Creative Commons licenses allow content creators to manage the rights they retain to their works if they choose not to retain all rights. (When all rights are reserved, many potential uses by others are restricted. When only some rights are reserved through the use of a Creative Commons license, creators can specify which uses are permitted to others without requiring their gaining the creator's express permission.)

Here is an overview of the available Creative Commons licenses, thanks to the fabulous CC folks. When you post a tip or a pattern on CrochetMe.com, you can choose to reserve all rights or you can choose one of the following Creative Commons licenses (you can also choose to place your work in the public domain, without any restrictions on use).

The list begins with the most restrictive license type you can choose and ends with the most accommodating license type. There is a set of baseline rights all six licenses offer to others and here is a list of things to think about before choosing a license

Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd)

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.
Read the Commons Deed | View Legal Code

Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work
non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.
Read the Commons Deed | View Legal Code

Attribution Non-commercial (by-nc)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work
non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
Read the Commons Deed | View Legal Code

Attribution No Derivatives (by-nd)

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
Read the Commons Deed | View Legal Code

Attribution Share Alike (by-sa)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.
Read the Commons Deed | View Legal Code

Attribution (by)

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.
Read the Commons Deed | View Legal Code