Frequently Asked Questions
I thought I'd take a blog post to answer some questions that come up periodically from pattern purchasers. I will link to this post from the pattern pages for myself and my mother and hopefully save everyone some time. If you can think of any other questions you'd like addressed, please leave them in the comments.
How does the pattern purchasing work for Pink Lemon Twist and Georgina Bow Creations Patterns?
All of our patterns are sold using PayPal. Once your payment has been processed by PayPal you will get an email with a download link for each pattern you have purchased. The patterns are downloadable as pdf files. Once you download the files for the patterns you purchased you can print out a copy of the pattern. Many patterns have more than one variation or, in the case of our sock designs, two separate designs in each pattern. If you look at the file before you print, you can print out only the pages you need for the particular project you're working on and save yourself some paper and ink costs. When you are ready to work another variation or the other sock design, print out that one.
I don't have a PayPal account. Is it safe?
PayPal is one of the safest sites on the Internet. Call your bank and get their opinion of PayPal if you're unsure. That being said, PayPal is on the Internet and is not Fort Knox. You still have to protect your own system. Run anti virus software regularly, run spyware checks on your computer regularly, clean out your computer's browser cache. If your PayPal account gets hacked, the hackers probably got through from your system, not PayPal's. Yes, sometimes bad things happen to people's PayPal accounts, but if you protect your computer and your system properly, you should be reasonably safe. If you link PayPal to a bank account, it would be wise to open a separate account for that purpose. That way if someone gets into your PayPal account, they can't take everything from your main account.
I don't use PayPal for various reasons. Can I purchase the patterns another way?
If you don't use PayPal, we can figure out another way for you to get the patterns you are interested in. Just message us on Ravelry (I'm PinkLemon, Mom is GeorginaBow) or use the email address that comes up when you click the "Add To Cart" button and let us know how we can help you. If you live outside the USA, it seems to be cheaper to find a friend who uses PayPal and have them purchase the pattern for you instead of getting a check for US funds.
How long does it take to get the pattern after I purchase it?
Once the payment is processed by PayPal, the download link is sent via email. The time it takes PayPal to process your funds varies however. If your funds are coming from a PayPal account or a credit card, PayPal can instantly verify that the money is there, the payment is processed immediately and you should have your download links in just a few minutes. If your funds are in a bank account you have linked with PayPal, PayPal has no idea how much money you have in the account. In this case they treat your payment as an eCheck and it takes them 4 business days to transfer the money from your bank account and process the payment. Once the payment is processed however, you will get the email with the download links.
My payment has been processed but I still haven't gotten the email with the download links.
The email with the download links is sent by an automated file delivery system that is supposed to be notified when PayPal processes the payment. 98% of the time this works perfectly. Occasionally it doesn't. The first thing you should do is check your spam catchers and your firewall. These tend to protect us from dangerous things like knitting patterns. If it's not there, send an email to the email address on your PayPal receipt, put the name of the pattern in the subject line (so we know it's not spam), include the email address you use with PayPal, and let us know that you haven't received the download links. When we get your email, we will check to see if we can figure out what happened and verify your purchase. Then we'll email you the pattern file. The only downside to this is that neither myself nor my mother are on the computer 24 hours a day. Please give us 48 hours to respond and slightly longer on the weekends. We'll get back to you and we'll get everything sorted out.
I got the download links, downloaded the pattern, but it's missing pictures/text/charts HELP!
OK, this actually happens fairly frequently and is one of the easiest problems to fix. The problem is not the pattern file, it's Adobe Reader. You'll need to go to Adobe.com and download the newest upgrade to Adobe Reader (it's free), install it and open the pattern file again. It should all be there now. I've found I have to update Adobe Reader about twice a year to avoid this. If you deleted the pattern file, thinking it was corrupted, drop us an email at the address on your PayPal receipt, put the pattern name in the subject line and include the email address you use with PayPal so we can verify your purchase and we'll send you the pattern file by email. In the meantime, update your version of Adobe Reader because until you do that, the new pattern file won't open properly either.
My computer crashed and I lost all my patterns! Can I get them again?
