Random thoughts

     The other day I read about some controversy going on with licenses when using a certain craft tool.  It made little sense to me and I'll refrain from going into details as it isn't related to knitting, but it did remind me that I had never talked about what I allow (or don't) on my patterns.
     I do not allow distribution (and or reproduction) of any of my patterns.  I do allow people to sell items made from my patterns, though.
     Let me make this very clear: I make profit from selling the patterns - not the items.  I don't think you will be competing with me by selling the finished items, as we'll be catering to different audiences: I sell patterns to people who can (and want to) knit, you sell items to people who can't (or don't want to) knit. ;)
     I might, eventually, sell the samples done to advertise (and/or illustrate) a pattern, but by the time I do so, the pattern itself will be available already and other people might already be knitting or listing the finished items.  No big deal.
     Do I charge a special fee so you can sell the items made from my patterns?  No.  Your skills, your yarn, your time = your profit.  This also applies to my free patterns.  I believe in spreading prosperity:  the more money is flowing around, the more chances I'll make sales on patterns.
     You don't need to contact me asking for permission, but I'd love to get a line from you telling me how your shop is doing.
     One final note, if you want to put together a kit with one of my patterns and your yarns, you'll have to get my permission first and I will not allow you to do so using free patterns.

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     We're finally getting cooler days and I can no longer blame the weather on the lack of knitting.  In fact, I finished a felted messenger bag for Joel and a little rug with cables for the kitchen (pictures soon).  I've also started a pot holder which will have - gasp - color work and picked up the never ending shawl again.
     So, if I can't blame the temperatures anymore, why am I not talking much about knitting?  Ideas.  I've had a bunch of them - most not knitting related.  I need to do some organizing inside my head and around the house to be able to implement some of the ideas I had, but for now I just keep on talking about them...:P

Still blaming the weather

     For the lack of knitting content here and on Ravelry.  The ideas are slowly coming back and just yesterday I had an idea that almost got me to cast on for a new design.  Almost because it's a modular piece and to be quite frank, I don't care for modules that much as I lose interest after doing a few and the object itself never gets done.

     To be honest, though, I'm not knitting or creating new designs because there is something else I have to do - review my earlier designs and probably re-write them.  Thing is, I don't want to.  So, I keep on going in a loop: I think about starting a new design and remind myself I need to do the revision stuff, so I feel guilty and don't start anything new.  Since I don't want to mess with the old designs and am feeling bad about starting a new one, I do nothing...sigh.

     I am actively knitting something - another messenger bag for Joel.  It will be the third one I knit him.  He seems to think that since the bags are big enough to carry a copy of Websters, it's a challenge - and he'll fit the thickest books he can find in them (plus all the gadgets he finds useful - and they're heavy!).  I can felt those bags until I run out of hot water, there is no way the straps will last more than one year, so I'm knitting him yet another one.
     This time I'm knitting a bag all in the round, with as few joining points as I can get away with and very large straps.  Let's see how long it lasts.

     Knitting this bag gave me the idea of writing a series of posts talking about felting and how to substitute yarns and still get a finished item the same size as the one on any given pattern - and maybe even re-publishing a pattern for a bag I made a long time ago.

     The ideas are coming back, the weather is going to cool down (although we still have at least one more day of 100F coming), but the mood isn't there - yet.  I'll probably end up getting a short "vacation" away from the internet - sometimes it does a lot of good.

Obsession

     I haven't worked on my designs and have been knitting very little.  The reason being, I'm obsessed with a quilt I'm doing.
     I've never done a quilt before and like some of the knowledge I have, it was purely theoretical until I started sewing this quilt.  Since I'm crazy and ambitious, this quilt has complex blocks, some of which are paper pieced.  I've learned a lot from it (and I've only done 3 blocks so far) and am hoping some of the techniques can be crossed over into knitting.
     The obsession was so bad, that the other night, I got out of bed to sketch a block that would go between the main blocks...sigh.  This is something I avoid like the plague, as that's the way to (complete) madness.

     There was a lot of things going on in my life since I released Dorothy and the combination of stress, figurative headaches and fatigue managed to shut the ideas on the design front.  The good news is that things are slowly going back to normal and the ideas are coming back.
     I need to finish writing down the pattern for Linda (and knit it again) and re-chart, write and re-knit Maria.  I also have an idea of making some of my already published designs into different shapes and release them as e-books.  Note to self: start writing down your new ideas already!
     I could have used the time when the ideas were quiet to re-knit the two shawls, but, in my defense, it was too hot to knit (and I'm working on the quilt!).  So, I'll have to wait until I run out of fabric - very likely since this will be a queen size quilt and I made many mistakes - to go back to knitting and designing.

     I've also done some dyeing - a new idea that had occurred to me that will yield a yarn with long color runs.  I've done one skein in shades of blue that needs to be steamed and have another one that still needs some more colors.  We'll see how they work out.
     It's odd, though.  One of the reasons for buying a house with a basement was so that I could have a smoke-free environment to do my dyeing.  Now that I have the free space, I don't use it.  Again, I have a good excuse: the basement is still cluttered with moving boxes and we don't have enough surfaces to work on down there.

     Well, now that I've laid out all the excuses, I'll go back to life - and the quilt.