Preview knitters

When a preview knit is announced, you will receive an email asking you to fill in a series of questions that will demonstrate your experience and ask you about your involvement in any other preview knits. We often receive hundreds of applications and so will often not be able to respond to each individual applicant. If you are successful, you will be notified by email and asked to join a private group in the Knitwork for the duration of the preview knit.

Our aim at Ysolda is for our patterns to appeal to a diverse range of knitting styles, body shapes and experience levels. It is therefore important that our preview knits reflect these values. In each preview knit, we will look for knitters who can demonstrate their ability to confidently tackle the pattern and provide useful feedback; as well as those whose photos represent a range of sizes, body shapes and yarn styles.

The main reason we ask for your instagram handle is so that we can see your project photos, and tag you when we share your preview knitting project. Your account doesn't need to be solely focussed on knitting, and we don't mind whether you have 10 followers or 10k. We ask preview knitters to share when the pattern is released, and we'll provide exclusive discount codes to share with your audience, but doing so isn't a requirement for participating. If you don't have a public instagram account, or you don't use it to share your knitting projects, you can still apply, but we do need another way to see your previous experience.

It is a vital part of our preview knitting that we represent the most diverse range of people and body shapes possible. Inclusivity is at the heart of our designs. If you feel that you are not often represented in main stream knitting publications or related media, we would love to hear from you.

You might have heard all of these terms, and more, from other designers. Sample knitting is generally used to refer to a knitter being commissioned by a designer or yarn company to knit a sample that won't be kept by the knitter. It's usually paid by the meter or yard with all materials provided. Preview and test knitting are used more interchangeably to refer to knitters volunteering to knit a new design before it's published, provide feedback to the designer about the accuracy and clarity of the directions, and share their projects when the pattern is published. The knitter keeps their finished project and, usually, provides their own materials. This usually isn't a paid role, but sometimes some form of compensation is provided.We use the term preview knitting because we feel it better represents what we're looking for than test knitting. Patterns will have been professionally laid out and tech edited before preview knitting begins. We're looking for extra eyes to catch small errors, a sense of anything that might be confusing to some knitters even if others find it perfectly clear, and your feedback on everything from how well the project fits to how fun it was to knit. You're previewing the pattern, and you're also helping us to preview it to our customers, with a wider range of projects to share when the pattern is released.

We ask all preview knitters to submit photos of their finished project, modelled where appropriate, and to give us permission to share them (with appropriate credit and links) on product pages, blog posts, social media and our newsletter. We love seeing our preview knitters projects, yarn choices and creative photos! That doesn't mean you need to be a professional photographer or have fancy equipment but we are looking for photos that will clearly show how the design looks in different yarns and on different bodies. The mood, styling and location of your photos is totally up to you, but we recommend natural lighting, a background that's not too busy, and turning off the flash. If you're selected as a preview knitter we'll send you more details of how to name your files and where to upload them. In progress photos aren't required but we love getting them too. They can be a great way to tell the story of knitting the project and often show how the construction works more clearly. We'll make it clear whether it's ok to share your progress during the preview knit or whether we'd like you to wait until the publication date (it depends on the project). Want to improve your project photography in general? Check out this helpful accessible post from one of our favourite photographers, Kat Goldin.