Yes. There are two ways you can do this. You can go to PayLoadz.com and request additional download links for your purchased patterns. They will send us an email asking us to approve this and giving us the dates you purchased the patterns. The other way is to email us and tell us what happened. You'll need to give us the email address(es) you use with PayPal, the names of the patterns you had purchased previously, and approximate dates of purchase. Then we'll go in and verify this and send you pattern files via email. Depending on how many patterns you have purchased and how many separate transactions there were, it might take a few days to get everything sorted out, but we should be able to reconstruct your past purchases and get the patterns to you again.
Can I back the patterns up somewhere to avoid losing them if my computer goes belly up?
Yes, feel free to keep a personal copy of the pattern file on a thumb drive or on a CD. I like thumb drives, they have huge amounts of storage, you can add new files to it anytime you need to (I have one I keep all my purchased knitting pattern files on), and they're pretty cheap. If you copy the file for a friend, that is a copyright violation and you and your friend are stealing the pattern. The same copyright laws apply to the pattern files as would apply to a paper pattern you purchased at your LYS.
I want to buy some Pink Lemon Twist Patterns as well as some Georgina Bow Creations Patterns, can I combine them in one purchase?
Unfortunately, no. While I do have my mother's patterns on my blog, that is because she doesn't have a blog of her own to sell her patterns on. We are independent pattern designers and keep separate books. She lives in Colorado, I live in Virginia, so the logistics of combining patterns from both of us into one purchase would be difficult. We apologize for the inconvenience, but you'll need to make two separate transactions to get patterns from both of us.
I have more questions, how do I contact you?
The easiest way is to message us on Ravelry: I'm PinkLemon and Mom is GeorginaBow. If you aren't on Ravelry you can email us. If you click the "Add to Cart" button on one of our pattern pages the PayPal shopping cart will pop up. On it will be an email address (mine if you click the button on a Pink Lemon Twist pattern and my mother's if you click the button on a Georgina Bow Creations pattern). You don't have to complete the transaction, just get the email address and drop a note to whoever you need to.
If anyone has any other questions they'd like answered, please feel free to leave them in the comments.
How does the pattern purchasing work for Pink Lemon Twist and Georgina Bow Creations Patterns?
All of our patterns are sold using PayPal. Once your payment has been processed by PayPal you will get an email with a download link for each pattern you have purchased. The patterns are downloadable as pdf files. Once you download the files for the patterns you purchased you can print out a copy of the pattern. Many patterns have more than one variation or, in the case of our sock designs, two separate designs in each pattern. If you look at the file before you print, you can print out only the pages you need for the particular project you're working on and save yourself some paper and ink costs. When you are ready to work another variation or the other sock design, print out that one.
I don't have a PayPal account. Is it safe?
PayPal is one of the safest sites on the Internet. Call your bank and get their opinion of PayPal if you're unsure. That being said, PayPal is on the Internet and is not Fort Knox. You still have to protect your own system. Run anti virus software regularly, run spyware checks on your computer regularly, clean out your computer's browser cache. If your PayPal account gets hacked, the hackers probably got through from your system, not PayPal's. Yes, sometimes bad things happen to people's PayPal accounts, but if you protect your computer and your system properly, you should be reasonably safe. If you link PayPal to a bank account, it would be wise to open a separate account for that purpose. That way if someone gets into your PayPal account, they can't take everything from your main account.
I don't use PayPal for various reasons. Can I purchase the patterns another way?
If you don't use PayPal, we can figure out another way for you to get the patterns you are interested in. Just message us on Ravelry (I'm PinkLemon, Mom is GeorginaBow) or use the email address that comes up when you click the "Add To Cart" button and let us know how we can help you. If you live outside the USA, it seems to be cheaper to find a friend who uses PayPal and have them purchase the pattern for you instead of getting a check for US funds.
How long does it take to get the pattern after I purchase it?
Once the payment is processed by PayPal, the download link is sent via email. The time it takes PayPal to process your funds varies however. If your funds are coming from a PayPal account or a credit card, PayPal can instantly verify that the money is there, the payment is processed immediately and you should have your download links in just a few minutes. If your funds are in a bank account you have linked with PayPal, PayPal has no idea how much money you have in the account. In this case they treat your payment as an eCheck and it takes them 4 business days to transfer the money from your bank account and process the payment. Once the payment is processed however, you will get the email with the download links.
My payment has been processed but I still haven't gotten the email with the download links.
