Hi ya’ll, I am not picking on anybody but I would like to say crochet shouldn’t have to be expensive and I think that patterns that are not very complex should be relatively free. It is just my opinion and like I said I am not telling this to anyone in imparticular.
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If all patterns were free, what would motivate designers to make them as they would earn nothing.
Their time, talent and efforts are worth something. Regardless of how simple or difficult the pattern is.
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Exactly
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i totally agree with you. patterns were worth someone’s time of making, therefore its their decision to either make them free or paid.
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Plus who defines simple or complex? As I’ve crocheted about 50 years, my definition of simple or complex would be way different from someone who just started crocheting today
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It’s totally fine to have opinions, tbh sometimes I wish all patterns were free cuz I’m broke
but you don’t know how long it took someone to make a pattern! You’re paying for their labor in making the work easier for you. 
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I mean, it does not matter how old you are and how long you have been crocheting; it matters about your skill and how much you charge. If it’s too high, then you won’t really make sales.
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I see what you mean, but as I designer I’m not very motivated to make patterns that I know will be free, i’m more excited about the ones i’m designing that will be paid because I could make some money from my time and effort.
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I kinda agree but if the designer has spent a lot of time and effort creating the pattern, then it makes sense to make a paid pattern.
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I agree completely.
I’m still like young and don’t rely on crochet as a source of income (if I did I’d be totally screwed), so most of my patterns are free and motivation to make them is just because I enjoy crocheting. But this may change as I get older and no longer rely on my parents. People should price their patterns how they want, it’s their design and someone else’s opinion shouldn’t dictate what they do!!!
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Same here
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I am not saying that all patterns should be free, but some might be, and if you do not need money, consider it cheaper. Having patterns available makes it easier to love crochet. I am just saying.
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There are very few people who don’t need money. Especially a lot of our members here who are mostly teenagers to young adults (I’m probably not the only 63 year old here, but still, I would guess that most of us here are younger than I am).
To expect designers to simply give away most of their hard work and talent for free because someone out there thinks that the pattern isn’t complex enough to be worth any money and should be free, well, that would definitely discourage me from ever designing anything
I work full time and definitely need money (I’m not a designer and have no intentions of being one, and definitely wouldn’t be able to survive if it was my sole source of income). Once I retire I might opt to try designing something.
I will always encourage designers to offer their patterns for a charge; their hard work, talent and effort are worth some fair compensation. Most patterns here are priced at a reasonable price in my opinion
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I think that having so many patterns free also isn’t great for designers who do charge for their patterns. Who would buy a pattern when there is almost certainly a free pattern by someone else? Sure it’s great for the consumer, but for the sellers? I have a shop here. I’ve made about $5 in all my time on Ribblr, and I’m not that small of a shop. I have hundreds of followers and several patterns for sale. People are only interested in my free ones. It could be that the simple ones I don’t feel good about charging for are just generally more appealing, people like the little ones, or it could be that people aren’t on here to buy patterns. They’re on here to find free patterns and to chat with the community. And that’s totally fine! You don’t have to spend money if you don’t want to, and having this community is great. But since almost nobody is willing to spend money on here, it hurts the designers who are here to make quality patterns and charge what they’re worth, because they don’t sell. People won’t stay here making paid patterns if nobody buys them. The people who make free patterns are wonderful people, and we should be grateful they are putting in the effort to design a pattern and then make no money from it.
Expecting patterns to be free just because they are kind of “simple” is a little disrespectful after the designer poured hours, or maybe even more depending on the type of pattern, into creating it. If you want crochet to be “free” (you’ll still have to pay for the yarn) then how about you start designing your own patterns? It’s always wonderful when someone does give their patterns away for free, but you can’t expect it.
Yes, it’s frustrating when you see a pattern you want but it turns out to be paid, but the designer is selling it at a fair price. Just because you don’t think it’s worth money because it’s kind of simple pattern doesn’t mean the designer didn’t put a lot of effort into it. Have you ever designed a pattern? Do you know how much work goes into writing even pretty simple patterns?
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Yes, I have made many patterns. I had one on the ribblr patterns, and it was free. I am more than happy to have all of my patterns free, but I do not have time to. Like i said it was just a thought, not a strong opinion.
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Yes, that is all I was trying to say
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I think the problem is that you wrote the word “free” when you wrote “relatively free”. “Cheap” or “affordable” probably would have expressed your opinion a bit better. My own thoughts as a designer are similar to what tygger428 has been saying. Some people who post free patterns are able to make a living by running a blog and receiving sponsorships from big (usually yarn) brands. This is not the case for most though, who are only able to make money by charging for their work. However when I make a pattern, I always try to create interesting and unique designs with step-by-step photos and detailed explanation of any unusual techniques. Higher prices also leaves room for discounts and sales.
I do think crochet is already an affordable hobby with many brilliant free patterns currently available for people to use. With enough skill and experience, any design that seems simple but is paid, should be easy enough to replicate for personal use. Anything that is too complicated for that, most likely deserves the price it is asking for. Additionally, with enough searching online you can usually find a free / cheaper alternative (or something close enough to modify).
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