tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25615173761177921902024-03-12T19:11:54.949-07:00Where the Red-Winged Blackbird Flies.Knitting, designing, spinning, traveling, dyeing, weaving, learning, and so on. You get the idea.Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-48749161259138566292015-04-26T17:32:00.000-07:002015-04-26T17:32:15.259-07:00Stockinette Market: Taking a BreakHi, friends! First off, thank you all SO much for your kind words on my next steps in this industry. I am completely overwhelmed with your love and support, and am so excited to see where the next chapter of my life goes. It's a big transition, and I'm feeling my way on a lot of things, not least of which is figuring out who I am as a person and what my priorities in life are.<br />
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On that note, I wanted to formally state that the Stockinette Market will be going on an indefinite hiatus. It's been a big struggle in the past year or so to figure out where it fits in terms of priorities as both my design work and my work at Brooklyn Tweed grew, and I found it often getting pushed further and further to the backburner. Rather than try to shoehorn it into the gaps between all my other work and do a shoddy job of it as a result, I've decided that I'll be taking a break from it for the foreseeable future while I figure out what path I want to take. I hope to come back to it in some form, whether it's spot checks on Hot Right Now, or analysis on specific topics, or some other bit of knitting statistical nerdery that strikes my fancy. Thank you to everyone who's been reading and analyzing along with me over the past two years. It's been so great to share this information with you every month. Please keep in touch, and let's keep on looking critically at the ebbs and flows of this wonderful industry!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-58746619428627312122015-03-04T09:40:00.000-08:002015-03-04T09:49:24.825-08:00Ch-ch-ch-changes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">studio keys.</span></div>
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Well, hello there! It's been a bit quiet on the blogging end for me lately--this has been a hard winter here in Maine, and that, combined with a lot of projects in progress, has meant that my energy has had to go elsewhere. I'm planning a big, three month retrospective for the Stockinette Market, so don't worry! I'm still crunching numbers! But today, I wanted to check in about some big transitions that have been and will be going on in the background.<br />
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So, as most of you know, my day job is working behind the scenes at Brooklyn Tweed. I've been here for about three and a half years, and I will honestly say that it has been three and a half years of one of the best educations a knitter and designer could ask for. I've learned so much and made some of the most amazing friends and comrades in this crazy industry, and it's been an absolute privilege to work for such a thoughtful and intentional company. Words can't express how much this job has helped me grow and understand who I am as a designer and a maker.<br />
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In the next few months, Brooklyn Tweed will be moving to a new location, and consolidating the offices into one. The story of where the business will be moving to isn't mine to tell, so I'll wait for Jared to fill you in on that. But when Brooklyn Tweed moves to its new location, I will not be moving with it. <br />
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This has been an incredibly hard decision--being a part of the Brooklyn Tweed team has been such a huge part of my life over the last few years. But at the same time that I've been delving deeper and deeper into the company here, I've been building my own business. Designing, teaching, writing, statistical analysis--all of this was building in parallel to working full-time at Brooklyn Tweed. And, to be blunt, I'm tired. It's been an amazing and adrenaline-filled couple of years as I've juggled everything, but I've gradually come to realize that I can't keep juggling without crashing and burning.<br />
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In addition, I've built the most lovely life for myself here in Portland; my family and friends are here, all of whom give me such energy and joy. My home, at least for where I currently am in my life, is here. There is no place else in the world that gives me such happiness (okay, maybe I could do without a few feet of the snow on the ground). So I knew, when it came time to make the decision about moving with Brooklyn Tweed, that it was time to go off on my own.<br />
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What does that look like for the next little bit? Our warehouse and offices here in Portland will be closing March 20th. I've signed a lease on a wee tiny studio/office space in the same building where Quince has their offices, and I'll be moving all my Brooklyn Tweed operations into there. I'll be continuing remotely full time with Brooklyn Tweed up until around May, and then part time until probably July or August as they hire on new staff in their new location. After that. . . . ?<br />
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The studio is mine, and I'll keep it for my own workspace after Brooklyn Tweed is done. I've got some cool projects lined up for the next year or so, and while part of me wants to make sure I have other stuff lined up so that I'll be busy and have that safety net, I'm going to try to take it easy, or at least easier. There's been a lot of <i>me</i> missing in the last few years; emotion, self-care, and care for the other people in my life has kind of taken a back seat to pursuing my two separate careers. So now that I'm transitioning down to one career (-ish--people in the knitting industry never have just one career!), I want to make sure I don't fill that gap with more work. I want to have a life. I want to catch up with me. I want to catch up with people. This may be a bit of a pipe dream, but I'm hoping to regain a little bit more of who I am--the girl who spends all weekend in bed reading, the girl who bakes cookies at 10:30 at night, the girl who goes out for margaritas and ice cream with friends, the girl who spends the day at the beach, the girl who goes running in the summer twilight. I've kind of lost her in the last couple years, and I want to get her back.<br />
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So, there we go. By around fall of 2015, I will be completely freelance as a knitting designer, teacher, writer, and stats analyst. This is more than mildly terrifying, but I am so excited to make it work. So whatcha got going, world? Let's talk, and let's do this.Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-2677038870512491142014-12-17T12:00:00.001-08:002014-12-17T12:00:13.949-08:00Stockinette Market: November 2014Hello, knitters! It's that time of year--I can feel the heat rising off everyone's furiously clacking needles as C-Day draws closer. For a little bit of a break, let's take a look back at what November had to offer by way of numbers!<br />
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There was only one change in the content of the average percentage this month, with toys taking the place of ponchos. Other than that, the categories remained the same, as did their rankings for the most part. There were some percentage shifts from October: neck accessories dropped from 24% to 22%, cowls rose from 13% to 19%, hats rose from 12% to 16%, and cardigans and pullovers dropped from 12% each to 9% and 7%, respectively. This ties in to the trends we've been seeing previously, as well as with the general shift in the winter months towards cozy and necessary accessories. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what happens in the spring--whether cowls are here to stay, or whether they are indeed seasonal and will dip down again during the warmer months.<br />
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There were very few publications in November that made an impact on the HRN standings; most trends were organically based or through the efforts of individual designers. We did see the publication of three different collections: <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/yokes">Kate Davies' Yokes</a> at the beginning of the month, whose one-pattern-a-day release schedule caused a continual buzz in cardigans and pullovers for about a week in a row at the beginning of the month. The 20th saw the release of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/wool-people-vol-8">Brooklyn Tweed's Wool People 8</a>, which caused similar attention in garments, but showed as a spike rather than a continual line. Finally, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/twist-collective-winter-2014-2">Twist Collective's latest issue</a> debuted on the list on the 25th. Each of these publications was garment heavy, and padded pullovers' and cardigans' stats up for the month. However, despite these, both categories fell over the month, as did neck accessories after a promising start. Cowls and hats both rose organically, with a promo from crochet cowl designer <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/deborah-currier-hornyak">Deborah Currier-Hornyak</a> boosting figures for that item near the end of the month. All other garment types remained relatively steady, with little to no movement at the bottom of the spectrum.<br />
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Though solid and semi-solid yarns usually trade for dominance over the month, in November they saw nearly identical drops in prominence as the month went on. Though each saw several spikes throughout the month, in the end the organic rise of variegated and self-striping yarns and the boost of tweeds with Wool People 8 brought their average down. Projects with two colors rose in November as well, following a general trend towards stripes and colorwork this winter. However, 3+ colors fell, suggesting people are going for the simpler, perhaps quicker versions of these trends.<br />
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Modeled garments are still maintaining the majority, with a plateau corresponding to the daily release of the Yokes collection (as the previous days' patterns often remained on the first page as new ones were released) and a spike corresponding to Wool People 8. We did see some organic spikes in both flat items and mystery knits throughout the month, and one spike in dressforms correspondent with Deborah Currier-Hornyak's promo.<br />
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Fabric type kept texture as a clear winner this month, with occasional dips to accommodate the spikes in stockinette that came with Yokes and Wool People 8. Colorwork also saw a spike in the second half of the month, as did lace almost immediately after Wool People. Despite these spikes, texture was the only fabric type that rose over the month; the rest dropped or remained steady.<br />
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Grey, white, and blue continued to hold the top spots in the month, with the former climbing the most as the month went on. Blue had a very sharp organic spike around the 19th which caused it to trend upward as the month went on, but was otherwise relatively mellow in comparison to its usual volatile showing. White fell over the month after several strong spikes in the first two weeks. Red also saw a spike along with blue on the 19th, but fell overall. There were slight gains in orange and brown, typically pretty underrepresented colors, and losses in purple, green, and black. Yellow remained a minimal, but steady presence.<br />
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That's it for November--not a whole lot of violent action, but some interesting things to watch on trendlines as the winter progresses. Hope everyone is staying warm and having a wonderful holiday season!<br />
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p.s. if you're interested in actually *listening* to me talk about stats, I had the pleasure of being a guest on Hannah Fettig's <a href="http://knit.fm/blog/2014/12/3/episode-13-knitting-trends">Knit.Fm podcast </a>a few weeks ago to talk about overall trends in knitting. Have a listen and please do weigh in in the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knitfm">Knit.Fm Ravelry forums</a>!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-67324002310162274382014-11-12T17:12:00.002-08:002014-11-12T17:13:13.611-08:00Stockinette Market: October 2014Hello, knitters! As I write this, the sun is beginning to disappear at the ripe old time of 3:30 in the afternoon, I have the space heater trained on my feet, and there's a lot of what sounds suspiciously like holiday music playing in the stores. October saw the end of the fall knitting season, and we are well and truly into gift-giving land for the knitters of the world. Before I get started on stats, I wanted to give a shout out to an awesome event starting tomorrow(!!!), November 13th, over on Ravelry: the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/groups/indie-design-gift-a-long">Gift-a-Long 2014</a>! With a whopping 293 participating designers (including myself) offering discounts on over 3,800 patterns, you can't help but find something you love. After the sale is complete, we'll all join in on the KAL, working furiously on those presents for the holiday season. More details are up in the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/groups/indie-design-gift-a-long">Gift-a-Long 2014 group on Ravelry</a>--including the massive list of all participating designers and their patterns--but in the meantime, check out <a href="https://infogr.am/2014-indie-design-gift-a-long">the sweet stats</a> one of the organizers put together!<br />
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All right, let's look back at October, when leaves were orange on the trees, "Rhinebeck sweater" were the words on everyone's lips, and on October 9th, Casey at Ravelry made some serious changes to the way Hot Right Now is structured. Starting with <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/for-the-love-of-ravelry/3037644/1-25">this thread and this poll</a>, you can see some very interesting discussions about how different people utilize, understand, and appreciate Hot Right Now. After long discussion, Casey made <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/for-the-love-of-ravelry/3037644/251-275#266">these changes to the Hot Right Now algorithms</a> (detailed in post #266), which should significantly cut down on patterns whose place on Hot Right Now is gained by clicking through from a blind link and then leaving soon thereafter. How is this important to us? Often times, those blind links are in the Ravelry forums, announcing that X pattern is free for a limited time, or on discount for a limited time. <br />
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In addition, on the 29th, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/for-the-love-of-ravelry/3057665/1-25">this change was announced for all patterns going forward</a>: patterns will no longer be able to have promotional text on the photo or additional keywords besides the title in the pattern name. You all know from reading the Stockinette Market that free patterns,