The email with the download links is sent by an automated file delivery system that is supposed to be notified when PayPal processes the payment. 98% of the time this works perfectly. Occasionally it doesn't. The first thing you should do is check your spam catchers and your firewall. These tend to protect us from dangerous things like knitting patterns. If it's not there, send an email to the email address on your PayPal receipt, put the name of the pattern in the subject line (so we know it's not spam), include the email address you use with PayPal, and let us know that you haven't received the download links. When we get your email, we will check to see if we can figure out what happened and verify your purchase. Then we'll email you the pattern file. The only downside to this is that neither myself nor my mother are on the computer 24 hours a day. Please give us 48 hours to respond and slightly longer on the weekends. We'll get back to you and we'll get everything sorted out.
I got the download links, downloaded the pattern, but it's missing pictures/text/charts HELP!
OK, this actually happens fairly frequently and is one of the easiest problems to fix. The problem is not the pattern file, it's Adobe Reader. You'll need to go to Adobe.com and download the newest upgrade to Adobe Reader (it's free), install it and open the pattern file again. It should all be there now. I've found I have to update Adobe Reader about twice a year to avoid this. If you deleted the pattern file, thinking it was corrupted, drop us an email at the address on your PayPal receipt, put the pattern name in the subject line and include the email address you use with PayPal so we can verify your purchase and we'll send you the pattern file by email. In the meantime, update your version of Adobe Reader because until you do that, the new pattern file won't open properly either.
My computer crashed and I lost all my patterns! Can I get them again?
Yes. There are two ways you can do this. You can go to PayLoadz.com and request additional download links for your purchased patterns. They will send us an email asking us to approve this and giving us the dates you purchased the patterns. The other way is to email us and tell us what happened. You'll need to give us the email address(es) you use with PayPal, the names of the patterns you had purchased previously, and approximate dates of purchase. Then we'll go in and verify this and send you pattern files via email. Depending on how many patterns you have purchased and how many separate transactions there were, it might take a few days to get everything sorted out, but we should be able to reconstruct your past purchases and get the patterns to you again.
Can I back the patterns up somewhere to avoid losing them if my computer goes belly up?
Yes, feel free to keep a personal copy of the pattern file on a thumb drive or on a CD. I like thumb drives, they have huge amounts of storage, you can add new files to it anytime you need to (I have one I keep all my purchased knitting pattern files on), and they're pretty cheap. If you copy the file for a friend, that is a copyright violation and you and your friend are stealing the pattern. The same copyright laws apply to the pattern files as would apply to a paper pattern you purchased at your LYS.
I want to buy some Pink Lemon Twist Patterns as well as some Georgina Bow Creations Patterns, can I combine them in one purchase?
Unfortunately, no. While I do have my mother's patterns on my blog, that is because she doesn't have a blog of her own to sell her patterns on. We are independent pattern designers and keep separate books. She lives in Colorado, I live in Virginia, so the logistics of combining patterns from both of us into one purchase would be difficult. We apologize for the inconvenience, but you'll need to make two separate transactions to get patterns from both of us.
I have more questions, how do I contact you?
The easiest way is to message us on Ravelry: I'm PinkLemon and Mom is GeorginaBow. If you aren't on Ravelry you can email us. If you click the "Add to Cart" button on one of our pattern pages the PayPal shopping cart will pop up. On it will be an email address (mine if you click the button on a Pink Lemon Twist pattern and my mother's if you click the button on a Georgina Bow Creations pattern). You don't have to complete the transaction, just get the email address and drop a note to whoever you need to.
If anyone has any other questions they'd like answered, please feel free to leave them in the comments.
posted by Melanie at 7:28 AM
2 Comments:
Instead of a separate bank account, I have a low limit credit card I use exclusively for PayPal and online transactions. If you are selective, you can often get this with no fee. The other bonus is that you usually get some protection against fraud with a credit card that banking accounts often don't have. Of course the added layer of safety has made purchasing knitting goodies online easier, but that is a separate worry. ;^) My experience in buying patterns from both of you has been great!
Dear Melanie,
I was just about to buy the Hanami pattern and had a question about yearn and yardage. I was thinking of using a Heirloom merino laceweight. Do you think that the yardage would be different if I used a 2 needle, say? I wanted something really fine but don't want the stitch definition to be either too sketchy or too firm.
Thanks, it's a beautiful pattern.
Darcy
telld@si.edu
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