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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-11-01

Introduction & Scope

Last updated: 2026. This Privacy Policy explains how HookRow ("we," "us") collects, uses and protects personal information when you visit hookrow.com. HookRow is the data controller for the information described here, and you can reach us at [email protected]. We are based in the USA and write this policy for visitors worldwide. We follow the privacy principles of the GDPR for visitors from the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland, and we respect the rights that California residents have under the CCPA/CPRA. We do not sell your personal information.

Information We Collect

  • Newsletter email: your email address and first name, if you join our list.
  • Contact-form data: your name, email address and the message you send.
  • Free printable PDF requests: your first name, email address, the pattern, the size (for sized patterns) and your country.
  • Maker's Challenge submissions: your name, email address, optional Instagram handle, optional short note, your country and three photos.
  • IP and log data: your IP address and basic server logs. See the PDF and Challenge sections for how we handle IP addresses on our forms.
  • Device and browser data: browser type, device type, pages viewed and similar technical details.
  • Cookies: small files that help the site work, measure traffic and show ads (see below).

How We Use It

  • To send the printable PDFs and newsletters you ask for.
  • To answer your messages.
  • To run the Maker's Challenge and publish approved photos.
  • To keep the site secure and limit abuse.
  • To understand how the site is used and improve it.
  • To show ads that help pay for the site.

Free Printable PDFs and the Maker's Challenge

Free printable PDFs

On a pattern page you can ask for the printable PDF by giving a first name and an email address (and the size, for sized patterns). We email you a personal download link that works for 30 days. Clicking the link confirms your email address. Emails are sent through Brevo, our email delivery provider.

Each PDF copy is made when you click the link. On every page it shows your first name, a partly hidden email address (for example s•••@example.com), a copy number and the date. This is meant to discourage sharing, and the copy number lets us trace a copy that was shared. The PDF is locked against editing and copying. Printing and adding notes are allowed.

Newsletter consent: if you visit from the EU, the EEA, the UK, Switzerland, or your country is unknown, you see an unticked box to also receive new free patterns. Other visitors are told clearly next to the form that they will also receive new free patterns by email, at most once a week, with one-click unsubscribe. An address joins the newsletter only after its owner clicks the download link, and an address that unsubscribed is never added back. We also send one reminder email about the Maker's Challenge a week after a download, once per pattern.

Your country is read from a header added by our CDN, Cloudflare. We use it only to choose how newsletter consent is asked, and we store it with your request or submission.

We never store IP addresses as such. A one-way scrambled form is kept for a day at most, only to limit abuse (a few requests an hour per connection, ten a day per email address). Our forms may be checked by Cloudflare Turnstile to block bots; see Cloudflare's Turnstile privacy addendum for how it handles data.

The Maker's Challenge

On hookrow.com/makers, a maker who made one of our patterns can send their name (shown publicly with the photos), their email address (never shown), an optional Instagram handle (shown), an optional short note (not shown) and three photos of the piece.

Our server re-saves every photo as a new image, which removes location (GPS) and camera data before anyone looks at it. The camera's make and model and the date the photo was taken are read once, to help a person check the photos are real. They are kept with the submission and never shown. We also keep a short fingerprint of each photo to recognize the same photo sent again.

A person checks every submission, and nothing is public before approval. Approved photos are published with the maker's name (and Instagram handle, if given) on the pattern page and the makers page. They may also appear in our Pinterest pins and social media posts, under the licence the maker grants by ticking a box on the form. Makers confirm they are 18 or older, or that a parent sends the photos for them, and that no child's face is in the photos. Gifts, when due, are sent to the maker's email address.

Legal Basis for Processing (if EU)

If you are in the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland, we rely on these legal bases:

  • Consent: for newsletter emails, advertising cookies and, where required, analytics cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
  • Contract or your request: to deliver a PDF you asked for and to run your Maker's Challenge submission.
  • Legitimate interests: to keep the site secure, stop abuse and trace shared PDF copies.

Third-Party Services

  • Google: advertising and analytics (see below).
  • Brevo: email delivery for download links, reminders and newsletters.
  • Cloudflare: our CDN and the Turnstile bot check.

These providers process data on our behalf or under their own privacy policies. We do not use other vendors for these purposes.

Advertising & Ad Partners

Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to this website or other websites.

Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the Internet.

You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also opt out of other vendors' cookies for personalized advertising by visiting aboutads.info/choices.

Analytics

This site uses Google Analytics to learn how visitors use our pages. Google may set cookies and collect usage data. Learn how Google uses data from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

International Data Transfers

HookRow is based in the USA, so your information is processed in the United States and may be handled by our providers in other countries. If you visit from the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland, this means your data leaves your region. We choose providers that publish privacy commitments and use recognized safeguards where the law requires them.

Data Retention

  • PDF requests (name, email, pattern, size, country, dates, copy number, download count): kept until you ask us to delete them.
  • PDF download links: work for 30 days.
  • Scrambled IP form: kept for a day at most.
  • Maker's Challenge photos that are not approved: deleted 30 days after the decision.
  • Approved photos: stay until the maker asks for their removal. On request we delete the whole submission and all its photos.
  • Newsletter email: kept until you unsubscribe. We keep unsubscribed addresses only so they are never added back.
  • Contact messages: kept as long as needed to answer you.

Security Measures

We use reasonable technical and organizational steps to protect your data, including re-saving photos to strip hidden data, scrambling IP addresses, locking PDFs and checking every submission by hand. No system is perfectly secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children's Privacy

HookRow is not meant for children under 13 (or under 16 in the EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland), and we do not knowingly collect their information. Makers must be 18 or older, or have a parent send the photos, and no child's face may appear in photos. If you think a child has given us data, email us and we will delete it.

Your Rights & How to Exercise Them

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

  • Ask for a copy of your data.
  • Ask us to correct it.
  • Ask us to delete it.
  • Withdraw consent, including unsubscribing from emails with one click.
  • Object to or limit some uses (EU, EEA, UK and Switzerland).
  • Know what we collect and opt out of sale or sharing (California). We do not sell your personal information, and we will not treat you worse for using your rights.
  • Complain to your local data protection authority.

To use these rights, email [email protected] or reply to any of our emails. For PDF requests and Maker's Challenge submissions, you can ask for a copy, a correction or a deletion. We will reply as soon as we reasonably can and may need to confirm it is really you.

Cookie & Tracking Notice

We use cookies for basic site function, Google Analytics measurement and Google advertising. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, though some features may not work well. Use the opt-out links in the Advertising section to limit personalized ads.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Please check back now and then.

Contact Us

Questions about this policy or your data? Email us at [email protected].