especially those that are free for a limited time, have held a
significant place in the rankings, and in recent months more and more people have begun using text in the main photo to indicate a discount or promo. Though I didn't
see a huge difference in any of our major categories once these shifts
occurred (garment, yarn, model, fabric, and color), the composition of
Hot Right Now itself looks very different as a page. Definitely check it out if you haven't been looking in a while!<br />
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With those details in mind, let's take a look at the numbers! (Also known as, Bristol's been talking for a while; bring on the pretty graphs.)<br />
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Neck accessories continued to decline over the month, going from 30% in September to 24% in October. Cowls and hats took the second and third spot, with cowls up 4% and hats remaining steady. Garments also remained steady at 12% each. We kept the same number of categories as we had last month, but swapped out toys for ponchos as that accessory begins to make its presence known again in the knitting world. Overall, I definitely want to continue to watch how cowls and neck accessories interact in the future. At this time last year, neck accessories held 31% of the average and cowls held 14%; while there are certain ebbs and flows of popularity (for example, cowls are at around 4% through much of the summer), that falling number for neck accessories is definitely an important one. </div>
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We saw a few major spikes in garment type in October, but the interesting thing is that, despite several publications and promos, only one was really associated with these; this was with children's garments at the beginning of the month, concurrent with a "free for a limited time" promo by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/mon-petit-violon">Mon Petit Violon</a>. There were two large organic spikes in neck accessories a week later, and two smaller organic ones throughout the month. Pullovers had an organic spike mid month, and there were several further spikes throughout the month. Indeed, many different garment types traded for dominance in October. The one clear winner in terms of trajectory was cardigans; this saw strong play (but no real spikes) at the end of the month with the publication of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/pom-pom-quarterly-issue-11-winter-2014">Pom Pom Quarterly Winter 14</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/vogue-knitting-holiday-2014">Vogue Holiday 2014</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interweave-knits-winter-2015">Interweave Winter 2015</a>. Pullovers, hats, cowls, kids, and socks all fell over the month. <br />
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Solid and semi-solid yarns traded for dominance throughout October, with solids spiking concurrent with the Mon Petit Violon promo (along with 2-color projects, typical of Mon Petit Violon's work). They then fell as the month continued, with semi-solids climbing slightly. There were slight climbs in tweeds and multi-color knits through the month, and a notable spike in self-striping yarns near the end of the month both organically and in association with a Ravelry spotlight on gradients.<br />
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Model type remained steady through the month, with modeled garments retaining a clear dominance. It's interested to note that there was a clear spike in mystery knits towards the end of the month, something we haven't really seen before, perhaps associated with the Halloween holiday. Items shown flat also had several spikes, the first associated with Mon Petit Violon and the rest organic. Dressforms also saw a small spike on the 12th.<br />
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Texture remained the dominant fabric type almost entirely through October, with two small trades for stockinette at the beginning and at the end of the month. Stockinette saw several further spikes, along with colorwork and one spike in lace. Cables were still low, but maintained a decent chunk of the market. Each category remained steady across the month.<br />
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Colors were as wildly variable as we've come to expect, but grey and blue continued to dominate (though the former climbed and the latter dropped). Again, as we saw above, the only color spike associated with a promo or publication came with Mon Petit Violon at the beginning of the month with a spike in white; all other spikes appear to be organic. Interesting to note is that several colors spikes that don't typically see the spotlight: purple (falling throughout the month) and brown (climbing). Yellow and green had slight rises as well, but all others maintained or fell slightly.<br />
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This has been an interesting month for data; despite several publications and promos, the data was truly in the hands of the knitters. This seems to be the case both pre- and post-Hot Right Now changes, so it will be interesting to see what will happen moving forward. Stay tuned, and I'll see you in December!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-86734000086837817662014-10-20T12:00:00.000-07:002014-10-20T12:00:01.520-07:00Stockinette Market: September 2014Hello everyone! I've just returned from that landmark weekend of the knitter's season, Rhinebeck (aka <a href="http://www.sheepandwool.com/">New York Sheep and Wool</a>). Though the weather was forecast to be high 60s on Saturday, both days ended up being perfect, crisp fall weather for showing off your Rhinebeck sweater. There were some amazing sweaters out there, and it was fun to see which ones kept cropping up. I saw quite a few <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hitofude-cardigan">Hitofudes</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/grandpa-cardigan">Grandpas</a>, and also several <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pumpkin-ale">Pumpkin Ales</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hiro">Hiros</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beekman-tavern">Beekman Taverns</a>. Once you got past the garments, I didn't see a lot of consistency in accessories--I'd be hard-pressed to tell you the shawl of the show, or the hat of the show. Did anyone else get a good perspective on that? Please let me know!<br />
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Though I didn't spend much time in the vendor barns (I need more yarn like I need a hole in my favorite pair of handknit socks), it seemed like it was a pretty even balance between yarn hand-dyers and more rustic, farm-style yarns. <a href="http://www.missbabs.com/">Miss Babs</a> was always mobbed when I tried to take a peek, and <a href="http://www.shop.intothewhirled.com/">Into the Whirled</a> had to get creative and put up a sign showcasing their "invisible yarn" when their booth was nearly sold out on Sunday. I also saw a lot of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/brands/foxhill-farm">Foxhill Farms</a> cormo yarn getting the Charmin treatment, and of course, <a href="http://www.jenniethepotter.com/">Jennie the Potter</a> and <a href="http://jilldraper.com/">Jill Draper</a> were mobbed for much of the weekend. Though I know Rhinebeck isn't necessarily a true representation of the knitting world at large, getting to be "in the field" for the weekend was a lot of fun!<br />
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Jumping back a bit in time, let's take a look at what was going on on Ravelry in September.<br />
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While neck accessories are continuing to hold the lead, they dropped a further 4% from the previous month's average. Hats took up all this slack and more, jumping from 5% of the average to 12%. This is due both to a general uptick in presence due to the imminent northern hemisphere winter (I'm not ready to talk about that yet!) and two promos during the month, one by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/thea-colman">BabyCocktails</a> and one by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/crochet-by-jennifer">Crochet by Jennifer</a>. Cardigans and pullovers took the next two spots due to a strong showing with some garment-heavy collections such as <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/bt-fall-14">Brooklyn Tweed Fall 14</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/quince--co-wool-book-5">Quince & Co.'s Wool 5</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitscene-winter-2014">Knitscene Winter 14</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/what-the-heart-wants">Justyna Lorkowska's What the Heart Wants</a>. However, despite these, cardigans dropped 5% from last month and pullovers dropped another 1%. There were a higher number of categories represented this month as well, with men's garments and toys joining the list. Cowls also gained a few points, as we're starting to see some of the stalwart winter accessories come to the fore, like the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gap-tastic-cowl">Gap-tastic Cowl </a>and the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/honey-cowl">Honey Cowl</a>. <br />
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As we saw with the average percentage above, neck accessories continued to hold dominance, but you can see the sharp decline over the month above. They did have organic spikes at the beginning and twice in the middle of the month, but fell in the last third. Hats rose over the month, with a spike in the beginning tied to the BabyCocktails promo, and both organic spikes at the end and one tied to the Crochet by Jennifer promo. It's interesting to note that September seems to be the month when crochet designers discovered the "entire catalog free for a limited time" model, as knitwear designers have been doing for a couple years, and several of them over September and October have utilized this model. <br />
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Also moving steadily this month were cardigans and pullovers, which seemed to meet each other in the middle of the month and go their separate ways--cardigans climbing and pullovers falling. The former saw a rising wave in the second half of the month both organically and along with Justyna's collection, and the latter fell sharply after a large presence in Brooklyn Tweed's Fall 14 and Knitscene. Cowls and men's garments also climbed organically over the month.<br />
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Though there were many spikes in yarn usage in September, the trendlines themselves remained relatively steady. We saw a sharp spike in tweeds concurrent with the Brooklyn Tweed collection, and though there was a slight drop over the month, it was otherwise represented very well organically. The same is true of solids and semi-solids; while there were several spikes, the general organic overview was very steady. We did see several spikes in 2-color items, which are tied to many of the crochet promo throughout the month, as those were often multi-colored in various capacities. Also notable is a slight rise in the use of variegated yarns, after a long period of steadiness at the lower end of the spectrum. That's one I'll be keeping my eye on in the future!<br />
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Interestingly, though the majority of the industry publications--where we typically see utilizing the most modeled garments--occurred at the beginning of the month, these climbed organically to the end of the month. All other categories remained steady. <br />
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Texture took over as the clear winner of fabric type this month, decidedly besting lace for the first time since March. This was caused both organically and due to a large presence in both the Brooklyn Tweed collection--based on traditional fisherman's sweaters--and the crochet work we saw in the latter half of the month. Lace did continue steady, tying with colorwork for second place across the month, the latter of which saw a heightened presence thanks as well to the crochet promos. Cables and stockinette also remained steady, with a spike in the former corresponding with the Brooklyn Tweed collection.<br />
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The cool tones and neutrals are continuing to dominate this month, with grey and blue trading for dominance most of the month. White saw a large spike near the end of the month with a promo by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/paloma-perez">Paloma Perez</a>, who featured crochet newborn photo props. Despite these colors keeping dominance through the month, we saw rises in red and yellow as well, culminating in an organic spike in the former around the 24th. Green, orange, and black dropped slightly, and brown remained steady.<br />
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So all in all, a bit of an odd month; despite the beginning being loaded with industry publications, trends associated with these collections maintained throughout the rest of the month, indicating that they were on target with the organic interests of the rest of the population. I will be continuing to watch the dramatic drop in shawls over the next few months to see if it levels out, as well as the rise in smaller accessories like hats and cowls. Stay tuned!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-63566119854937392632014-09-19T12:10:00.002-07:002014-09-19T12:10:44.652-07:00Stockinette Market: Summer 2014Well hello there! It seems like it was just yesterday that I had the space heater trained on my feet at my desk, a hot mug of tea at my elbow as I wrote the previous Stockinette Market post (it was not a warm start to the summer here in Maine). And suddenly here we are in the third week of September, a glorious, balmy fall day, poised and ready for prime knitting season! Though--as you'll see from the data below--summer is a slower, mellower time for knitting consumers, that's definitely not the case when you work in the industry. Despite my best intentions to keep up with stats posts throughout the summer, the amount of traveling, teaching, day-to-day work, and deadlines on my plate made it very tricky. So, my apologies for the unintended hiatus! But hopefully I can make it up to you with a super-sized edition this time around.<br />
