Pattern piracy: On the latest controversy in the knitting community
Last week, pattern designer Helene Arnesen (FabelKnitWear) discovered a Discord group, where around 800 people shared hundreds of paid knitting patterns - for free. Not only is this practice illegal, it is also unethical and harmful to the wider community.
I used to have a friend who would constantly ask me to share paid pdf patterns. I always felt slightly iffy about it but never thought about the wider consequences until last week, when Helene started “a shitstorm” after being made aware of pattern sharing on an unprecedented scale. The Discord group contained hundreds of knitting patterns from well-known designers as well as smaller accounts being shared free of charge. It is, of course, illegal to share copyrighted materials without explicit permission. It is stealing.
Anger propels action
Not only her own patterns were uploaded but Helene thinks most relatively well-known designers could be found. She then took it upon herself to get all patterns deleted from the server and the group disbanded: “But the group’s attitude more than anything else really pissed me off, so I decided to start that shitstorm, even when I really, really hate drama.”
She shared not only her discovery on her Instagram stories, but also screenshots of the ensuing conversation she had with one of the moderators, which truly highlights the group’s cynicism. While Helene accepts that “sharing of digital items will always be a thing”, it was “the general entitlement of the people in the group, going to great lengths to defend why what they were doing was ok”, which left her feeling deflated, but mostly angry, which was often is a great motivator to take action.
Gatekeeping versus ‘fair’ pricing
“We can decide whether we want to pay a certain price or not but it is not up to us to judge the fairness.”
One of the arguments brought forward by the moderator was that requesting payment for a pattern was gatekeeping. That is just ridiculous. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, gatekeeping is the activity of trying to control who gets particular resources, power, or opportunities, and who does not. However, designers wanting to be reimbursed for their time, creativity, and materials spent developing a pattern does not fall under this.
According to FabelKnitWear, releasing a pattern takes months: “First I have to plan out the pattern, knit it myself, write down the pattern in both Norwegian and English and grade it. Then I have it tech edited and testknitted in all sizes by several knitters, involving a lot of feedback. I take and edit photos before formatting the pattern and put it up online.”
The amount of work that goes into creating a high-quality pattern should be reimbursed and it is up to the designer to price their patterns. In that sense, it is only them who decide whether a price is fair. As customers, we do not get to decree that a price is ‘unfair’ and should thus be getting it free, i.e. illegally, elsewhere. We can decide whether we want to pay a certain price or not but it is not up to us to judge the fairness.
Entitlement devalues the work for all
This line of thinking reeks of entitlement. Helene theorizes that “there is a ‘link me now’ culture, especially among younger crafters using Tiktok and expecting everything to be available to everyone.” However, reading the online forums and comments, I find that a lot of the arguments for free sharing of files come in the form of: “Back in the day, we traded recipes and patterns with our friends over a cup of tea!”. What we have to remember though is the scale. Sharing a physical book with one or two friends is very different to sharing a digital file with potentially thousands of people all over the world.
Aleksandra Sołowianiuk, who is the designer behind vert.and.rose, took to Threads to share her thoughts on the topic: “How do we expect other people to value hand knitting and the work that goes into it, if our own community doesn't? The pattern thieves devalue the work that goes into creating fibre art.” There is a real risk to the community of new designers being discouraged to share their work online and of smaller design companies shutting down due to the theft.
It’s personal
This controversy did remind me of the pirated music industry. But why did this feel so different? I think for me it is that our community is smaller. It feels familiar through social media. Many designers allow a look behind the scenes and they share more of their lives with us than a music producer in the early 2000s might have. The pattern piracy on this scale feels personal. Like our friends were attacked.
Our community is also built on values such as positivity, supporting each other and a general sense of coming together across borders, ages, genders… This is why, I think, the recent discovery hit many of us so hard, as it showed up as a stark contrast to what we thought the community was.
Lív Ulven (woodlandsknits) says it best in a very detailed and poignant Instagram post: “Pattern piracy isn’t a rebellion against injustice. It’s not stealing from the elite or corporations. It’s stealing from small, independent creators who are already vulnerable. Designers are not the villains in some imaginary class war, “gatekeeping” you from your dream sweater. They’re often one-person, predominantly women-owned businesses trying to make a living in an industry where creative work is undervalued and, clearly, exploited.”
Further Reading
Another very good piece on the topic was written by Ashleigh Ellan Kavanagh last week: https://medium.com/@ashleighellankavanagh/why-knitting-patterns-shouldnt-be-free-and-no-exposure-won-t-pay-my-bills-bbd216141a7d
Screenshots of FabelKnitWear’s conversation with the Discord moderator: https://www.reddit.com/r/craftsnark/comments/1ib9pnl/fabel_knitwear_knitwear_designer_shares_that/
Free patterns on Ravelry and a Ravelry thread for paid designs available for free for a limited time