Here are some of the things I learned:
Get a pretty girl and a great camera for your pattern photo
I asked Phan Phan, who owns the Vietnamese restaurant on the ground floor of our building, to model the hat for my pattern photo. She was a great model, and I am pretty sure that her pretty face helped sell a lot of patterns. We also borrowed a really good digital slr and took the photos outside in natural, but not direct, sunlight.
Ravelry advertising works
In December, I did not buy ads on Ravelry. I sold 20 copies of the pattern.
In January, I bought ads on Ravelry forums. I sold 45 copies of the pattern.
Nobody checks gauge
My hat came out too small for almost everyone. I test knit this sucker about a dozen times. I knew the gauge was right. But it doesn't really matter what the gauge in the pattern says. 90 per cent of knitters will not go to the trouble of knitting a gauge swatch for a quick hat pattern. I know I wouldn't!
Some people knit it with worsted weight instead of aran. My aran wool was on the bulky side, so even some people who used an aran-weight wool ended up with small hats. Finally, I changed the pattern to call for a bulky aran-weight yarn.
One solution to this problem is to specify exactly which yarn to use in the pattern and to use popular yarns. Another advantage to that approach is that you can promote your pattern to fans of particularly popular yarns via the Ravelry forums. I might try this with a future pattern.
Ravelers are helpful
I got to have interactions with people who were having trouble of one kind or another with this pattern, via personal message. I edited the pattern three or four times to make changes inspired by these conversations. The interaction I got with my fellow knitters has definitely made me a better pattern-writer. Thanks, guys.