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Though the organic trends we saw in May slowed down and there were only a few publications throughout most of the summer, there were no radical changes in percentages. The big three--neck accessories, cardigans, and pullovers--maintained their lead, but lost a few points to each of a few other categories: homegoods, kid's, and hats. Kid's patterns benefited greatly from a few separate incidences: Brooklyn Tweed's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/bt-kids">BT Kids</a> launch in mid-June, new children's patterns from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/melissa-labarre">Melissa LaBarre</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/ysolda-teague">Ysolda</a>, and the "going out of business" freebie release of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/boomer-beanies">Boomer Beanies</a> at the end of June. But, as you can see from the individual months' breakdowns below, kid's items dropped 5% from June to July, back closer to their previous percentage; garments also saw a good amount of play in June due to the release of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitty-first-fall-2014">Knitty First Fall</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/berroco-norah-gaughan-vol-15/patterns">Norah Gaughan vol. 15</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitscene-fall-2014">Knitscene Fall 14</a>. July saw neck accessories gaining back a few points, almost to their May numbers, while garments dropped. This slack was taken up by homegoods, thanks to <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">a Ravelry spotlight on bags</a>. August saw cardigans taking a further percentage, due to the release of several garment-heavy collections: <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/twist-collective-fall-2014">Twist Collective Fall 14</a><span id="goog_528887254"></span><span id="goog_528887255"></span>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interweave-knits-fall-2014">Interweave Knits Fall 14</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/pom-pom-quarterly-issue-10-autumn-2014">Pom Pom Quarterly Autumn 14</a>, Kelbourne Woolens' <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knightsbridge-collection">Knightsbridge Collection</a>, Kirsten Johnstone's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kirsten-johnstone">Monochrome collection for Shibui</a>, <a href="http://www.shibuiknits.com/Patterns/Categories.php?Category=Mix">Shibui</a>'s own Fall 14 collection, and Kim Hargreaves' <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/north">North</a>--most of which were published within a few days of each other. Whew! We're also starting to see the creeping return of cold-weather necessities: for the first time since March, mitts are making an appearance.<br />
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Overall, though, in comparison to this time last year, one trend to watch is the overall drop in neck accessory percentages. Last year in June they held an average of 46%, and continued strong throughout the summer. They dropped for the winter slightly, and while they've climbed from their lowest point (22% in December), they haven't yet made up the ground lost. It will be interesting to see where they go over the coming northern hemisphere winter.<br />
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Though most garment trends remained relatively steady over the summer, there was a slight decrease in neck accessories, and an even more marked decline in pullovers, despite the garment-heavy collections mentioned above (themselves responsible for the spike in pullovers at the beginning of August). It remains unclear whether this trend is a result of a bias within the collections themselves, or whether it's an all-over trend towards cardigans after a pullover-heavy year. It's one to watch, for sure!<br />
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There was one massive spike in kid's garments late in June as a result of the Boomer Beanies promo, and a smaller spike in kid's garments concurrent with BT Kids. There were also several neck accessory spikes arising organically throughout. There was also a slight rise in homegoods, tied to the Ravelry spotlight on bags mentioned above. All other categories remained relatively steady.<br />
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Though yarn type remained pretty much steady across the summer, dominance traded several times between solid and semi-solid yarn during that time. The former had a huge spike in relation to the Boomer Beanies promo and also in association with the Ravelry spotlight on bags. Also prominent with the Boomer Beanies promo was a spike in 3+ -color projects, as many of the items featured were in multiple colors. Semi-solids saw play organically throughout the summer, and tweed got a boost during BT Kids and during the Shibui collections in August. 2-color projects also saw a lot of organic action across the summer.<br />
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Modeled garments saw a very slight decline over the summer, with a spikes corresponding to the Boomer Beanies promo, the early August release of the model-heavy magazines and collections. Items modeled flat also fell slightly, and there was a small organic rise in dressforms over the summer as well. Mystery knits remained steady; though several prominent designers held summer MKALs, there were not enough at one time to make a dent.<br />
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Though there were many variations in fabric type over the summer, the only clear spikes were in texture and colorwork, corresponding with the Boomer Beanies promo. Lace continued its decline from May, and texture, colorwork, and stockinette all rose. Cables continued steadily as the smallest portion of the group, but they may shift higher in September's report due to some heavy use in collections and individual pieces.<br />
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The steady, clear trendlines of the other categories were also reflected in color throughout the summer. Though there were several large spikes in white, blue, and grey, non of them especially swayed the course of their respective trends over the months. Grey, red, and orange all rose very slightly and mostly organically. All others remained relatively steady. It's interesting to note that even with the shift of seasons and with the rise in those trendlines, we didn't see much by way of brighter, warmer colors this summer; the most prevalent colors (cool tones and neutrals) were the same as have been popular throughout the year. We'll see what those look like as autumnal colors start to make their presence known!<br />
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So all in all, a calm summer in terms of trends. I've heard it said multiple times that a knitter's interest shifts outside in the summertime, away from yarn, and back inside once the first cold snap hits in the fall. Though my own attention never leaves the needles, it's true that once fall hits, it turns up to 11. So it will be interesting to see what September's numbers bring!<br />
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<br />Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-9895859589994484572014-06-28T15:08:00.001-07:002014-06-28T15:14:41.275-07:00A couple tutorials in brioche and fisherman's ribSo it's no secret that I'm a huge, huge fan of brioche and fisherman's rib. I've been working pretty obsessively with them over the last year or so, and the obsession doesn't show any real signs of stopping. I've had a couple questions recently on troubleshooting with these stitches (and one question relating to my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/linum-tee">Linum tee</a> design with Knitscene in particular), so I thought I'd do a couple quick video tutorials on getting more comfortable with them. The first is one laddering down and rebuilding stitch columns in these stitches:<br />
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And the second is on how to perform a knit-1-below into a stitch that was decreased on the previous row:<br />
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Now, YouTube star I am not, but I hope these will help explain the process and help people get more comfortable with some of my favorite stitches!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-3262314677754155572014-06-03T13:57:00.000-07:002014-06-03T13:57:04.138-07:00The Stockinette Market: May 1st-May 31stAlert: as I type this, the window is open next to me. I repeat, THE WINDOW IS OPEN. The last few days here in Maine have been one constant internal monologue of "summersummersummersummersummer", and while I'm still knitting constantly, I'm thinking wistfully of how I'll manage it outside for the next couple months. (Two words: cupholder chair.) The knitting world seems to be having a similar shift in focus right now, with most activity the result of organic spikes rather than publications or promos. Let's take a look at what went down in May!<br />
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After a few months of upward climbs in percentage points, neck accessories remained at a steady 39% this month. Cardigans saw a small gain, taking the upper hand over pullovers with a gain of two percentage points. All other categories fell, with kid's garments dropping off the list from last month and men's garments and vests joining. The strong showing in garments is due to a few garment-heavy publications or promos at the beginning of the month, with <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/amy-christoffers">Amy Christoffers</a>' <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/moses-hoodie"><i>New American Knits</i></a>' preview going live, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/amy-miller">Amy Miller</a> and the ladies of Plum Dandi (<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/alicia-plummer">Alicia Plummer</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/melissa-schaschwary">Melissa Schaschwary</a>) doing promos. Neck accessories' continued dominance was almost entirely organic, with only a small percentage of promos or publications featuring them; the most prominent of these was <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitscene-accessories-2014">Knitscene Accessories</a> mid-month.<br />
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The trends over the month reflect the garment-heavy nature of the first few weeks of the month, with especial spikes for <i>New American Knits</i> and Amy Miller. There were also a few spikes later in the month correspondent with <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">Ravelry front page spotlights</a> on bonnets, which skewed towards kid's patterns, and blankets. Most other spikes throughout the month were organic, with neck accessories taking the clear and dominant lead mid-month forward with a boost from Knitscene Accessories.<br />
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Yarn type was an interesting one this month; semi-solid and solid yarns switched for dominance the end of the month without any especial triggers from publications or promotions. There were spikes in the former tied both organically and tied to the Amy Miller and Plum Dandi promos, but it faded over the month. The latter had a few organic spikes at the beginning of the month, and otherwise gained organically throughout. We saw a few small spikes in two- and three-color patterns spaced almost equally through the month, with some tied to the kid's bonnets and some organic. Variegated and self-striping also gained some ground over the month, showing up in old favorites like <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hitchhiker">Hitchhiker</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nymphalidea">Nymphalidea</a>. It seems as though these are more prominent with higher rates of neck accessories, so it would make sense that as those gain in the summertime, variegated and self-striping yarns do as well.<br />
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Model type remained steady, though there were a few interesting organic spikes in both items photographed flat and those on dressforms throughout the month. Items on a model fell slightly over the month, after the high numbers we saw in April and the garment-heavy beginning of the month (as sweaters correspond more closely to human models than other projects). <br />
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Fabric type also remained steady, though with many spikes across the board from each of lace, texture, colorwork, and stockinette. Cables were the lone underachiever, hanging out at 1-3 items per day. Lace continues to dominate overall, mostly organically, as there was little presence in the clean lines and simplicity of Amy Christoffers, Amy Palmer, and the Plum Dandi ladies (who were all responsible for the spikes in stockinette early on). The spike two-thirds of the way through the month of texture and colorwork corresponded with the Ravelry spotlight on bonnets, many of which were crochet and in multiple colors.<br />
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Blue has started descending from its dominance of the last few months, with one last major spike mid-month. Otherwise, grey, red, and white continued strong, with the latter two climbing over the month. Purple, green, and orange also gained over the month as the aforementioned blue, brown, and grey fell. Though this is happening a few months after we saw it last year (perhaps in response to the late spring?), this is a similar changing of the guard in color that we've seen previously.<br />
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So there were some interesting things to keep an eye on for next month--blue dropping, semi-solid and solid switching dominance, and whether neck accessories have leveled off for the summer or will keep climbing. Stay tuned for June! Now, where are my iced tea glasses. . . <br />
<br />Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-64873471236386993402014-05-19T17:30:00.000-07:002014-05-19T17:30:01.111-07:00The Stockinette Market: April 1-April 30th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Helloooooooo, spring! Though today's been a bit on the rainy and windy side, there's no denying that the flowers are blooming full force, and the time for knitting out on the front porch with a tall glass of your favorite cold beverage is almost upon us. Let's see what effect the approach of warm weather in the Northern hemisphere is having on the knitting world!</div>
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We saw neck accessories skyrocket this month, due in part to <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/rosemary-romi-hill">Romi Hill</a>'s <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/-romis-studio/2905626/1-25">Easter Egg Hunt</a> promo about two-thirds of the way through; shawls, stoles and scarves moved from 30% of the average percentage last month to 39%. This is high in comparison to what we've seen for this category over the last few months, but it's still 11% shy of the 50% of the market we saw last year during the same promo and time period. Garments also gained some ground this month, with cardigans moving from 14 to 16% and pullovers from 14 to 15%, partially due to the presence of the garment-heavy <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/wool-people-vol-7">Wool People 7</a> from <a href="http://www.brooklyntweed.com/">Brooklyn Tweed</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/twist-collective-spring-summer-2014">Twist Collective Spring/Summer 2014</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interweave-knits-summer-2014">Interweave Knits Summer 2014</a> and partially for organic reasons. These gains caused vests, mitts, and men's garments to drop off the list, and all others maintained small percentages.<br />
