Frequently asked questions

Every Stitchfolk pattern is a PDF, formatted for print and screen. Buy it, download it, and it is yours to keep — open it on a phone or tablet at the craft table, or print it and mark it up the way makers have always marked up patterns.

Because a PDF is delivered the moment checkout completes, a completed digital sale is final once delivery begins — except where the file is inaccessible, defective, duplicated, or materially not what was described. Then we fix it: a fresh link, a corrected file, a replacement, or a refund as appropriate. The full terms are in our digital downloads & refunds policy.

Anything with a PDF reader: phones, tablets, e-readers, and computers, on any current browser. Save the file to a device you control so it is there when the yarn comes out.

Through the contact page — a real person reads every message and replies within a day or two. For an order problem, include the email you checked out with and the pattern title; that gets you helped fastest.

Checkout runs through Stripe. The moment payment confirms, your delivery email carries a signed download link for your pattern. Nothing ships and nothing waits — most makers are casting on within the hour.

Save the PDF when it arrives; that copy is yours for good. Download links expire after a while for security. If yours has lapsed, write to us with your order email and we will send a fresh one.

Please don’t. Each purchase is a personal-use licence: make the project, print the pattern, give away or sell the finished object — but the PDF itself stays with you. If a friend loves it, the kindest route is their own copy; patterns start at $2.99. The terms of sale spell it out.

Pick the level you are comfortable with right now, not where you would like to be next year: Beginner (first few projects), Easy (the basic stitches feel automatic), Intermediate (cables, colorwork, lace, and shaping), Experienced (any technique in the catalog). Not sure? The three-question guide points you at a good first make.

Today, our patterns are written in English. Translations are on our wish list; if you would buy Stitchfolk patterns in another language, tell us which one — that genuinely shapes what we do next.

Sometimes. Where a pattern or guide recommends yarn, needles, or tools, the link may earn Stitchfolk a commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate links are always disclosed — the full policy is our affiliate disclosure.

Supply commissions help keep pattern prices where they are — $2.99 to $11.99 — without charging you a cent more for the yarn you were going to buy anyway.

No. Recommendations remain editorially independent: we recommend the supply we would hand you across the craft table, and the commission never picks the product.

Yarn weight is the thickness of the strand — from lace to chunky. A pattern is written for one weight; swap in a very different weight and the finished piece changes size, drape, and how much yarn it drinks. Match the weight on the pattern (or swatch carefully) and the math behaves.

They are different crafts making different fabric — a crochet pattern worked with needles is not a shortcut, it is a different project. Every pattern on the shelf names its craft; start from the crochet, knitting, or needlepoint shelves and you will always be holding the right tool.

Gauge is how many stitches and rows fit in a measured square — usually 4 inches. It is the difference between a hat that fits and a hat for a giant. A ten-minute swatch before you start tells you whether your tension matches the pattern’s, while there is still time to change needle or hook size.