For sale: four thousand five hundred patterns*

April 11th 2011 was a very exciting day here at This Is Knit. A few months ago, it was announced that we would be one of only eight shops worldwide (and the only shop outside of North America) to test a new pattern sales feature from Ravelry. In a nutshell we now have access to thousands of patterns that have been made available by Ravelry designers and we can sell these patterns direct to customers in the shop. On Monday, we sold our very first one. This is how it works. Suppose you come into the shop looking for a cardigan pattern, we can help you search the Ravelry database to find one you love. Our shop log-in to Ravelry now has a filter in the advanced pattern search for "buy in store" patterns. All 4,500 (ish) of them can then be narrowed down by yarn, style, rating etc until the perfect pattern is found for your project. When you purchase that pattern through This is Knit we have the option to enter your Ravelry name during the checkout process and the pattern will automatically be saved to your library. If you simply can't wait to get started then we can print a (watermarked) copy for you straight away. If you are not already a Ravelry user then we can, of course, still print your purchased pattern. The pattern can only be printed once, however, so we would encourage everyone to create a Ravelry account so your digital copy can be stored and you won't have to worry about losing the original! So, although it is all very much in the testing stages, we're very excited about this feature and we would welcome your feedback and questions. Is there anything you would like to know? All queries will be answered in the comments... :) *This figure is subject to revision sharply upward. Tra la!