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The biggest spikes in April were in neck accessories, associated with Romi Hill's Easter Egg Hunt promo and organically near the end of the month. These caused a mild upward movement in neck accessories over the month. There was an impressive organic spike in cardigans at the beginning of the month, and garment spikes concurrent with the release of Twist Collective, Wool People 7, and Interweave Knits at the very end of the month; the release of the latter two brought pullovers up from a very low start at the beginning of the month. All other items remained relatively steady at a low percentage, as we saw at this same time last year.<br />
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Yarn types were also relatively steady, with most spikes corresponding to publications/promos: semi-solids with Twist Collective, Romi's promo (say that ten times fast), and Interweave Knits, and tweeds with Wool People 7. We did see an organic spike in semi-solids at the beginning of the month, and several small organic ones in solids throughout. It was a quiet month for multi-color projects, variegated, and self-striping yarn, but they remained relatively steady across the month.<br />
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Model type this month also corresponded to publications, with spikes occurring for Twist Collective, Wool People 7, and Interweave Knits. Flat garments had a small arc during the first half of the month and at the very end, and dressforms had a spike tied to Romi's promo. All model types remained steady throughout the month.<br />
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Lace saw a major peak this month with Romi's promo, and smaller ones organically and with Twist Collective and Interweave Knits; it also climbed over the month. Stockinette had an organic spike about a third of the way through, but dropped severely during Romi's promo. Mid-month, both as a result of Twist Collective and organically, brought us a few less prominent spikes in colorwork and texture. Each of these dropped slightly over the month as a result of lace gaining prominence. Cables had a bit of a spike with Wool People 7, but remained otherwise very low. <br />
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Cool colors continued to dominate this month, with blue the clear winner and spikes of white, grey, and purple. Twist Collective brought us spikes in green and red, but it looks like all other spikes were completely organic. Grey, black, and white dropped slightly over the month and blue rose, but everything was otherwise very steady.<br />
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So there you have it--a somewhat steady month across the board, but one where the percentages are creeping to a neck accessory and garment, semi-solid, cool-toned, lace majority. I look forward to seeing what May brings!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-69694684347938020392014-04-10T12:20:00.002-07:002014-04-10T17:30:01.632-07:00Stockinette Market: March 1st-March 31stAh, March. In like a lion, out like a lamb. Or, if you were in Maine, lion full-throttle all the way through. The same can be said of activities in the knitting industry: as I collected data for the month, both industry and independent publications were stacking sky-high in the ranks of HRN. In the course of the month, we saw the release of Quince & Co.'s <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/scarves-etc-2014">Scarves, Etc. 2014</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/sparrow-sans">Sparrow Sans</a> collections, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitty-spring--summer-2014">Knitty Spring/Summer 2014</a>, previews for both <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitscene-summer-2014">Knitscene Summer 2014</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitwear-spring-summer-2014">knit.wear Spring/Summer 2014</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/joji-locatelli">Joji Locatelli</a>'s <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/bohemian-girl">Bohemian Girl</a> collection, and the indie collection of kid's patterns, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/from-mama-with-love">From Mama, with Love</a>. WHEW. There were also promos, trends, Ravelry spotlights--let's take a look at one of the busiest months on record!<br />
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Neck accessories are slowly inching their way towards a larger majority; we've seen them climb over the last four months from <a href="http://blackbirdturning.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-stockinette-market-december-2nd.html">22%</a>, to <a href="http://blackbirdturning.blogspot.com/2014/02/stockinette-market-december-29th.html">28%</a>, to <a href="http://blackbirdturning.blogspot.com/2014/03/stockinette-market-january-30th.html">29%</a>, and now to 30%. Garments have also gained back a larger share, with 28% total as opposed to last month's 24%. Both garments and neck accessories saw a heavy presence in both independent and industry publications during the month. Despite these jumps in the major categories, the number of categories themselves haven't dropped, but there have been significant losses in certain categories to compensate. Cowls, for example dropped from 12% last month to 7% this month, and hats went from 11% to 7%. Though more data is still needed, I'm enjoying the subversion from what you might expect as the norm: it looks like garments and larger projects get more play in the spring and summertime, and smaller, more portable accessories in the wintertime. We'll see if this holds true!</div>
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The percentage gain in garments holds true in the monthly timeline; the first half of the month saw a promo from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/heidi-may">Heidi May</a>, a crochet designer who works primarily in
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After the midpoint of the month came the onslaught of the publications, nearly all of which featured garments heavily: Knitty and knit.wear overlapped mid-month (spiking pullovers and neck accessories), and were quickly followed by Sparrow Sans (spiking vests and tanks). Soon thereafter was a free pattern promo from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/patti-waters">Patti Waters</a>, whose work didn't have a particular focus, but showcased garments, neck accessories, hats, and socks. This was overlapped by Bohemian Girl (sweaters) and a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">Ravelry spotlight on zippered cardigans</a>, which was then overlapped by the Knitscene Summer 2014 preview (sweaters and vests). </div>
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In short, March was crazy busy. We saw this a little bit last year, with multiple magazine previews and book releases as well. Looking at last year's timeline, we're waiting on the release of a few further Spring/Summer issues of publications, but otherwise everything should be relatively calm for industry publications until Fall issues start coming out. </div>
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The most notable spike in semi-solid yarn use in March was tied to Patti Waters' promo two-thirds of the way through the month. Most of her designs featured on the first page were knit in either Madeline Tosh or Malabrigo. This was offset at the beginning of the month with Heidi May's work, which tended to be all solid colors, often with 3 or more in one project. Though solids were featured there and in Quince's Scarves, Etc. early in the month, they fell overall, with only small spikes concurrent with Knitscene and an organic spike a few days later. 2 color projects also spiked slightly around that same time, with a presence both in Knitscene and organically. Semi-solids remained strong throughout the month, featuring heavily both organically and in many of the publications.</div>
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Due to the heavy presence of collections and industry publications, we saw a larger proportion of modeled garments than usual in March. This spiked during the arc of Knitty/knit.wear/Sparrow Sans/Patti Waters mid month. Flat garments saw a little bit of organic play early in the month, but otherwise dropped slightly. The same is true of dressforms and mystery knits; they saw small spikes, but mostly fell overall to compensate for the rise in modeled garments. </div>
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March had the closest race between fabric type we've ever seen. Typically, even if there's not a lot of variation, there's a firm leader. There's not a clear one here; texture and colorwork (tied to Heidi May's work) dominated at the start, and lace and stockinette climbed at the end. Cables did have spikes concurrent with both organic causes and Patti Waters' promo, but remained otherwise low-key. The uptick in lace matches what we saw last year at this time, so we'll keep an eye on it to see if that does indeed follow the seasonal trend.<br />
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The colors this month remain consistent with last month, with white, grey, and blue remaining dominant. There were spikes in purple and red to match Patti Waters' promo, and several organic spikes in red and pink a third of the way through the month. Grey had a very big spike at the end of the month with the intersection of Bohemian Girl and Knitscene, both of which featured it heavily. Despite these spikes, most colors stayed relatively constant; the two major movers were red, which dropped overall after the spikes early in the month, and purple, which rose from relative obscurity due to Patti Waters' promo at the end of the month. Black also dropped after being used as an accent color in many of Heidi May's pieces, and green dropped organically. <br />
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The big trends we're seeing for this month are a shift toward garments and neck accessories from the smaller-accessory based trends we've seen in previous months. Yarn usage was heavily affected by promos throughout the month, and model type by the industry publications later in the month. Color remained constant with the previous month's model, with spikes governed both by promos and publications. <br />
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Now that most of the Spring/Summer publications are done, we'll be getting mostly organic results in April. I look forward to sharing what happens!<br />
<br />Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-44170966658999802762014-03-17T17:09:00.000-07:002014-03-17T17:09:46.497-07:00Stockinette Market: January 30th-February 28thWelcome to the one year anniversary of the Stockinette Market! What a momentous year it's been in the knitting industry. I've always enjoyed tracking trends, but doing so with concrete data
rather than vague theories and suppositions has been a whole new
experience. I feel like my brain's grown three sizes over the last
year! I hope you've also enjoyed coming along with me on this journey,
and are looking forward to what happens over the next year as much as I am. I'm
planning a year in review post, but it may be a bit delayed due to
various other deadlines. My life of shuffling priorities and to-do
lists is never dull, I'll tell you that. :) But without further ado,
here are the numbers for February!<br />
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The average percentage numbers for February, after the ubiquitous neck accessories in the first spot, show a very slight shift in priority for knitters: while hats held the second spot last month with 13%, it's now held by pullovers at the same percentage. Cowls remain in third, dropping from 13 to 12%, and hats now come in fourth with 11%. Cardigans have gained very slightly from 10 to 11%. There are also more categories this month than there were last month (toys and men's garments joined the list, while mittens dropped off), with subsequently smaller percentages of the total. All in all, not huge changes, but an interesting shift back towards the dominant categories we saw last spring. </div>
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February was a busy one in terms of both industry publications and individual promotions, which showed as spikes in many categories over the month. Neck accessories again remained dominant, with several high spikes corresponding to promos and collection releases. There was an organic spike near the beginning of the month, and then two strong ones mid-month and towards the end corresponding to a promo by lace shawl designer <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/corrina-ferguson">Corrina Ferguson</a> and a pattern release in <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/celtic-cable-shawls">Lucy Hague's Celtic Cable Shawls</a> collection, which brought her other shawls to the fore. There were also several garment-heavy releases or promos this month, such as <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/botanical-knits-2-twelve-more-inspired-designs-to-knit-and-love">Alana Dakos' Botanical Knits 2</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/amirisu-spring-2014">amirisu Spring 2014</a> mid-month and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/laura-aylor">Laura Aylor</a>'s promo late in the month, bringing her many pullovers to the fore. Cowls also saw a few organic spikes, as did hats mid-month. <br />
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Even with these various spikes, however, most categories remained relatively steady through the month. There were slight organic rises in kid's garments and cardigans over the month, as well as a slight drop in hats. Toys rose as a result of being featured in the<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/"> Ravelry Spotlight</a> near the end of the month. All others remained steady throughout the month.<br />
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Yarn type saw solid yarns and 3+ color projects losing the ground they gained last month, and tweeds gaining slightly. All others remained steady, though there were many spikes in semi-solids, solids, and 2 colors projects. The first saw lots of play in the promos and publications of the month, with <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/pom-pom-quarterly-issue-8-spring-2014">Pom Pom Quarterly</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"> Spring 2014</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interpretations">Veera Valimaki and Joji Locatelli's collection, Interpretations</a>, Corrina Ferguson's promo, Lucy Hague's Celtic Cable Shawls, and Laura Aylor's promo all featuring them heavily. Solids had fewer intentional spikes, with only the Ravelry spotlight on toys (which also caused the spike in 2 color projects a little more than halfway through the month) being a clear corollary. 2 color projects also featured in Veera and Joji's collection, with quite a few stripes or color blocks. There was also a small spike mid-month in tweeds, correspondent to the release of amirisu and the Botanical Knits 2 collection. Variegateds and self-striping yarns remained steady at a low buzz, their place often secured by consistent favorites like <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wingspan-2">Wingspan </a>and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hitchhiker">Hitchhiker</a>.<br />
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Modeled garments continued to hold steadily in the lead, with spikes correspondent to days of overlap between collections or promos, such as when Pom Pom and Interpretations shared the front page and amirisu and Botanical Knits 2 did the same. Though there were spikes in items shown flat, they were all organic and didn't correlate with any of the major players in the month. <br />
