Knitting Steampunk (a rant)
I like crafting a lot. When I got married, I made my bridesmaids jewelry for the occasion. Hand me a piece of paper and I will fold it into whatever critter you want it to be (including an octopus, although that will require the aid of my origami book). Fairly recently, I started learning how to knit. I find I enjoy making my own personal “Loading... Please wait” progress bars.
Anyway, I found that steampunk manages to scratch quite a few itches of mine: historical zaniness, science fiction, fantasy, crafting and costuming. Naturally, I started looking for knitting patterns.
And then I stopped looking for anything purporting to be a “steampunk knitting pattern.” Why? Because I am a thrifty soul and five bucks for a pattern (on average) seemed steep. If I make wrist warmers from one of these steampunk patterns, I will likely be paying as much for yarn as I would for the pattern. Something about that has my BS alert going off. When I get a sewing pattern, I know that I will be getting paper blanks that I should be able to use multiple times. Knitting patterns don't have that, being instead a set of instructions and nothing more.
Let me be perfectly clear here. I have no major objection to paying money for patterns and instructions. It takes time and effort to develop patterns and there should be a reward for such things. But rather than charge the price of a cheap paperback for one pattern, why not consolidate several patterns into a little booklet and sell that for the price of say two patterns. I would totally buy that, because it would seem like value for my money. About a buck for one song? Fair price. Three to eight dollars for an e-book? Sure. Five dollars for one pattern? Not so much and especially not when there are a ton of patterns out there for free and even those in print books would be a better buy.
It should be mentioned that when hunting for old style knitting patterns, one should not discount a university's collection of old magazines. And copy machines. :)
Curiously enough, the lack of reasonably priced patterns (or collections of patterns) has encouraged me to start experimenting with generic basics and see if I can modify them into something more interesting. I've determined that I hate knitting things in multiple pieces. I've also determined that experimenting is best done with cheap yarn that the kitties can play with. In any case, I'm sure something cool will eventually come of it.
Anyway, I found that steampunk manages to scratch quite a few itches of mine: historical zaniness, science fiction, fantasy, crafting and costuming. Naturally, I started looking for knitting patterns.
And then I stopped looking for anything purporting to be a “steampunk knitting pattern.” Why? Because I am a thrifty soul and five bucks for a pattern (on average) seemed steep. If I make wrist warmers from one of these steampunk patterns, I will likely be paying as much for yarn as I would for the pattern. Something about that has my BS alert going off. When I get a sewing pattern, I know that I will be getting paper blanks that I should be able to use multiple times. Knitting patterns don't have that, being instead a set of instructions and nothing more.
Let me be perfectly clear here. I have no major objection to paying money for patterns and instructions. It takes time and effort to develop patterns and there should be a reward for such things. But rather than charge the price of a cheap paperback for one pattern, why not consolidate several patterns into a little booklet and sell that for the price of say two patterns. I would totally buy that, because it would seem like value for my money. About a buck for one song? Fair price. Three to eight dollars for an e-book? Sure. Five dollars for one pattern? Not so much and especially not when there are a ton of patterns out there for free and even those in print books would be a better buy.
It should be mentioned that when hunting for old style knitting patterns, one should not discount a university's collection of old magazines. And copy machines. :)
Curiously enough, the lack of reasonably priced patterns (or collections of patterns) has encouraged me to start experimenting with generic basics and see if I can modify them into something more interesting. I've determined that I hate knitting things in multiple pieces. I've also determined that experimenting is best done with cheap yarn that the kitties can play with. In any case, I'm sure something cool will eventually come of it.