there have been a lot of conversations around financial accessibility within knitting world lately, and the nuance/unpacking of just how fucked up capitalism is would take multiple books if i tried. but here’s a coles notes version of where i’m sitting right now with it:

capitalism is bullshit and compounded by other areas of oppression, full stop.
as a one-person queer-owned maker biz who always keeps coming back to their politics, the way i feel i can best fuck with the system is by being financially stable enough (thanks to purchases from people with spare income) to not always be worried about paying my bills/feeding myself/being worried if getting sick for a week is gonna screw me over/worrying every time willow eats something weird i’m gonna end up with a big vet bill, which in turn gives me more capacity to give back to my community through scholarships, working with youth, barters/trades/gifting to other folx making magical things, supporting other small biz bosses by paying them for their labour fully, etc.
my biz is my sole source of income, and i don’t split living costs with a partner. it’s me, myself, and i supporting this life (willow refuses to learn how to label yarn or knit samples).
i want accessibility for others to come alongside stability for myself, because that’s how this will keep going long-term. i honestly don’t see much value in a one-time blitz if it means i have to close up shop and any future opportunities go away because i have to go back to a “regular” job.

SO! i’m going to try something. an experiment. @transmutationknits gave me the idea with their recent pattern release. everyday magic volume v: feast is coming out tomorrow. for the first week (august 1-7), the collection and individual patterns will be on a sliding scale of sorts. full price, 10%, 20%, or 30% off with different codes, to be used by anyone, no questions asked, operating on the honour code. if you can afford full price, please pay it. it helps offset the costs so that the folx who need access to discount codes can use them and keep using them.

if it goes well, i hope this becomes a regular practice with all my pattern releases! the reality is that for most designers, this work is a side income for them (and i always tell my students to seriously consider how much non-knitting work they want to put into pattern design so there’s a realistic expectation of what kind of income we’re talking about). for me, it’s a major part of my annual income, so i can’t fuck around with it quite so casually. but i want to find a way to make things more accessible more frequently for more folx, and hopefully this is one component of that! i’ll be sure to report back on the results.

tiered pricing experiment