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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frost Fair

I know, I know, three posts in as many days, what have I done with the real Bristol? But now that the donation drive 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 Frost Fair, three shawls inspired by winter, light and shade, and frost on the water.

The three shawls in Frost Fair (Har, Hrim, and Freosan) are available both individually and as an e-book, and you can find them on Ravelry here! You can also check out the lookbook in-depth on Issuu here.

Making Right

So, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Here's a list of the participating designers and their promotions--it's still evolving and changing, so keep checking back!

Bristol Ivy -- 75% of all proceeds of Ravelry store during the opening and closing days, and 50% of all proceeds during the remainder of the Olympics, will go to Lambda Legal and Equality Maine

Kate Heppell -- 100% of sales of Jane Socks, Hercule Socks, Fox Isle, Sunny Later, Ollaberry, and Tiny Shoots will go to the Albert Kennedy Trust

Emily Peters --100% of sales of Berkeley, CA shawl and 50% of all other pattern sales will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Lee Meredith -- during the first four days, 100% of sales of the Spiraling Stripes hats and Freak Out!, 50% of select rainbow-able patterns, and 35% of sales of Coloring Book will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Rena Varsakis -- 25% of all pattern sales throughout the Olympics will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Maureen Folds -- 75% of sales during the opening and closing days, and 25% of sales during the remainder of the Olympics will go to Egale

Mary Annarella -- 100% of Lyrical Knits sales on February 7th will go to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Nell Ziroli -- 50% of pattern sales and 100% of sale of Isle of You during the first four days  will go to the Atlanta, GA chapter of the Human Rights Campaign

Brenda Castiel -- 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

Rebecca Zicarelli -- Pillow Scarf and Rainbow Collar are both 25% off with the coupon code "EqualityMaine".  50% of proceeds of these sales after fees will go to Equality Maine

Kate Atherley -- 50% of sales from her Ravelry store will go to Egale

Kim McBrien Evans -- 50% of sales from her Ravelry store will go to Egale

Natalie Servant -- 50% of sales from her Ravelry store will go to Egale

Kylie McDonnell-Wade -- 50% of proceeds from Feb 7-9th, then 25% for the remainder of the Olympics will go to Egale

Annika Barranti -- on opening day, 75% of all sales from her Ravelry store will go to Lambda Legal, and 50% thereafter

Miranda Jollie -- 100% of the sale prices of Talboys Wrap and Montserrat will go to the Albert Kennedy Trust

Vera Sanon -- 25% of all sales on opening and closing days will go to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Katherine Matthews --  50% of sales from her Ravelry store will go to Egale

Elanor King -- 100% of proceeds from Bow Ties Are Cool and Collared!!! will go to Stonewall UK

Alex Tinsley -- 50% of sales on patterns featuring stranded colorwork on February 7th will go to International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Lynne Sosnowski --50% of all sales from February 6th (the day before the opening ceremonies) to February 24th (the day after) will go to Egale

Patricia Martin -- 50% of all sales of Way Up High will go to the Albert Kennedy Trust

Tanya Thomann -- 50% of all sales will go to Marriage Equality Michigan

Karina Westermann -- offering the pattern My Heart in My Hand for free

Kathleen Sperling -- 100% of all sales from patterns not currently already fundraising will go to Egale

Christina Harris -- 75% of self-published pattern sales will go to Egale

YellowCosmo -- 100% of sales from 2/7-2/9 and 2/23 on Slopestyle and First Snow will go to the  International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Sarah Pope -- 100% of sales of Winter Garden will go to an organization TBD

Kelene Kinnersly -- 50% of sales of Hollyhock Fingerless, Hollyhock Mittens, Hollyhock Junior, the Hollyhock collection, and Sidetracked Cable will go to Egale

Linda Lenkovic -- 50% of all sales from Brioche Hat will go to Stonewall UK

Elizabeth Green Musselman -- 50% of all proceeds from her Dark Matter Knits (self-published) patterns throughout the Olympics will go to the National Center for Transgender Equality

Kate Lonsdale --100% of sales to the Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles

The 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!

Calm

 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 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 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.

The Stock(inette) Market: December 2nd-December 29th

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 this data 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!

Looking a bit more micro, let's take a look at December's numbers. 

 

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.

After a few big spikes mid-month due to promotions from Kourtney Robinson and Kristi Holaas, 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 Knitscene Spring 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.

Semi-solid yarn continues to dominate, with spikes concurrent to Kourtney Robinson's promo and Tin Can Knit's The Simple Collection, 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 Winter issue of Knitty, 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.

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.

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.

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. 

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!

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? :)

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!

The Stock(inette) Market: November 4th to December 1st

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!

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, Interweave Knits Winter 2013, Brooklyn Tweed's Wool People 6, and Twist Collective Winter 2013. 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.

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 Coloring Book/Color by Number 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!