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Again this month we've seen a wild variation in fabric type, with texture falling after lots of presence in Interpretations and in a forum-driven boost in crocheted socks and slippers around the 10th, and despite an organic spike near the end of the month. Stockinette had a strong rise towards the end of the month due to a heavy presence in Laura Aylor's work, and there was also a strong lace spike concurrent with Corrina Ferguson's promotion. Colorwork fell very slightly, seeing a strong start in Interpretations, then later to a lesser extent in the Ravelry spotlight on toys and in Laura Aylor's work. <br />
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Color slowed down its crazy fluctuation a bit this month, with white taking the lead for the first half off the month and then again several times throughout the second half. Grey saw several spikes with Interpretations, amirisu, and Laura Aylor, as did red right around Valentine's day, and brown and blue organically late in the month. Based on these spikes, white fell over the month, while grey, blue, and brown rose, with brown being the sharpest climb. All other colors fell, which brings us back to almost the original color scheme we saw at this time last year. <br />
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So all in all, though February was a busy month in terms of publications and promos, most of what we saw during the month stayed consistent throughout and tallied with previous months or last year. As we saw last year, March is another very busy one in pattern publishing, and it's been jam-packed so far. I look forward to seeing where it goes!<br />
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<br />Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-83691075773557434732014-03-11T08:11:00.002-07:002014-03-11T08:11:18.955-07:00A Final Thank YouSo I thought <a href="http://blackbirdturning.blogspot.com/2014/02/upcoming-events.html">I was overwhelmed and amazed by the knitting community before</a>. And then the tallies started rolling in from designers. And I was floored all over again. You ready to hear it?<br />
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$3042.97.<br />
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That's individual pattern sales, and it's still not complete. That's one pattern at a time, one knitter at a time. Little by little, inch by inch, making right in our own, special, crazy knitting force of nature way. I seriously couldn't be prouder to be part of this community.<br />
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The fight still continues, though. Even though the majority of this donation drive has ended (there are still designers donating through the Paralympics--<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/miranda-jollie">go show them some love</a>!), these issues and causes remain, and these organizations still need support. Here's the list of organizations we sponsored during the drive:<br />
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<a href="http://www.lambdalegal.org/">Lambda Legal</a><br />
<a href="http://equalitymaine.org/">Equality Maine</a><br />
<a href="http://www.akt.org.uk/">Albert Kennedy Trust</a><br />
<a href="http://iglhrc.org/">International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission</a><br />
<a href="http://egale.ca/">Egale</a><br />
<a href="http://www.hrc.org/">Human Rights Campaign</a><br />
<a href="http://www.thetaskforce.org/">National Gay and Lesbian Task Force</a><br />
<a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/">Stonewall UK</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.equalitymi.org/marriage">Marriage Equality Michigan</a><br />
<a href="http://transequality.org/">National Center for Transgender Equality</a><br />
<a href="https://www.hrc.org/steering-committees/los-angeles">Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles</a><br />
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Lastly, I decided on the final day of the Olympics that one randomly chosen purchaser on that day would get a copy of every one of my patterns. Congratulations to Malone on Ravelry--I'll be in contact shortly!<br />
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Thanks to everyone again who participated in this drive, either by donating from their proceeds, promoting it, or purchasing a pattern. It is an honor to share this community with you!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-87893702229827572582014-02-28T10:56:00.002-08:002014-02-28T10:56:32.904-08:00Upcoming Events!First off, though I'm still collecting tallies, the knitting community deserves a MASSIVE, heartfelt, very teary thank you for their support during the Olympics donation drive. The number of people who have emailed, blogged, Raveled, Facebooked, Tweeted, other social media that I don't know how to use-d, and just plain stood up and shouted about this was mind-boggling. And then you bought patterns! You really bought patterns! I am one for grand ideas, for tilting at windmills, and I never know quite whether anyone will be willing to come with me when I say "let's go!" But you came with us in force, and for that I am so proud and thankful. More details to come soon!<br />
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In the meantime, I wanted to check in with some updates about upcoming events. Super exciting things on the horizon!<br />
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First up is an event I'm really excited to attend, the <a href="http://www.commoncod.com/fibercamp/">Common Cod Guild's FiberCamp Designer Fashion Show</a>. This will be held at 4pm on March 15th, at FiberCamp building, MIT’s Tang Center, Building E-51, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though I won't be walking in the show (thank goodness, that would probably end in a hospital visit after an epic fall off the stage or something), four of my sweater designs will (including a brand new one)! They'll be joined by pieces from other amazing designers: <a href="http://www.juliafarwellclay.com/">Julia Farwell-Clay,</a> <a href="http://craftivore.blogspot.com/">Misa Erder</a>, <a href="http://babycocktails.blogspot.com/p/home.html">Thea Colman</a>, <a href="http://savoryknitting.com/">Amy Christoffers</a>, <a href="http://odacier.blogspot.com/">Ellen Mason</a>, and <a href="http://www.alisongreenwill.com/">Allison Green</a>. These are some of the most talented and funniest ladies in the biz, and I'm so excited to be part of this event with them. Check out the FiberCamp page for further details!<br />
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I've also got a couple teaching events coming up here in Portland at <a href="http://www.yarnonthebrain.com/blogsite/?page_id=3">KnitWit</a>; Brioche Knitting (including a head start on the Windrow Cowl) and Blocking 101. The Brioche class is currently full, but there's a waiting list and I'll hopefully be running it again later this year. The Blocking class on March 29th is open and I'd love to see you there! <br />
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I wanted to get the word out as well about a super cool trip I'll be taking across the pond July 12th and 13th to the <a href="http://unwindbrighton.blogspot.com/">Unwind Festival </a>in Brighton, UK. <a href="http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LionessArts?ref=si_shop">Dani</a>'s put together the most amazing crop of teachers and classes and I'm looking forward to it so much. I'll be teaching brioche and blocking there as well, but with a British accent (just kidding). <br />
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The final event on the calendar so far is a perennial favorite, <a href="http://newenglandfiberartsretreat.wordpress.com/">The New England Fiber Arts Retreat at Medomak</a>, July 27th-August 2nd. We're meeting up to finalize class schedules in a few weeks and I couldn't be more excited about this year's lineup. How many more weeks until I get to lie on the dock in the sun and chat about knitting?<br />
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Whew--I think that covers it! This is going to be an awesome year, my fiber friends. :)Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-43351686936198897052014-02-10T17:29:00.002-08:002014-02-10T17:29:54.112-08:00Stock(inette) Market: December 29th-January 29th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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 <a href="http://blackbirdturning.blogspot.com/2014/02/making-right.html">the list of designers participating in the Olympics/Ravellenics donation drive</a>. 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! </div>
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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! </div>
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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 <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/stephen-west">Stephen West</a>'s <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/crazy-for-color">Crazy for Color</a> 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. <br />
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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 <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/mademoiselle-c">Mademoiselle C</a> 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: <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/gloss-collection">Knitpicks Gloss Collection</a> at the very end of December, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/bt-winter-14">Brooklyn Tweed Winter 14</a> on the 7th-9th, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/berroco-344-berroco-foliotm">Berroco Folio</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/berroco-norah-gaughan-vol-14">Norah Gaughan vol.14</a> from the 10th-12th, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/amy-miller">Amy Miller</a>'s collection with Malabrigo, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/classics">Classics</a>, on the 15th and 16th, the<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/the-scrumptious-collection-volume-3-2"> Scrumptious Collection Vol. 3</a> from Fyberspates, and the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interweave-knits-spring-2014/patterns">Interweave Knits Spring 14</a> preview. We saw a sharp sock spike concurrent with a promo from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/louise-tilbrook">Louise Tilbrook</a>, 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 <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">the Ravelry Spotlight on chevrons</a>. 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!<br />
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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.<br />
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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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/follow-your-arrow-mystery-kal"> Follow Your Arrow MKAL</a>, 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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!<br />
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<br />Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-33215712616720368762014-02-06T04:48:00.001-08:002014-02-06T05:00:17.792-08:00Frost FairI know, I know, three posts in as many days, what have I done with the real Bristol? But now that the <a href="http://blackbirdturning.blogspot.com/2014/02/making-right.html">donation drive</a> is taking off like a rocket (thanks to everyone participating and spreading the word!) I figured I would sweeten the pot. How about three new patterns? This is <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/frost-fair">Frost Fair</a>, three shawls inspired by winter, light and shade, and frost on the water.<br />
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The three shawls in Frost Fair (<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/har">Har</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hrim-2">Hrim</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/freosan">Freosan</a>) are available both individually and as an e-book, and you can find them on Ravelry <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/frost-fair">here</a>! You can also check out the lookbook in-depth on Issuu <a href="http://issuu.com/bristolivy/docs/frost_fair_lookbook?e=7291318/6628121">here</a>.Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-18034265602083258712014-02-05T08:15:00.002-08:002014-02-12T20:52:34.189-08:00Making RightSo, I've always been obsessed with the Olympics. I'm not normally a super patriotic person, nor really a sports person (unless it's UMaine hockey--GO BLUE!) but the second the Olympics start, there's a constant background chant of "USA! USA! USA!" going in my head at all times as I watch every single random event I can find. I have memories of curling up on the couch as a kid as the snow fell outside the window, watching biathlon, curling, and slalom in Albertville and Lillehammer, yelling "TOMBAAAAAA!" at the screen, cheering Carl Lewis on in the summertime, screaming at the TV as Jason Lezak hit the wall mere milliseconds before the French relay swimmer. Every time the Olympics comes around, it fills me with unbridled joy and delight. But not so much this year.<br />
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I don't talk a huge amount about politics in my life as designer and in the knitting world. I have strong views, but they're mine, and I'd rather talk about knitting, or British TV series, or food, or cats than get into it. Knitting is my safe space. But I stand firm and vocal about my support of gay, trans, and human rights causes. And watching and reading all the stories coming out of Russia regarding abuses of these groups, it got me thinking about how I wasn't the only one who deserved a safe space.<br />
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At the same time, I got to thinking about my favorite form of rebellion and subversion: kindness. I was raised Quaker, with strong emphases on the concepts of grace, karma, empathy, and individual rights. If someone is unkind, you understand that they are fighting their own battles, so you help where you can, and make sure others aren't getting hurt. Little by little, the strength, empathy, and grace changes what force can't. To quote the Shaker spiritual, "by turning, turning, we come 'round right." It's not an easy path, but it's the right one for me.<br />
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So all of these thoughts were roiling together over the last few months, watching events unfold in Russia and with various squabbles regarding gay rights on Ravelry. I want to make right, to do what I can. So I put the call out. And the call was answered.<br />
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I'm so pleased to announce that for the duration of the Olympics, I and many other designers will be donating proceeds from our pattern sales to gay, trans, and human rights organizations of our choice. Please join us in supporting these causes over the next few weeks--and long past that, until we come round right.<br />
