With Wool is now Value-For-Value

There’s been a project on my to-do list for a long, long time for With Wool. That big project was investigating other places to sell my knitting patterns and potentially also setting up my own dedicated shop on this site. The recent Ravelry redesign and the accessibility issues it created finally pushed additional online shops to the top of my list. After researching my options for different shop platforms and seeing the amount of work involved, I’m doing something completely different.

Instead of selling patterns, I’m offering them under the value-for-value model. If you enjoy a pattern and find value in it, you can pay what it’s worth to you. You can find all my knitting patterns right here. Previously paid patterns will still be available on Ravelry with coupon codes so you can pay what you want.

FYI, as part of this switch I’m also planning to update all of my patterns to fix errata, clarify details, answer questions, and improve layout. You can expect to see those updates over the coming months.

I’m also dipping my toes into subscriptions. If you enjoy and want to support my work, future patterns, and the With Wool Express newsletter, you can become a monthly supporter on my Ko-Fi.

The decision to move to a value-for-value model didn’t happen out of the blue. It’s something I’ve been considering for a long time and the Ravelry redesign was the catalyst. It’s been 10 years since I published my first paid pattern in 2010. It wasn’t until 2019 that I made enough through sales and ko-fi donations to cover all the costs (hosting, email, domain, and payment processing) associated with running With Wool. After taxes, I had enough leftover to buy a single cup of coffee. So, changing things up to try something new isn’t a major risk.

To end this post want to say thank you to everyone who has ever bought a pattern or donated or wrote me note. Your support and kind words have been incredible encouragement to keep going.

Snowy February Sale

January’s weather was cold and clear, but February started off with a snow storm! Hand knits are always a great thing to have whether you’re trudging through the snow or cuddling up inside. So, all With Wool knitting patterns are on sale Feb 6 - 19, 2020.

Use code WARM in the Ravelry shop to get 20% off. Hope you’re staying warm and happy knitting!

10th Anniversary Celebration + Sale

This week is the 10th anniversary of With Wool! It’s had a few different names over the years since I cut my teeth blogging on LiveJournal, but With Wool got it’s real start when the Bearded One bought me a domain for my birthday. I had graduated college a few months before, and was using my greater amounts of free time to dive a little deeper into blogging, knitting, pattern design, and fiber arts. My first few years of posts weren’t just about knitting. I tried origami, shared kumihimo tutorials, and wrote about monthly goals for yoga, art, and learning to spin yarn. The bulky blue and yellow yarn below is my very first handspun!

It’s been wonderful looking back at my posts and seeing the projects and yarn I’ve made. I’ve learned so much and made dozens of tutorials. My life has changed so much as well with several cross country moves, marriage, and a now a young kiddo. It’s been a wild and wonderful 10 years.

What’s next?

• For one, the blog will keep going because I like writing it though I will be mixing things up a little. There will still be step-by-step tutorials and other longer posts, but I’m also aiming to post more short WIP updates and other ramblings. I miss writing that sort of thing. And I’m going to try to post more than twice a month which should be easier with shorter posts.

• I’ve mostly given up on the idea of video tutorials because I hate filming and editing videos. There might be the rare tutorial video, but they’re not a top priority.

• I’m going to keep working on knitting patterns even though they’ll take me longer than usual. My main work time is nap time after all.

• I’m also giving myself the permission and leeway to change things up if they aren’t working anymore. No more feeling obligated to do something just because I’ve been doing it for years.

And it’s also my birthday. So to celebrate my joint blogging anniversary and birthday, I’m having a sale. With Wool patterns will be 34% off for the next 2 weeks! Thanks for celebrating with me!

Use code HOORAY here, now through August 21, 2019, to pick up a pattern or two you’ve had your eye on.

8 Months Later and Blogging Again!

I have this informal rule when I’m looking for new blogs to follow: If the latest post was 6+ months ago, I’m moving on. So when I realized in October 2018 that it’d been 6 months since I published anything new to my own blog, I was rather frustrated. I did not imagine that my maternity leave would stretch 8 months. Before Mini Me came along I thought that 3-4 months would be enough time for me to get my feet back underneath me (ha!), but it took that long just for me to not feel like a walking zombie. Never mind feeling like a functional human being who could string a sentence together.

When I took this break (which in no way was a break) way back in May 2018, I was also burned out by the whole routine of blogging and writing a newsletter on a weekly basis. I didn’t know if I wanted to come back to blogging or continue to publish knitting designs at all. Even though my maternity leave was twice as long as I expected, it did help me realize that I still wanted to write about and share my knitting. I still wanted to design and share my own knitting patterns. I still wanted to send out a newsletter to connect with people and share beautiful, interesting, fun, and helpful things. So I’m going to keep doing all of those things - just in a different way than before.

My mantra since before Mini Me was born has been “Go with the flow,” and I’m going to stick with it. I’m challenging myself for the next few months to put out a new blog post and newsletter every 2 weeks. I’m hoping that by publishing every 2 weeks instead of 1 week that I can still write detailed posts at a similar quality as I have previously. If that doesn’t work, or just stresses me out, I’ll switch things up again.

My other challenge for this year is to tackle the pile of half-finished designs which are stacked pretty deep. I would like to share at least 1 of them with you in the next few months. Guess I’d better figure out the decreases for that lace hat and update that other hat pattern I never published from 2010.

The one thing I have managed to do is update my website. I’ve updated the homepage and tweaked the overall design. Plus, I’ve got a new logo!

To celebrate my return to blogging and feeling like a functional human being/mom, I’m having a sale on my knitting patterns. Now, January 16th through end of January 31st MST, use the coupon “yayblog” on Ravelry to get 20% off all my patterns.