Still Not Properly Sick... Sort Of

I dunno what it means either.  I keep feeling like utter crap and thinking "here we go", and then a couple of hours later feeling mostly OK again.  So either I have a superior immune system, (as my son would say: "Go white blood cells!  Oof! Pow! Clang!", with appropriate sword fighting motions) or this is just an interminable lead-up to the Big Sickness.  Whatever.  On the plus side, the lack of physical energy, combined with the need to stay home and look after my wee clan of misery has produced a ton of knitting, which I was missing more than I realized.  (Oh, and for the record, despite the disruptions, I have managed to get all the orders packed up and off to the post office in good time.  Just so's you know.) 

Leafy Hat is almost ready, and I have a question.  In an ideal world, I would have had both ideas at the same time, anticipated that I would publish the designs and done them up as a set.  In reality, I whipped up a quick teacher gift, it came out rather well, did up a pattern which turned out to be well received, and weeks and weeks and many many kits later a clever reader suggested the hat idea. It really is not practical to attempt to dye single skeins for hats to match ones previously sold for mitts, plus the yardage in a single-size skein is uncomfortably close to the exact amount required for the hat (whereas there is a comfortable excess for the mitts.)  So... my plan is to offer the hat pattern as a stand-alone PDF, and double-size skeins (which will be a lower price than two singles) that can be used to knit a hat/mitt combo. I'm not going to try to package the doubles as a kit with printed patterns, because the pricing permutations for folk who do/don't have a mitt pattern already will get crazy.  Like I said, there are disadvantages to impulsive, stream-of-consciousness design development. 

Any thoughts or preferences?  I'm also wondering if anyone actually has any particular attachment to the whole yarn-with-printed-pattern-in-a-box idea, or would you all just as soon have a PDF you can print out and scribble on as needed and buy the purpose-dyed yarn separately for less money? The Kit idea is aesthetically pleasing, with the packaging and all, but on the other hand it's a lot more... packaging.  Which is not necessarily a good thing for the planet. 

Progress:

Comments

[naomi]

I love PDF patterns. Especially if they have relatively simple charts--it's nice to be able to put the chart(s) on my iPod and have a more discreet way to carry the pattern.

[wendy]

I'd much rather have the pattern separate. I've never ever bought a kit, and don't expect that I ever will. It's too much fun to read through the pattern and think about what kind of yarn I'd like to use and then go on a yarn hunt.

[Deborah]

Love your mother --Earth, that is. I vote for the paperless PDF.

[Linda M]

I agree with the above. PDF patterns are fine, and if you show pictures of the double skeins with captions or labels that indicate they are especially lovely in the mitts and hat combo people will figure it out.

On the other hand, I appreciated receiving the printed version of Andromeda because I may be the last computer-owning internet-savvy person in North America who doesn't own a color printer!

[Lab Cat]

PDF patterns are great. I rarely by kits because my yarn needs and desire are some what different to most kits.

[johanna]

I think it is fine to offer in PDF - I like them that way cause I always lose stuff - and I write all over them and then change my mind about what I wrote - and then want a clean copy. Also if you offer the patterns separately then you don't have to worry about the refund for the people who buy more than one skein of the yarn (like me) - or want one or the other (hat or mitts - or both). You could offer the patterns as either a pdf or paper - and charge more for the paper - for people who don't have the means to print. Then they would be separate items for sale - you could add a "patterns" section to the store too.