Q. I own a yarn shop and would love to offer Knitty patterns to my customers. What can I do?
A. Every Knitty reader, including those who own a yarn shop, is permitted to print a single copy of any Knitty pattern for their own personal use. Although your shop is clearly not your home, by exposing your customers to Knitty patterns, everyone benefits, so we encourage you to display your copy of any Knitty pattern in your shop.

Under no circumstances is it okay for you to offer your customers a copy of any Knitty pattern or article, including placing a printout of a Knitty pattern in a kit. Even though your intentions are innocent, this would be a violation of copyright and will hurt our designers. I know you don't want to do that.

So here is what we suggest:

1. Print out ONE copy of any pattern you wish to feature in your store.

2. Put it in a binder or plastic sleeve and make it available for viewing by your customers.

3. Your customer needs to print their own copy of the Knitty pattern directly from this website. How can you make finding the right page to print easier for your customer? After a great suggestion from a LYS owner/Knitty reader, we created handy Post-it notes to make the referral process as easy as possible for you. You'll find the sticky notes -- and a few other cool things -- at the Knitty LYSO shwag shop.

We're getting great feedback on these from LYSOs...they are proving as handy as we hoped!

If you'd rather do it yourself, you can use this 8 1/2 x 11" flyer. Simply download the PDF file, print it and cut up the little mini-flyers for your customers' convenience. To make it even easier for your customer to find the specific pattern they're interested in, write the name of the pattern and the URL of the pattern page on the flyer.

4. Feel good, knowing you've helped designers continue to offer their patterns free to readers on Knitty.

Do you want to teach a course based on a Knitty pattern or article?
Please write directly to the designer/author with your request. You'll find each designer or author's e-mail address at the bottom of their page.

Do you want to sell kits of a Knitty pattern?
In order for you to use the picture(s) that accompany each pattern, whether in print or on your website, you must obtain the designer's permission. You'll find each designer or author's e-mail address at the bottom of their pattern page so that you can contact them. If permission is granted by the designer, please add "photo(s) used with the permission of Designer Name".

You may not print a copy of the Knitty pattern and include it with your kit. Instead, simply include the Knitty pattern's URL (see note 3 above) so that the purchaser can download a copy for themselves, and abide by copyright law.

We have been informed that some yarn shops are actually selling Knitty patterns. This is clearly a violation of copyright and should we learn of such violations, we will inform the designer so that they may exercise their legal rights.

Knitty is a popular resource for your customers and from the feedback we're hearing, is helping to build interest in knitting worldwide. This, in turn, helps build your business.

By protecting the hard work of the designers and authors who contribute to Knitty, you are also helping to ensure that Knitty can continue for a long time to come. It's good for us all.

We thank you for your help and your respect of copyright law.