Interested in contributing patterns or articles to Knitty?

Sign up for periodic updates and bulletins by using the handy form below.
[We won't use this information for any other purpose and your e-mail address will only be visible to Knitty's editor. Promise.]

Knitty requires all patterns to follow CYC sizing standards.
Charts and full information can be found on this page.

Thanks to Ysolda Teague who has provided a wonderful sizing resource for designers.
It follows the CYC sizing standards and fills in some important gaps.
You can find it here. Thank you, Ysolda!

FAQ for designers and authors [updated March 2008]:

Q1. What types of patterns/articles are you looking for?
A1. We are now soliciting patterns for our 6th Anniversary fall issue which goes live in September 2008.

Fall is our anchor season where we publish the things knitters have been dreaming about knitting since the last time it was cool. Cardigans, jackets, pullovers, vests are all key, especially incorporating unique design approaches and current fashion trends. Accessories are important too [the fall scarf is a key accessory], but the big story in fall is always "what is the next sweater I have to knit?". We want to see your version of it.

We want to encourage male designers and designers FOR MEN to step up and join us...we really do have a hole in our magazine where men are concerned and we want to do something about it.

We love unique approaches to garment construction, techniques we may not have seen before, and fresh, up-to-date style.

Please note: Knitty is religion neutral, so nothing related to any religion will be published.

Submissions must be new -- not previously shown in any form [even just a picture] in another mag or on your website, blog, livejournal, Flickr or Ravelry. Once your pattern is published in Knitty, you may include a picture of your design on your website with a link to the Knitty website.

We cannot accept submissions of crocheted items. We suggest you visit the delightful Crochet Me -- crochet is their thang. Knitted items with a small amount of crochet are most welcome. :-)

Q2. What do you pay for submissions?
A2. The honorarium ranges from $75-100 per published submission. Payment will be by Paypal and contributors can expect payment by the time the issue's surprise goes live -- midway between your issue and the next.

In addition to the honorarium, we offer you a highly visible, professional place to show your work to a large, well-connected audience, plus a link back to the website of your choice. Our designers and authors enjoy significant traffic as a result of their Knitty exposure. If you've dreamed of becoming a professional published knitwear designer or writer, Knitty could help you get there. It's also a great way to build an audience and generate sales for your own pattern line or other knitting-related product.

You [the creator of the work] will retain all copyrights to your own work. By submitting work to be published in Knitty and accepting the honorarium, you are giving your permission for your pattern or article and all related images to be included in Knitty magazine in its current format and other electronic or computer-readable distribution formats. Back issues of Knitty will remain available online indefinitely.

Once the current issue that showcases your pattern or article has moved to the archives, you are free to do as you wish with the pattern or article, which includes submitting it elsewhere or self publishing.

Q3. May I send you my submission by snail mail?
A3. Knitty is unable to accept snail mail [paper] submissions. All submissions must be sent via e-mail. If you do not have a digital camera or scanner, this information may help you.

Q4. How soon can I expect to hear back about my submission?
A4. Consideration for each issue's designs begins after the submission deadline has closed.

If we feel your submission is not suitable for publication in Knitty, we will let you know as soon as possible. If you do not hear from us, it means your submission is in the queue for consideration. Congratulations!

Once the submission deadline has passed and all potential designs are in hand, we begin the selection process. We endeavor to let every designer know if they will be included in the next issue as soon as possible. If you have not heard from us by two weeks before publication, please write the editor and inquire. Patterns are selected first for each issue to allow our technical editor time to do her work; articles are chosen closer to publication.

Q5. How do you select what gets published?
A5. Our editor chooses what she likes and/or what she thinks Knitty readers will like. The quality of the knitted item, written pattern AND the images that accompany the submission are very important.

No payment is accepted by Knitty in exchange for publishing a design. If it's in our pages, it's there because we think people will enjoy knitting it or be inspired by it.

Q6. Does Knitty arrange yarn support?
A6. Many of our designers have had the materials for their designs donated and we try to facilitate this when possible. If you are an established contributor to Knitty, write the editor with your concept, sketches, swatches and yarn requirements as far in advance of the issue your work is planned for as you possibly can.

