Thank you for joining us as a designer for KnitCrate! We are honored that you will be lending us your talent and imagination for a shop, crate, or special feature. We’ve put together these guidelines to give you all the details about our process and collaboration.

Work Order Yarn Support Design Proposal Pattern Design Sample Shipment Pattern Release Invoicing Compensation

After we’ve coordinated with you on which month, special feature, or kit will be featuring your work, your Design Coordinator will provide you with a Work Order, including details about your feature, the yarn you’ll be using, fees, deadlines, and more. You will need to fill out the Work Order with your shipping address (for yarn support), sign it, and return it to us. We cannot ship you yarn support before we receive your signed Work Order.

After we receive your signed work order and as soon as we have the yarn on hand, we will ship you enough yarn support to design your pattern and knit or crochet a sample. For our subscription crates, we will at a minimum ship you the same amount of yarn a customer will receive in their crate. If you’re collaborating with us on a blog post, video, or giveaway we may also ship you additional yarn. You may also request additional yarn support if you would like to make more samples or engage test knitters or crocheters (we do not cover fees for testing), and we will try to accommodate your request if you can. In any case, please be sure your design only uses the number of skeins specified on your Work Order.

Within one week of receiving yarn support from us, submit a Design Proposal by filling out the form on this page. Your Design Proposal should include a description of the design you envision (including important construction and fit details), along with a sketch, photo of a swatch, or anything else you think would help communicate your creative vision.

The proposal review is not meant to restrict you as a designer, but to make sure that your pattern stands out to our membership, is a good fit for the kit or subscription crate theme, and is not too similar to anything we have previously commissioned or released. We will aim to reply to your proposal within a couple days of receipt—please do not begin work on your design until your proposal is approved by us.

Now you can begin the making process! If you’re designing for a subscription crate or other themed feature, your Work Order will include a link to download an inspiration board—please base your design on the styles shown there.

We will essentially leave you alone during this time, but if you ever have any questions feel free to reach out to your Design Coordinator at submissions@knitcrate.com for assistance.

All patterns must be written using our Pattern Format document. Download a copy of the Pattern Format for your use at this link, and edit it in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Patterns that are not correctly formatted will result in you being asked to re-write within format. Designers who neglect to comply to requests to reformat will be charged a $50 layout fee against their contracted payment to cover the time of the person doing the additional work to prepare your pattern for publishing.

Please submit your pattern draft on or before the date indicated on your Work Order by filling out the form on this page. Please include a photo or two of your pattern sample from all important angles so our tech editors can envision what the pattern should look like when it's completed (simple shots of the item laid flat or modelled and shot on your phone are perfect!). A member of our Tech Editing team will reach out to you as soon as we begin work on your pattern, with any edits or questions they may have. Your pattern draft submission should also include any supporting items that your pattern requires:

• • • Stitch Charts/Diagrams: If your pattern includes any stitch patterns beyond basic commonly-known stitch patterns (such as 1x1 ribbing or garter stitch), please provide a chart or diagram for each stitch pattern used along with written instructions to accompany the chart(s). For knitting, we prefer Stitch Mastery files if possible—if you don't have access to Stitch Mastery software, you can submit your chart(s) in PDF, AI, EPS, PNG or JPG format. For crochet, you can submit your chart(s) in PDF, AI, EPS, PNG or JPG format.
    • Schematic(s): If your pattern is for a garment, or any item that requires a careful fit or fitting based on multiple body measurements (such as a sweater), you will need to provide a schematic. Your schematic should include all key fit points needed for a successful fit (such as bust circumference and sleeve length), for all sizes included in the pattern. A simple hand-drawn schematic is perfect, as we will recreate it in-house for publication. If your pattern is for an item where fit is not critical (such as a scarf) or an item where fitting is very simple and relies on only one or two basic measurements (such as a hat), a schematic is not required.

You are responsible for knitting or crocheting a sample of your pattern, and shipping it to us for photography. Please make note of the sample delivery deadline listed on your Work Order and make sure to ship your sample in time for it to be delivered to us by that date from your location. If you live in the US contact us at submissions@knitcrate.com and we can provide you with a prepaid shipping label. Samples should be shipped to the address shown on your Work Order. Please note that we are unable to return samples.

If your pattern is being featured in a subscription crate, our warehouse will send you a complimentary crate when we ship to our subscribers to the address provided on your Work Order. If you need to change your shipping address, please contact submissions@knitcrate.com as soon as possible.

We'll also list the pattern on Ravelry, and provide a download link to our subscribers to download it to our subscribers.

Ways to Build Buzz

We encourage you to build excitement for your pattern feature any time after your pattern is released or our crate reveal for your feature month is posted! You can generate excitement by:

• Promote your collaboration with KnitCrate and share your affiliate link to earn commissions. Our team will set you up with an affiliate account that earns you a 20% commission on new subscriptions; 2% recurring commission for every month the subscriber continues subscription. You’ll also receive a custom coupon to share that gives first-time subscribers 20% off their first crate.
• Posting on your social media and web presences and sending newsletters to your email list.
• Visiting our Ravelry Group at this link and commenting in threads relevant to your feature, and introducing yourself to our audience.
• Hosting a giveaway with your audience! If you’re interested, contact your Design Coordinator at submissions@knitcrate.com
• Have another idea? We’re all ears—contact your Design Coordinator!

When You Can Start Posting About Your Pattern

For Subscription Crates: We reveal the contents of our subscription crates on the 1st of the month of feature—you are welcome and encouraged to publicly share about your involvement with the crate any time after our reveal! Feel free to post about the crate and your pattern with your newsletter, social media feeds, blog, or anywhere else! Before the crate reveal, it is very important that you keep all details about the pattern, yarn, and crate confidential so that we can maintain the element of surprise for our subscribers.

Kits and Other Features: For patterns featured in kits or anywhere else, please keep details about the pattern confidential until after it is published, unless otherwise agreed to with your Design Coordinator.

Submit an invoice to billing@knitcrate.com for the total fee indicated on your Work Order any time on or after the invoicing date indicated on your Work Order. Invoices received by the 14th of the month will be paid by the 15th of the month. Invoices received after that will be paid by the end of the month.

If you wish, you can download our invoice template to use here.

US Designers: When your payment is ready, you will receive an email prompting you to set up a free account with bill.com. This allows you to receive your payment without incurring any fees.

Non-US/International Designers: You will need to include the following banking information on your invoice in order to receive your payment from us, as a wire transfer:

• Recipient’s full name and address
• Name and full address of recipient’s bank
• Recipient’s account number and account type (e.g., checking or savings)
• Recipient routing number
• Recipient bank’s SWIFT or BIC code (if applicable)
• Recipient bank’s IBAN (if applicable)

At KnitCrate, we pride ourselves on doing our part to supporting the vibrant fiber arts community. One of the ways we do this is by paying pattern designers competitive and transparent fees for their work, and offering a choice of rights options. Our pattern fees are based on pattern type, yardage, complexity, and the rights level chosen as shown in the tables below.