Boundary Issues?

I just found out that someone (or perhaps more than one person) has entered all the patterns that they found here on my blog onto Ravelry. Many of these are not patterns that I have finished perfecting or test knitting. All of the write-ups they entered are incomplete and poorly done or inaccurate. On some of them, this person even Changed The Name of the pattern!!!

I am a designer. I do this professionally and have sold my designs for some years now. I take care and pride in what I put out there and am careful of what venue I use to post my patterns when they are "in process" and when they are complete.

Co-opting someone else's patterns as though they were your own and uploading them to Ravelry - especially when the designer is an active contributing member - is really offensive to me. Attributing the pattern to me is not enough to absolve you of this offensive action.

Designers have the right to be self-determining in where and in what manner their own designs are made public. Others do not have the right to take this upon themselves. Uploading or entering a pattern that the designer considers "not ready for Ravelry" is not your call.

Just because it is on someone's blog doesn't give you the right to make it available on another site, especially a site like Ravelry, which for many designers is considered a professional showcase of their art - it certainly was for me.

If you've done this to me or to other designers, I ask that you delete your entries unless and until you have the permission of the designer.

Oh, and... Thanks for the sleepless night.

we definitely believe in a joyful future

I had a birthday on the 16th and I managed to extend the fun for a week and a half. My celebration included good food, good friends, and good yarn. Usually birthdays are cues for serious thinking and pondering of the future, but I was not so serious. The closest I came to that was when I pulled out some non- digital photos and contemplated life, the universe and all that...



Don't I look very 80's!?

The yarn was good - from Webs in Northampton, Mass, where my bf and I made a lunch of eclairs and fruit tarts, to Patternworks in Center Harbour, NH, where we went grocery shopping and found homemade jams and local chocolates and watched a small airplane land on the iced-over lake...



Right in front is a wonderful sock yarn Zauberball that my friend Nad sent me from Germany. And there's Mini Mouchi and Malabrigio and a Namaste sock needle case, and my friend Melanie gave me a really beautiful green and blue "Knit Kit" from SlipStitch Studios.

I have been knitting several things at once: diaper covers from bright colours of Knitpicks Riasta, Shur'tagal in STR Oma Desala (shhhh! don't tell anyone - it's a KAL that doesn't start until next Wednesday!), a drapey shawl-sweater in Malabrigo Baby Lace, the Stone Chat colourway; a hooded baby towel in Knitpicks Crayon 100% loopy cotton. So rumours of slacking are totally unfounded. Knitting has been happening! But no designing. Last year I was so full of creative designs that I made something new almost every month. This year, 3 months has already passed (almost) and I've spent my time making other people's patterns...

I suppose it's because I've been knitting for comfort since January. There have been some hard parts to recent life, and stomach-constricting thrift that sucked the joy out of each breath... for a while, just a little while. Things are on a more even keel just now. We definitely believe in a joyful future.

A final interesting note - One of my local yarn stores, The Elegant Ewe, just told me that they've ordered 12 copies of the book I did sample knitting for, A Stitch In Time. As far as I know, it's the first store in the US to carry it! More and more projects from this beautiful book are popping up on Ravelry and each one is so lovely. I want so much to keep my copy new that I've been reluctant to take it around to show it off. So if you're one of my friends who has been trying to get me to share by prying it out of my clutching fingers - neener neener! Get yer own book!

Surprise Baby Surprise

I've been making little things these last few weeks...like the Baby Surprise jacket:



Here it is in all its glory, made of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock yarn lightweight, in Goody Goody... The buttons are so cute - peeping baby chicks! I have ahuge collection of buttons, including baby buttons I've saved for years for just these types of projects, but could I find any that matched this sweater? no...noooooooo. Of course not! I was happy to find these at the yarn store though...



and socks that match the rest of the Petroglyphs family:



These are also made of BMFA STR lightweight. The colour is Petroglyphs, of course. Very tiny. The pattern is found on Ravelry and is called Little Eyelet socks.

and finally, I've made a little silk hat similar to the one my friend Ziarah made for her niece. I used some generic silk from China that I got at the weaving store. It was very inexpensive for pure silk, about $5.60 per skein - it must be the base fiber that yarn companies buy to dye and then charge a million dollars for. This pattern is the Feather and Fan baby bonnet, also free on Ravelry.



They sort of match:



Now, I'm in the midst of making 3 newborn diaper covers that I think I'll embroider on: an elephant, a giraffe (if I can find a graph), and a turtle (ditto). After that I want to knit some baby wash cloths and towels...

Sometimes life crowds so much into such a short period of time. Its almost like being swept under by a large powerful and particularly beautiful ocean wave.