If you are new to Knitty, please include photographs of previous work and some information about you and your background when you write to us with your concept, sketches and swatches.

Q7. What are your deadlines for future issues?
A7. All submissions will be due the first day of the deadline month, unless that day happens to be a Sunday or a holiday. In that case, we move to the next day.

Fall 08: June 2/08 [cool-weather garments and accessories]
Winter 08: September 2/08 [last-minute gifts, accessories and garments]

Spring 09: December 1/08 [transitional garments and accessories]
Summer 09: March 2/09 [warm-weather garments, layering essentials and accessories]
Fall 09: June 1/09 [cool-weather garments and accessories]
Winter 09: September 2/09 [last-minute gifts, accessories and garments]

Q8. When does each issue go live?
A8. As close as possible to the beginning of the month:
Summer: June
Fall: September
Winter: December
Spring: March

Q9. My design was published in Knitty. When will I be paid?
A9. Payment to all contributors will be complete by the time the issue's surprise goes live -- midway between your issue and the next.

Please read and follow all instructions precisely.

Patterns

All design submissions for the fall issue must be received by June 2, 2008, and include the following, sent as ATTACHMENTS to your e-mail message:

1. A complete written knitting pattern that adheres to the Knitty style guide in an MS Word or text-only document. Please download this MSWord document or the text-only version and follow the conventions exactly when creating your submission. Your work will be edited for clarity and format. Do not include photos in your pattern document. Attach them to your e-mail along with the pattern file.

Take some time to read patterns we've published and follow our conventions. A table of Knitty's standard abbreviations can be found here. List any unusual abbreviations and their definitions at the beginning of your pattern in the Pattern Notes section.

Patterns must include the following: brand name, colors and fiber content of yarn used; yardage per ball or skein; quantity of yarn required per size. If the yarn you have used is discontinued by the time your pattern is submitted, please list an alternate that will produce similar results. Your pattern will be edited to meet our standards.

You must include a gauge indicator [4x4" square, over stockinette stitch, showing stitch AND row count] for those knitters who wish to substitute yarns. Please use current, commercially available yarns whenever possible. "Commercially available" means, at minimum, that the yarn can be ordered from a website, all over the world, without difficulty.

Patterns should be sized from XS to 3X for women and S to 2X for men. All designs published in Knitty must follow the CYC sizing standards. Please familiarize yourself with the sizing charts, which you'll find here.

2. A clean sketch of the silhouette of the pattern [see example at right] that shows all relevant measurements. If your pattern covers multiple sizes, please indicate their measurements as well. The sketch should be provided as a GIF file, or EPS artwork, if you are able. Clean, hand-drawn sketches are acceptable.

3. A selection of clean digital images [JPG, best possible quality] of the finished project at 72dpi, at least 500 pixels wide and no larger than 1.5MB. You may include more than one photo -- in fact, we encourage it.

Please ensure that all relevant design features are visible in the photos you send, since this often helps people follow patterns. The style and quality of your photos is very important, so show your work to its best advantage! Have a photo shoot, take lots of different shots from different angles and have fun with it! Pl

Are you a designer that's new to Knitty? [as in we haven't published your work before]: It's absolutely essential that your submission photos be clear, in focus, bright and of the style that we request above. The quality of the photos is an essential component of everyone's submission. We have had to reject excellent patterns because the photographs weren't well-lit, sharp and/or appealing.

So in order to evaluate each submission properly, every submission MUST contain photos that are good enough to publish.

Note: if you do not have a digital camera, most photo developers are able to provide you with a photo CD for each roll of film you have developed. This gives you a good-quality JPG file for each photo.

You can also take your developed photos to a place like Kinko's where they'll scan them in for you and give you an electronic file that you can attach to your e-mail submission. Print out this page, bring it along and point them to item 3 above so that they know what resolution and file size you require.