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Here's a list of the participating designers and their promotions--it's still evolving and changing, so keep checking back!<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/bristol-ivy">Bristol Ivy</a> -- 75% of all proceeds of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/bristol-ivy-designs">Ravelry store</a> during the opening and closing days, and 50% of all proceeds during the remainder of the Olympics, will go to <a href="http://www.lambdalegal.org/">Lambda Legal</a> and <a href="http://equalitymaine.org/">Equality Maine</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kate-heppell">Kate Heppell</a> -- 100% of sales of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jane-socks">Jane Socks</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hercule-socks">Hercule Socks</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fox-isle">Fox Isle</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sunny-later">Sunny Later</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ollaberry">Ollaberry</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tiny-shoots">Tiny Shoots</a> will go to the <a href="http://www.akt.org.uk/">Albert Kennedy Trust</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/emily-peters">Emily Peters</a> --100% of sales of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/berkeley-ca-shawl">Berkeley, CA shawl</a> and 50% of all other pattern sales will go to the <a href="http://iglhrc.org/">International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/lee-meredith">Lee Meredith</a> -- during the first four days, 100% of sales of the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spiraling-stripes-hats">Spiraling Stripes hats</a> and<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/freak-out"> Freak Out!</a>, 50% of <a href="http://www.leethal.net/zine/?p=2102">select rainbow-able patterns</a>, and 35% of sales of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/coloring-book">Coloring Book</a> will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission<br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/rena-varsakis"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/rena-varsakis">Rena Varsakis</a> -- 25% of all pattern sales throughout the Olympics will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/maureen-foulds">Maureen Folds</a> -- 75% of sales during the opening and closing days, and 25% of sales during the remainder of the Olympics will go to <a href="http://egale.ca/">Egale</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/mary-annarella">Mary Annarella</a> -- 100% of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/lyrical-knits">Lyrical Knits</a> sales on February 7th will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/nell-ziroli">Nell Ziroli</a> -- 50% of pattern sales and 100% of sale of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/isle-of-you">Isle of You</a> during the first four days will go to the Atlanta, GA chapter of the <a href="http://www.hrc.org/">Human Rights Campaign</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/brenda-castiel">Brenda Castiel</a> -- 80% of sales during the opening and closing days, and 50% of sales during the remainder of the Olympics will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/rebecca-zicarelli">Rebecca Zicarelli</a> -- <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pillow-scarf">Pillow Scarf</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rainbow-collar">Rainbow Collar</a> are both 25% off with the coupon code "EqualityMaine". 50% of proceeds of these sales after fees will go to Equality Maine<br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kate-atherley"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kate-atherley">Kate Atherley</a> -- 50% of sales from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/kate-atherleys-ravelry-store">her Ravelry store</a> will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kim-mcbrien-evans">Kim McBrien Evans</a> -- 50% of sales from her Ravelry store will go to Egale <br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/natalie-servant">Natalie Servant</a> -- 50% of sales from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/stores/natalie-servant-designs">her Ravelry store</a> will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kylie-mcdonnell-wade">Kylie McDonnell-Wade</a> -- 50% of proceeds from Feb 7-9th, then 25% for the remainder of the Olympics will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/annika-barranti">Annika Barranti</a> -- on opening day, 75% of all sales from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/noir-knits">her Ravelry store</a> will go to Lambda Legal, and 50% thereafter<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/miranda-jollie">Miranda Jollie</a> -- 100% of the sale prices of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/talboys-wrap">Talboys Wrap</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/montserrat">Montserrat</a> will go to the Albert Kennedy Trust <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/vera-sanon"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/vera-sanon">Vera Sanon</a> -- 25% of all sales on opening and closing days will go to the <a href="http://www.thetaskforce.org/">National Gay and Lesbian Task Force</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/katherine-matthews">Katherine Matthews</a> -- 50% of sales from her Ravelry store will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/elanor-king">Elanor King</a> -- 100% of proceeds from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bow-ties-are-cool-3">Bow Ties Are Cool</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/collared-2">Collared!!!</a> will go to <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/">Stonewall UK</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/alexandra-tinsley">Alex Tinsley</a> -- 50% of sales on <a href="http://www.dull-roar.com/2014/02/one-day-donation-drive-for.html">patterns featuring stranded colorwork</a> on February 7th will go to International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/lynne-sosnowski">Lynne Sosnowski</a> --50% of all sales from February 6th (the day before the opening ceremonies) to February 24th (the day after) will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/patricia-martin">Patricia Martin</a> -- 50% of all sales of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/way-up-high">Way Up High</a> will go to the Albert Kennedy Trust <br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/tanya-thomann">Tanya Thomann</a> -- 50% of all sales will go to <a href="http://www.equalitymi.org/marriage">Marriage Equality Michigan</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/karina-westermann">Karina Westermann</a> -- offering the pattern <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/my-heart-in-my-hand">My Heart in My Hand</a> for free <br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kathleen-sperling">Kathleen Sperling</a> -- 100% of all sales from patterns not currently already fundraising will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/christina-harris">Christina Harris</a> -- 75% of self-published pattern sales will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/yellowcosmo">YellowCosmo</a> -- 100% of sales from 2/7-2/9 and 2/23 on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/slopestyle">Slopestyle </a>and<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/first-snow-mittens"> First Snow</a> will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-pope">Sarah Pope</a> -- 100% of sales of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/winter-garden-jumper">Winter Garden</a> will go to an organization TBD<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kelene-kinnersly">Kelene Kinnersly</a> -- 50% of sales of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hollyhock-fingerless-mittens">Hollyhock Fingerless</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hollyhock-mittens">Hollyhock Mittens</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hollyhock-junior-mittens">Hollyhock Junior</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/hollyhock-collection">the Hollyhock collection</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sidetracked-cable">Sidetracked Cable</a> will go to Egale<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/linda-lencovic">Linda Lenkovic</a> -- 50% of all sales from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/brioche-hat-3">Brioche Hat</a> will go to Stonewall UK<br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/elizabeth-green-musselman">Elizabeth Green Musselman</a> -- 50% of all proceeds from her <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/dark-matter-knits">Dark Matter Knits</a> (self-published) patterns throughout the Olympics will go to the <a href="http://transequality.org/">National Center for Transgender Equality</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kate-lonsdale">Kate Lonsdale</a> --100% of sales to the<a href="https://www.hrc.org/steering-committees/los-angeles"> Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles</a>Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-86563306251479647642014-02-04T18:05:00.001-08:002014-02-04T18:05:57.572-08:00The Stock(inette) Market: The Best Laid Plans. . .Hi all! Just a quick note to let you know that I'm running behind schedule on the latest edition of the Stock(inette) Market. The last couple weeks have been a perfect storm of deadlines, work craziness, and winter in Maine, but I'm hoping to have everything together by next Monday at the latest. Thank you for your patience!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-34911510434106512832014-01-19T09:08:00.000-08:002014-01-19T09:09:11.627-08:00Calm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am hip deep in pattern prep for five different pieces, but stole some
time away this morning to do a photoshoot out in the marshes near the
coast. It's been snowing since yesterday morning, this heavy, thick,
soft snow that is sticking to the trees and turning everything into a
scene straight from <i>The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. </i>While I
have to keep the pattern photos under wraps for a little bit longer, I
had to share a bit of the experience with you. To set the scene:
morning, Maine. A little above freezing. The only smell is fresh
snow. The only sounds are the occasional fall of snow off a branch,
chickadees, Canadian geese, and slow-moving water.<br />
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<span id="goog_423926828"></span><span id="goog_423926829"></span><br />Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-63892187695381037052013-12-30T18:09:00.000-08:002013-12-30T18:09:02.796-08:00The Stock(inette) Market: December 2nd-December 29th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome to the second-to-last day of 2013! It's been a great year for knitting, with an incredible number of publications, both industry and self-published. In fact, since I know you love stats as much as I do, take a look at <a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/939131/firsttime.txt">this data</a> that Casey from Ravelry put together about this year's publications in relation to others. That's some pretty interesting stuff right there--I'll be very curious to see how 2014 stacks up!</div>
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Looking a bit more micro, let's take a look at December's numbers. </div>
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It was pretty clear, in looking at the numbers this month, that quick, giftable knits were dominating over garments. Pullovers and cardigans, usually accounting for around 25% of the data, averaged just 14%. In contrast, neck accessories, cowls, and hats took 59% of the average, up from 56% last month. For as much as garments had dominated in the fall (second to neck accessories, of course), this is a pretty big shift. I do think this has a lot to do with the Christmas season--a lot of knitters were looking for gifts for others, and garments are a lot more of a commitment/crapshoot on sizing than accessories. One interesting thing to note, as we'll see in the graph below, however: in the last few days, garments dropped over the month, but have started spiking in the last few days, indicating that January may well be as much of a month of selfish knitting as it's touted to be.</div>
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After a few big spikes mid-month due to promotions from <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kourtney-robinson">Kourtney Robinson</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kristi-holaas">Kristi Holaas</a>, both of whom had predominantly shawl designs hitting the front page, neck accessories continued to climb with several organic spikes later in the month. There were also two organic cowl spikes in the first half of the month, as well as several organic hat spikes throughout. The aforementioned neck accessories climbed, as did hats, cardigans (partly due to the release of the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitscene-spring-2014/patterns">Knitscene Spring</a> preview, and also due to an organic or forum-driven collection of striped cardigans late in the month), and kid's garments. After a very strong start, cowls fell, along with almost all other categories, indicating that after an abnormal couple of months, we might see a return to the pattern we've experienced throughout most of the rest of the year where neck accessories and garments reign.<br />
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Semi-solid yarn continues to dominate, with spikes concurrent to Kourtney Robinson's promo and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/the-simple-collection">Tin Can Knit's The Simple Collection</a>, both of which featured it heavily. Solids did overtake it around the 8th-11th, but without a corresponding publication. There was another organic solid spike around the 22nd. Multiple-color projects had a peak correspondent with the release of the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitty-winter-2013/patterns">Winter issue of Knitty</a>, nine of whose projects were multiple colors, but both fell over the month. Tweeds had several smaller organic spikes, but also fell overall. Variegated and self-striping climbed over the month, after very little play in November.</div>
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Model type remained relatively steady over the month, with a small dressform spike organically around the 10th and a corresponding dip in modeled garments. All categories saw little to no change. </div>
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As with last month, fabric type traded many times for the top spot, but texture came out ahead overall. This was due to major spikes around the 8th and from the 25th to the 28th, both with some minor influences (Tin Can Knits' Simple Collection, present at the second spike, features a lot of garter stitch, for example) but also organically. There was a lace spike correspondent with Kourtney Robinson's promo, and colorwork spikes related to the release of Knitty as well as organically through the month. Stockinette also made its presence known multiple times throughout the month, gaining prominence at the very end in the striped sweaters mentioned above. Cables remained low, but were featured heavily in Knitty. Overall, lace rose, colorwork dropped, and all others remained relatively steady. </div>
