gain over the time period.  3+ color projects rose slightly, perhaps due to the chevron projects spotlighted late in the month, but all others remained steady.

Modeled garments remain the clear, steady winner, but the other three spiked at various times during the month; mystery knits have seen a consistent presence with Ysolda's Follow Your Arrow MKAL, dressforms saw organic spikes throughout the month, and flat items saw consistent use throughout, and a spike at the end of the month due to the Rav spotlight on chevron projects.

It's hard to even know what to say about the fabric type data for January; while each individually maintained a steady trend throughout the month, they traded for top spot and spiked so often and so variably that it's hard to create a clear analysis.  Texture and stockinette won overall, with large spikes in the former correlating with BT Winter 14 and Amy Miller's Classics.  Lace spiked multiple times in relation to both organic causes and to publications such as Norah Gaughan's vol.14, the Scrumptious Collection, and Mademoiselle C's promo.  Colorwork also peaked in the middle of the month organically, and even cables saw play organically in the beginning of the month and again in BT Winter 14.  This again points to a very volatile month in pattern distribution or selection; with such a wide range it's clear that January isn't necessarily susceptible to the typical trends we might see in other months.

As with the rest, color was also all over the place in January.  Though the cool tones we saw last winter are predominating (blue, white, and grey), there were also spikes in red and green several times throughout the month.  White and black both rose steadily through the month (both were featured in many of the colorwork projects seen in January, and white solo in many projects), and though it spiked throughout the month organically, blue fell overall.  Brown, green, and red also fell, despite the aforementioned spikes, and the colors we tend to see less of, such as purple, orange, and yellow, rose.  The next time I write a post will be a year-long wrap-up, and how colors have shifted over that time is one of the things I'm looking forward to exploring most.

So, in summation, January was pretty crazy.  Though the predominant winners that we've seen previously remained steadily trending across the month, the numbers within that were wildly variable and unpredictable.  Almost everything that could've spiked did, both organically and due to the large number of publications.  With everything as up in the air as this, I look forward to seeing what the next month will bring!