Clanger!

This is the first thing I’ve knitted since I was 10.

I looked on facebook one day, and saw my friend had written, “I wonder if Auntie Ce Ce can make a Clanger* for Iggy.”

Oh yes, I replied, of course I can, forgetting that I hate doing knitting. So, I looked on the internet to brush up my skills, and the gloriousness of continental knitting was revealed to me here. I love it! And short row shaping – who invented that? Genius. (This tutorial has a really clear depiction of how short row shaping works.)

And I love the Clanger. I don’t really want to send him off to England to live with my godson. I bet he hasn’t even heard of The Clangers.

Pattern here.

*The Clangers are a family of knitted pink aliens who featured in the eponymous British children’s television programme which debuted in 1969 and was shown throughout the 70s.

Books I’ve read this year #40 – 42

“False Scent” by Ngaio Marsh

“Scales of Justice” by Ngaio Marsh

“Breathing Lessons” by Anne Tyler

Goodness, is it November already?

Where did October go to?

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments recently – I’m very behind in replying to email and comments, but I really do appreciate every one, even if I don’t always get around to saying so.

I’ve spent the past three weeks working full-time – I’ve no idea how I ever managed to get anything done when I worked full-time. But now my work is done, and I have a few days to do what I please – hurrah! But first, my hovel needs some cleaning, then I’ve got some serious crafting to catch up on.

See you soon!

Taking the fun out of crafting

You know, I’m really pleased with the slippers I designed. I spent hours looking for patterns for crocheted Mary-Jane slippers, and I couldn’t find any in the style I wanted, or even any close enough that I could modify a pattern to make my own. So, I sat down with a tape measure, pencil and paper, made a few sketches, drew the design of the slipper I wanted on my foot with marker pen, measured all the dimensions, researched international shoe sizes on the internet, and set about designing a pattern of my own. And it took ages – the swatching, the calculations, the planning on graph paper, the crocheting, taking notes, frogging, re-crocheting, taking more notes, frogging again… and again… but I ended up with a pair of slippers that I was really pleased with, and that were exactly as I’d envisaged they would be.

When they were done, and I had transcribed all my notes and doodles, I was happy to publish the pattern here, free of charge, for other people to use, because I have found so much inspiration on the internet from other crafters, and wanted to give something back.  And it’s been lovely to see people adding the pattern to their Ravelry queues, posting pictures of the slippers they’ve made, and reading all of the lovely comments and emails I’ve received about them.

But now, I am sitting here wishing I had just kept my pattern to myself. Why? Because someone is selling slippers on etsy that are exactly the same as my design. I studied all of her photos and her slippers are identical in every detail to mine, down to the number of stitches, the number of rows, the design and the construction. So I contacted the seller via etsy asking if she had used my pattern to make them, and saying if she had then please note that she is not permitted to sell items made using my pattern. She denied using my pattern; she said, “I didn’t use your pattern… I just google imaged slippers and improvised. I apologize if you find them similar.” and offered to send me the pattern she had made.

If, as she said, she didn’t use my pattern but instead improvised a design based on google images, then either it’s a pretty big coincidence that she came up with the exact same design as me, or she must have copied my design from my images.

I wish I could be more philosophical about this, and just shrug it off, but right now I just feel really sad, and bloody cross. I’ve been googling “etsy and copyright violations” for hours today to try to decide what to do, and came across some thoughtful posts from people on the same issue, such as this one from Melissa at tiny happy, this one from chile con yarne, and this one from Flint Knits.

I haven’t yet decided what I will do – the similarity between her slippers and mine is so big that I don’t believe it’s a coincidence. (She is also selling some other items that look as if they are made from other free patterns on the internet, such as the lovely Durango hat by Catherine Lindsay.)  But can I prove that she violated my copyright? I don’t know. Can I be bothered? Again, I don’t know.  But what I do know is that I am going to think twice about posting anything I design on this website in future, because I really don’t want to feel the way I’ve been feeling today ever again.

Reasons why my house is never tidy #3

Though now I have dogs, I think the cats are quite clean.

Reasons why my house is never tidy #2

Muddy dog.

Reasons why my house is never tidy #1

Feathers?

What feathers?

Oh.

Busted!

My niece’s teacher’s sister

Every few days my brother telephones me to say, “Did you hear what Tinkerbelle [our niece] said?”

Today he told me that the other day when my sister picked my niece up from school, Tiinkerbelle said, “Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!  Miss Quinn’s sister was in our class today!  And guess what her name is?”

“Helen?”

“Nope!”

“Sarah?”

“Nope!”

“Emma?”

“Nope!”

“Jane? Calypso? Tinkerbelle?”

“Nope! Nope! Nope!”

“I give up, what is it?”

“It’s Miss Quinn!  Miss Quinn and her sister have got the same name!  Isn’t that funny?”

Books I’ve read this year #38 – #39

# 38 “Sunday morning at the centre of the world” by Louis de Bernières.

Funny little book – it’s a radio play, really.  Quite enjoyable, though, and so short you can read it in about half an hour.  (By the way, if you have ever had a dog, wish you had a dog, or just like stories about dogs, you must read “Red dog” by Louis de Bernières – it’s the loveliest little book.)

#39 “Saint Maybe” by Anne Tyler

My sister said I’d like this, and I did, but… I was a bit disappointed with the ending.

Books I’ve read this year #37

“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier.

Aaah, this is one of my favourite books.  I first read it when I was fourteen, but haven’t read it for years.  I decided to re-read it now because I needed to read something very English after the Nazi-fest of Fatherland, but mainly I re-read it because I remembered that the narrator had a black cocker spaniel called Jasper, and I wanted to see if he was as naughty as my little cocker spaniel.  (He’s not.)

What a great book – it’s still one of my favourites.  And I’m quite jealous of anyone who hasn’t read it yet as they get to read it for the first time.