4. Contact details -- please include:

- Your name as you wish it to be published
- an e-mail address where readers can send questions or feedback
- the URL to your website or blog, if you wish us to link to you
- a short bio [100 words max], written in 3rd person
- a blurb describing the item in question
- a headshot of you
- the name of any models featured in photographs you submit
- the photographer's name

Remember to include your Paypal account name [it's the e-mail address you use for Paypal], in case your design is selected. This will make arranging payment easier and avoid delays.

5. A signed, dated statement that the pattern you are submitting is your own original work. Please copy the following text, sign below and include it with your submission:

By submitting a design to be published in Knitty, I verify that I am the original creator of the work, and that I have not infringed and/or violated the existing intellectual property rights of any third person in the creation of the work I claim as mine. Further, I agree to hold Knitty and its editors and publisher harmless from any and all expenses, losses, liabilities, damages or third-party claims that may arise from any infringement and/or violation of such intellectual property rights. The one-time fee paid by Knitty is my full compensation for all electronic and/or computer-readable media distribution rights. This notice will serve as my written permission to allow my pattern and all related images to be published in Knitty magazine in its current format and in any future format in perpetuity.

Please send all submissions to this address.
Kindly title your e-mail: "fall pattern sub: *yourpatternnamehere*"

Why one designer loves working with Knitty:

"I love Knitty. Who doesn't love free knitting patterns? But more than the free love, it's such a great creative outlet for designers. We get to design what we want with the yarn that we want to use, work close to the season it represents, use our own words to describe our designs and photograph our own work. Beyond self publishing you get that nowhere. We get to push and pull the norm of a knitting magazine. Really participate in its creative vision and evolution. And it's fun!

-- Jillian Moreno [designer of Rockstar, Bella, Latifa, Boo and Folly

Articles

First-person stories are welcomed, but please be aware that we have published many of these in the past and do not wish to publish duplicate themes or content. If you have a new, fresh personal story to tell that other knitters will find interesting or might relate to, we would love to see it.

Written submissions for the summer issue must be received by June 2, 2008. Submissions must be from 1000 to 2000 words in length. Submit files in MS Word or as text-only documents. If accepted for publication, your work will be edited for clarity and format.

Please include the following, sent as ATTACHMENTS to your e-mail message:
1. Where appropriate, supporting graphics or photography are appreciated by the editor and bring life to your story. As an example, see this article. The photographs of the process, yarns and color key were supplied by the author. This is a very good thing. Important: Note the name of each image in the location you feel it belongs in your article.

Image guidelines: Clean, well-lit digital images [JPG, best possible quality], 72dpi, at least 300 pixels wide and no larger than 1MB. You may include more than one photo -- we encourage you to! As with patterns, photo quality is very important.

Note: if you do not have a digital camera, most photo developers now offer image scanning to CDs so that you end up with a good-quality JPG file for each photo.

2. Contact details -- please include:

- Your name as you wish it to be published
- an e-mail address where readers can send questions or feedback
- the URL to your website or blog, if you wish us to link to you
- a short bio [100 words max], written in 3rd person
- a headshot of you
- the name of any models featured in photographs you submit
- the photographer's name

Remember to include your Paypal account name [it's the e-mail address you use for Paypal], in case your design is selected. This will make arranging payment easier and avoid delays.

3. A signed, dated statement that the pattern you are submitting is your own original work. Please copy the following text, sign below and include it with your submission:

By submitting an article to be published in Knitty, I verify that I am the original creator of the work, and that I have not infringed and/or violated the existing intellectual property rights of any third person in the creation of the work I claim as mine. Further, I agree to hold Knitty and its editors and publisher harmless from any and all expenses, losses, liabilities, damages or third-party claims that may arise from any infringement and/or violation of such intellectual property rights. The one-time fee paid by Knitty is my full compensation for all electronic and/or computer-readable media distribution rights. This notice will serve as my written permission to allow my article and all related images to be published in Knitty magazine in its current format and in any future format in perpetuity.

Please send all submissions to this address.
Kindly title your e-mail: "fall article sub: *yourarticlenamehere*"