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There were several different colors playing for dominance in December, but green and grey took the lead for the most part, with large organic spikes across the board. While there were many different spikes for the others as well, the trendlines for colors in December almost look like the staff on a sheet of music--very little movement up or down across the month. Of note is a spike in red around the 19th and a few spikes in white throughout the month--the first time we've seen it taking precedence over the rest of the colors. <br />
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In conclusion, we saw a lot of accessories riding high over the month, with several promos bringing shawls and neck accessories to the fore as well as a predisposition due to gift knitting. Texture, semi-solids, and cooler neutrals (greys and white) also came to the fore. For next month, we have the potential for garments to continue their rise back to prominence, with more and more of the spring publications starting to crop up on Ravelry. I can't wait to see what the first month of 2014 brings!<br />
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With that, I've wrapped up my final stats post for 2013. I wanted to thank you all for reading, for your encouragement, and for the discussion this has produced. As the year draws to a close, I am continuing to turn over in my mind where I'd like to take this next. Though I try not to talk about personal stuff in the stats posts, it's hopefully clear that a lot of time and effort goes into these, and I am still trying to figure out how to juggle this and the rest of my life, work, and designing while retaining sanity and a decent sleep schedule. As such, I'd like to open a discussion with you about what The Stock(inette) Market would look like if it was monetized in some way, thus helping to keep it sustainable and important as part of my daily life. What would you think if I added a donate button? Made this subscription only? Pursued a magazine column? Affiliated with a sponsor? Would you like to help me make any of those things happen? Please let me know what you think would be a good or realistic idea. I've defended this blog multiple times as a necessity, a way of treating our industry as an industry, as a way of respecting what we do in terms of hard data and not just as a hobby. But I also need to be realistic and respect my own work here, too. I tell enough people to charge for their patterns--it's about time I listened to my own advice, right? :)<br />
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In any case, regardless of the big, deep topics above, I send you all my best wishes for a wonderful 2014. I can't wait to see where it takes us!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-72294893025035479002013-12-02T17:11:00.001-08:002013-12-02T17:11:56.189-08:00The Stock(inette) Market: November 4th to December 1st<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome to December--there's been snow on the ground (though it hasn't stuck here in Maine yet), there are Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge, and gift knitting season is well underway. Let's take a look at the last month in the knitting world!</div>
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Accessories continue to dominate this month, with neck accessories and cowls retaining the top percentages. However, those percentages have dropped from last month, with the former going from 31% to 23%, and the latter from 18% to 14%. Cardigans and hats gained more ground, the former perhaps due to the three garment-heavy major publications of the month,<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interweave-knits-winter-2013"> Interweave Knits Winter 2013</a>, Brooklyn Tweed's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/wool-people-vol-6">Wool People 6</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/twist-collective-winter-2013">Twist Collective Winter 2013</a>. Mitts, toys, kid's, and homegoods also gained ground, while men's and socks lost ground, with only a few showings in either the major publications or organically.<br />
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While neck accessories stayed dominant over the month, rising slightly in popularity at the end, there were many times over the month when other garment types spiked over them, which is unusual in comparison to what we've seen previously. There was a major neck accessories spike mid-month correspondent with Lee Meredith's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/coloring-book">Coloring Book/Color by Number</a> collection and smaller organic spikes throughout the rest of the month. There were also high organic spikes in cowls all through the second half of the month, a similar spike in hats late in the month, and spikes in cardigans correspondent with the release of the three major publications listed above. Despite these spikes in garments, however, they dropped steadily over the month. Cowls, homegoods, and mitts climbed, and all others remained relatively steady. <br />
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Solids and semi-solids continued dominant over the month; semi-solids had multiple organic spikes and a slight rise, and it and solids were both used relatively evenly in the major publications. There was also a tweed spike concurrent with the release of Wool People 6, and small tweed and 2-color knitting spikes concurrent with both organic results and the release of Twist Collective, which featured many examples of colorwork sweaters and accessories.<br />
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Modeled garments remained dominant, but fell slightly during the time period after strong presences in Interweave Knits and Wool People, with a deep dip in the middle of the month matching small organic spikes in each of the other categories. Modeled garments did spike back up organically and at the release of Twist Collective, but did not regain its beginning prominence. Flat garments also had several organic spikes throughout the month, and all three minorities rose for the end of the month.<br />
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Fabric type was more variable and competitive in November than we've ever seen before, with texture taking a clear lead for the first time with heavy presences in industry publications and organically. Stockinette started strong but fell over the month, and lace and cables both rose slightly. Colorwork spiked with Lee Meredith's collection and Twist Collective, but remained otherwise steady.<br />
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Color was also wildly variable, with colors trading for dominance each day. Grey had a clear and strong presence early in the month concurrent with Wool People 6, and despite several smaller spikes throughout the month, fell slightly. White also had a major spike at the end of the month and several lesser spikes at the beginning, each time organically. Red, purple, and white rose through the time period, while the aforementioned grey, orange, brown, and black fell. Yellow, green, and blue remained relatively steady.<br />
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So this month brought us consistent stories in terms of garment, yarn, and model type, but some big changes in fabric type and an ever-changing line-up in color. I look forward to seeing what next month brings!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-52924560330319531692013-11-04T13:49:00.000-08:002013-11-04T13:50:13.965-08:00The Stock(inette) Market: October 7th-November 3rd<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We are well and truly into the knitter's favorite time of year here in the Northern Hemisphere (I write this currently swathed in cardigan and scarf, and am seriously contemplating fingerless mitts), with tons of activity in the pattern world over the last few weeks. Let's take a look!</div>
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There was a good bit of a reshuffling in the average percentages this month, with neck accessories gaining back two percentage points, sweaters dropping a few points, and cowls and hats gaining a larger share of the market, up six and four percentage points from last month respectively. Toys have dropped off the list entirely for the month, but other categories remain relatively steady. I would have suspected from previous analysis that we'd be seeing more garments at this time of year, but the popularity of accessories is continuing strong. </div>
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In addition, while many patterns were published in October, there were few spikes due to major publications, instead coming organically or as the result of promotions or sales. After starting strong at the beginning of the month, the major spike in neck accessories on October 22nd came from a promo by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/rose-beck">Rose Beck</a>, whose work is predominantly accessories. However, despite this and a few further organic spikes later on, neck accessories fell over the month, with all other categories remaining relatively steady. Other spikes include organic ones in cowls throughout the month, and a spike in sweaters due to a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">Ravelry spotlight on yoked colorwork sweaters</a>. <br />
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Rose Beck's influence is also felt in yarn type, as most of her samples were produced in hand-dyed semi-solids. These yarns rose slightly over the month, with organic spikes throughout the second half of the month. There were also organic spikes in solids at the beginning of the month and the very end, and spikes in 2 and 3-color projects near the end due both to the Ravelry spotlight and the release of Hannah Fettig and Quince & Co.'s <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitbot-yoked">KnitBot Yoked</a>, which featured several colorwork projects. All other categories remained steady.<br />
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Modeled garments remained the clear winner this month, with an organic spike on the 17th and one corresponding to the release of KnitBot Yoked, the tail end of the Ravelry spotlight on colorwork yoked sweaters, and the start of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">a Ravelry spotlight on mittens, gloves, and mitts</a>. There was a small spike in flat garments correspondent with Rose Beck's promo and an organic spike at the end of the month. Dressforms fell slightly, and mystery knits remained steady. <br />
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Colorwork and stockinette both rose over the month, with strong presences in KnitBot Yoked, the Ravelry spotlights, and organically. Texture also had multiple organic spikes throughout the month, and lace saw a major spike with Rose Beck's promo, though it fell throughout the month. Cables remained steady. <br />
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The major spikes in color this month were blues, greys, greens, and whites, all relatively organically and not tied to any promos or publications. Despite these, both blue and grey fell, along with orange (which had a strong showing at the beginning of the month) and purple. Green, yellow, white, and black all rose, the latter two due to their frequent use in the colorwork projects on showcase. Red and brown also rose slightly and organically.<br />
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So while September was a month jam-packed full of major publications, October was just as full of ups and downs organically. Semi-solids and colorwork were highlighted, as were neck accessories, cowls, and sweaters. Modeled garments remained prominent, and cool tones predominated. Can't wait to see what next month brings! <br />
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(Also, hello 100th blog post!)Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-78102667944774829882013-10-07T19:48:00.000-07:002013-10-07T19:48:09.488-07:00The Stock(inette) Market: September 2nd-October 6th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As with the beginning of the school year, this month marks the the kickoff of the knitting calendar for the Northern Hemisphere. The second the first frost occurs, or the first whiff of woodsmoke is in the air, it's like someone hits the "on" switch for knitters and publishers alike. Casey stated in <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/designers/2710604/126-150#138">a forum post</a> (warning: that's an argumentative thread) that "more individual designers made a sale in September 2013 than any other month ever (5,443 different designers had at least one customer last month). The average # of sales per designer was the 2nd highest", beaten only by December 2012. It's big. And, as we can see from the data below, it's created a big shake-up in the HRN stats.</div>
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For the first time we've seen, neck accessories has lost a lot of its dominance (dropping from a typical 45-50% of the first page). Cardigans and pullovers have remained at about the same percentage, but other garment types have gained some major play. On this month's list that we haven't seen in previous months are hats, mitts, and men's garments; the first gained a place due to being featured in the Ravelry front page spotlight at the beginning of October and also, along with mitts, perhaps due to the need for accessories as the weather gets colder, and the latter due to a consistent presence from Stephen West due to his <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/dear-amsterdam">Dear Amsterdam</a> collection and his <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/westknits-mystery-shawl-kal-2013-color-craving">2013 Mystery Shawl</a>. Cowls have also gained prominence, which tallies with the general uptick in other accessories over the month.</div>
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Despite a lower percentage over the month, neck accessories were still dominant, with a slight gain at the end. Most spikes during this time were organic, with a few spikes related to promotions (<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/lee-meredith">Lee Meredith</a>'s giveaway at the tail end of the month, a promotion by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/michelle-krause">Michelle Krause</a> a week later). Garments also had some major spikes related to collections, with cardigans having a major spike mid-September due to the confluence of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/bt-fall-13">Brooklyn Tweed's Fall13</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitty-deep-fall-2013">Knitty's Deep Fall</a>, and Knitpick's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knit-picks-city-tweed-collection">City Tweed</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kerin-dimeler-laurence">homegoods collection with Kerin Dimeler-Lawrence</a>. Pullovers spiked a few days later with the release of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitwear-fall-winter-2013-2">knit.wear Fall 2013</a>, and then later on in the month with the release of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/emmitouflages">Emmitouflage(s)</a>. <br />
