<p>Say I pick up a pattern from some designer which has a neat technique they use (for example, <a href="https://www.ravelry.com/bundles/fission-knitting" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fission knitting by Mary W. Martin</a>) that I believe they invented, and certainly make a business out of teaching, and then I wanted to start designing, and maybe selling, my own patterns with it. What is the proper etiquette/requirements for that?</p>
<p>For example, nobody who writes pi shawl patterns ever seems to credit Zimmerman in them, and basically everything falls under the umbrella of &quot;technique&quot;, but conversely it also just feels like it would be kinda scummy to just lift the technique like that, even if it would be a genuinely different pattern.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-14T10:57:07.300Z
Hi Brandon, welcome to Arts & Crafts! Just as a heads-up: I'm not entirely sure your question can fully be answered here on this website, as it might have legal aspects. Have you tried contacting the person you think you're copying from?
Joachim
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-15T05:29:41.823Z
No,  because it is mostly idle wondering at this point, and more for the future.
Brandon Myers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-26T16:03:15.837Z
She may have mastered and is certainly capitalizing on it but I doubt she invented the technique. This is an age old thing in the arts... how much can you borrow before you are stealing. Reference Picasso's quote on good vs great artists. Not a lawyer but unless you are directly copying her patterns to teach you should be good. Betting you could find examples of this technique that predate all of us.
rebusB
<knitting><pattern-drafting>
Using someone else's technique in your own patterns
Brandon Myers
# Using someone else's technique in your own patterns

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-02-13)

Say I pick up a pattern from some designer which has a neat technique they use (for example, [fission knitting by Mary W. Martin](https://www.ravelry.com/bundles/fission-knitting)) that I believe they invented, and certainly make a business out of teaching, and then I wanted to start designing, and maybe selling, my own patterns with it. What is the proper etiquette/requirements for that?

For example, nobody who writes pi shawl patterns ever seems to credit Zimmerman in them, and basically everything falls under the umbrella of "technique", but conversely it also just feels like it would be kinda scummy to just lift the technique like that, even if it would be a genuinely different pattern.

**Tags:** knitting, pattern-drafting

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hi username_0, welcome to Arts & Crafts! Just as a heads-up: I'm not entirely sure your question can fully be answered here on this website, as it might have legal aspects. Have you tried contacting the person you think you're copying from?  
> **username_0**: No,  because it is mostly idle wondering at this point, and more for the future.  
> **username_2**: She may have mastered and is certainly capitalizing on it but I doubt she invented the technique. This is an age old thing in the arts... how much can you borrow before you are stealing. Reference Picasso's quote on good vs great artists. Not a lawyer but unless you are directly copying her patterns to teach you should be good. Betting you could find examples of this technique that predate all of us.  

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## 0 answers