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Another notable spike came with the news that <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sue-pendleton">Sue Pendleton</a>, a noted crochet toy designer, was retiring and thus offering a large number of her patterns for free. Cowls and hats saw a gain at the end of the time period, due to the Ravelry spotlight, Lee Meredith's giveaway (she specializes in accessory designs, and her hats, shawls, and cowls took precedence in the promotion), and Michelle Krause's promo (which featured a number of cowls). All other garment types remained relatively steady.<br />
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Semi-solids stayed relatively high during the month, with its highest spike coming organically mid-September. There were major spikes in solids with the Sue Pendleton giveaway (which is also responsible for the spike in 3+-color items) and organically at the beginning of October. There was a spike in tweeds associated with the Brooklyn Tweed Design Team's Fall 13, and smaller spikes in 2 and 3 color knits associated with Lee Meredith's giveaway. Despite all of these spikes, most yarn types fell over the month, with only variegated, self-striping, and 2-color items gaining organically.<br />
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Modeled garments remained strong over the month, gaining steadily after some sharp drops in the early part of the month. These drops corresponded to a spike in flat items (due to Sue Pendleton's toys) and an organic spike in dressforms mid-month. Flat items then fell steadily throughout the month, with some small organic spikes late in the time period. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f6-8Tyenz_E/UlNNvtxVuMI/AAAAAAAAA24/YHh-RkYWs58/s1600/Fabric+Type.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f6-8Tyenz_E/UlNNvtxVuMI/AAAAAAAAA24/YHh-RkYWs58/s640/Fabric+Type.png" width="640" /></a>Along with garment type, fabric type was the other factor that showed a large amount of variation over the time period. For the first time, lace has lost its dominance over the other types, gaining only slightly over the time period with only few small spikes corresponding to knit.wear, Lee Meredith's giveaway and Michelle Krause's promo. Colorwork and stockinette fell after seeing a lot of use in Sue Pendleton's toys and in <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/little-cotton-rabbits">Little Cotton Rabbit</a>'s toys slightly earlier in the month, though colorwork saw a spike with Lee Meredith's giveaway later on. Texture rose over the month, with spikes due to the crochet toys, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#sort=best&query=shibui%20pebble">Shibui's Pebble</a> collection, Lee Meredith's giveaway, and organically at the end. Other fabric types remained steady, with a high spike in cables corresponding to the cable-rich Brooklyn Tweed Fall13.</div>
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Colors remained a complete gamble, with lots of changes over the month. Blues, yellows, whites, browns, greys, and blacks fell over the month, while greens rose sharply. Purples, reds, and oranges also rose, perhaps to tie in with the autumnal colors so prevalent at this time period. Notable spikes include an organic blue early in the month, white and red with Sue Pendleton's toys, grey with Brooklyn Tweed Fall13, and brown with Shibui Pebble.<br />
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In sum, we're seeing a lot of changes in fabric and garment type, with more emphasis being placed on accessories, texture, and cables. Garments remain steady, but neck accessories and lace have dropped. Semi-solids and solids are still strong, but variegated and self-striping yarns have gained. I look forward to seeing where it goes next month!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-1812757382962059862013-09-25T20:32:00.000-07:002013-09-25T20:32:11.639-07:00Overpacking<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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My pile of woolens for <a href="http://www.kniteast.com/">KnitEast </a>is bigger than any other pile. Do you think I can manage some midday costume changes?</div>
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(Pssst--that orange one on the left? Meet <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/windrow">Windrow</a>, a brioche cowl in <a href="http://www.sunshineyarns.com/">Sunshine Yarns</a> gorgeous <a href="http://www.sunshineyarns.com/category.php?category_id=58">Ultraluxe Worsted</a>. $2 of every sale will go to the United Way's <a href="https://www.unitedwayfoothills.org/floodrelief">Foothills Flood Relief Fund</a>.)</div>
Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-44001606353587295762013-09-09T17:33:00.001-07:002013-09-09T17:42:45.411-07:00Summer's End<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b8zZQg_vBN8/Ui5owbRpeqI/AAAAAAAAA1k/NoivEv3oVw8/s640/blogger-image--1132669278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b8zZQg_vBN8/Ui5owbRpeqI/AAAAAAAAA1k/NoivEv3oVw8/s640/blogger-image--1132669278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x6EY9cNUmew/Ui5oy_bmNnI/AAAAAAAAA10/VTKfazHaMmI/s640/blogger-image-1795438020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x6EY9cNUmew/Ui5oy_bmNnI/AAAAAAAAA10/VTKfazHaMmI/s640/blogger-image-1795438020.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b8zZQg_vBN8/Ui5owbRpeqI/AAAAAAAAA1k/NoivEv3oVw8/s640/blogger-image--1132669278.jpg"></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7JZEygTQFVI/Ui5oxuz99bI/AAAAAAAAA1s/inuxThN-1cw/s640/blogger-image--1087583691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7JZEygTQFVI/Ui5oxuz99bI/AAAAAAAAA1s/inuxThN-1cw/s640/blogger-image--1087583691.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>My hands and wrists have been giving me some trouble recently (nothing major, promise!), so I took the weekend off of knitting, typing, and playing on my phone. Since those are the things that occupy most of my time, I suddenly had a whole weekend on my hands! (No pun intended.) So I took a day trip up the coast to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, a place I've been meaning to visit for years. Well worth the trip, especially on such a lovely, late summer, hint of fall weekend we had here in Maine. I'm not hugely into plants and gardening in general, but the color play and textures are always so inspiring.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qDPvQW2CoME/Ui5osSJHqsI/AAAAAAAAA1M/zFtOSgV4P7I/s640/blogger-image-687612942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qDPvQW2CoME/Ui5osSJHqsI/AAAAAAAAA1M/zFtOSgV4P7I/s640/blogger-image-687612942.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--_CRdOvhXu8/Ui5orKiZzWI/AAAAAAAAA1E/hMN_4v0y5Pc/s640/blogger-image-664556232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--_CRdOvhXu8/Ui5orKiZzWI/AAAAAAAAA1E/hMN_4v0y5Pc/s640/blogger-image-664556232.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Cioy0sQnuUY/Ui5ovKTf77I/AAAAAAAAA1c/0YueqOyQi0w/s640/blogger-image-1269061785.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Cioy0sQnuUY/Ui5ovKTf77I/AAAAAAAAA1c/0YueqOyQi0w/s640/blogger-image-1269061785.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A3YWfdTSAEc/Ui5otvCfcCI/AAAAAAAAA1U/CT_NDY0mvEs/s640/blogger-image-1464547405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A3YWfdTSAEc/Ui5otvCfcCI/AAAAAAAAA1U/CT_NDY0mvEs/s640/blogger-image-1464547405.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div>Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2561517376117792190.post-65662934013036810432013-09-04T19:47:00.000-07:002013-09-06T11:47:04.740-07:00The Stock(inette) Market: A Six Month Retrospective<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Six months. Approximately 360 data collections. Approximately 9.5 million individual data points (seriously). Scores of shawls, fountains of Fair Isle, legions of lace, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chicken-night-cape">three </a><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chicken-coat">chickens </a>in <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chicken-sweater">sweaters</a>. I wrote down my first data collection on February 25th, and it's been a fascinating ride ever since. Do you want to see what the past six months has looked like in knitting?</div>
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Because of the extended timeline of data, there was a good chance all changes would cancel each other out. So it was very exciting, once the trendlines went up, that there were marked differences over the course of the six months!<br />
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It should come as no surprise that neck accessories dominated throughout the entire time, with multiple organic spikes as well as promotion and collection/magazine release spikes. The highest spike in early April was a direct result of <a href="http://rosemarygoround.blogspot.com/2013/03/ready-for-some-easter-festivities.html">Romi Hill's Easter Egg Hunt contest</a>, with other over-30 spikes due to the release of the shawl-centric <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/wool-people-vol-5">Wool People 5</a>, and two organic spikes in May and June. Even without those major spikes, neck accessories continually held the largest part of the market throughout the entire six months, and grew slightly over that time.<br />
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Cardigans and cowls dropped slightly over the six months, despite strong, consistently placed spikes in the former that tied to the release of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitwear-spring-2013">Knit.Wear</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knit-to-flatter">Knit to Flatter</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/twist-collective-spring-summer-2013">Twist Collective</a>, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/ashore-with-friends">Ashore, with Friends</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/rowan-54">Rowan</a>'s <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/pioneer">multiple </a><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/autumn-knits">summer </a><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/summer-selects-online-collection">releases</a>. An interesting thing to note is that while high spikes occurred organically in neck accessories, most high spikes in garments occurred as the result of a collection launch or promotion. All other categories remained relatively consistent over the time. Not represented on the graph due to low representation but also present over the six months: mitts, mittens/gloves, dresses, jewelry, vests (which almost made the graph, with .94 appearances per day on average), ponchos, unmentionables, skirts, pet coats, shrugs, and men's garments.<br />
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Remarkably, most yarn types gained prominence, with only two dropping. Solid yarns dropped consistently over the six months, due to a solid (forgive the pun) presence in the first three months and fewer appearances in the latter. They had a big presence in <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/scarves-etc-2013">Quince & Co.'s Scarves, Etc.</a> and Knit.Wear in late spring, and stayed consistently second place throughout the rest of the time period. Variegated yarns also dropped over the time period, with no major spikes or collections highlighting the yarn.<br />
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Semi-solids, tweeds, self-striping, and multiple color projects rose over the time period, with a major spike in the first corresponding to Romi Hill's giveaway, and others corresponding to the Plucky Knitter anniversary, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/the-little-collection">Amy Miller's kid's collection with the Plucky Knitter</a>, and an organic spike in late July. There were major spikes in tweed correspondent with the release of Brooklyn Tweed collections Wool People 5 and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/bt-men">BT Men</a>, as well as one correspondent with Rowan's summer releases. There were small organic spikes in multi-color projects and self-striping yarns, but no major releases or promotions during that time.<br />
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Model type remained relatively consistent, with a slight drop in modeled garments and a slight rise in flat garments. This is one that I'll continue watching, but I am under the assumption that this will remain relatively steady.<br />
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In fabric type, lace remained consistent both as the most prominent type and across the time period, with very high showings that are too numerous to count. Notable spikes include Romi Hill's giveaway and an organic spike in mid August. Cables were the only fabric type that dropped; stockinette, texture, and colorwork all rose consistently, with few major spikes other than an organic spike in texture in late August. <br />
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Finally, color was wildly variable throughout the six months, but most colors trended upward. Blue was consistently the strongest color, with major spikes corresponding to organic spikes, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/interweave-knits-summer-2013">Interweave Knits</a>, and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitty-first-fall-2013">Knitty First Fall</a>. Grey also climbed, with a major spike corresponding to the release of BT Men and the Rowan summer releases, and green had a few major organic spikes in the latter three months. Despite some major spikes in red, including an organic one in early July, the color fell consistently over the time period. We are currently also seeing a large uptick in cool tones and neutrals, perhaps in preparation for the winter garments to come.<br />
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So that, in a nutshell, is the last six months of knitting! Lace, neck accessories, modeled garments, and semi-solids reign, and there are some interesting developments with the drop in cables, solids, garments, and reds. Spikes have occurred both as the result of major publications and of organic self-publications and searches, with neither taking a substantial causal lead. Things should be interesting in the new few months, as well--there's been a new develop recently with the addition of the weekly "<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/">Community Eye Candy</a>" feature on the front page of Ravelry. As with the "Harlot effect", when an item is blogged about by a famous knitter and causes a spike in traffic to that pattern, the highlighting of specific garment or project types on the front page of Ravelry skews results soon thereafter. It will be interesting to see how this comes into play in the next little bit! In addition, we've reached the beginning of the biggest time in the knitting world, with multitudes of collection launches, magazines, and books coming out soon. It's been an exciting journey over the past half year, and I can't wait to see where it goes next!Bristolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02722788427189060763noreply@blogger.com7