Snow Angel

An online friend of mine shared a beautiful story not too long ago. She said that she hasn’t had to shovel her driveway at all this winter. Every time she looks out, the snow has been removed. She had no idea who was doing it. One day she had the opportunity to talk to her neighbour. They haven’t lived there for very long and this was the first she got to talk to them. She asked the woman if it was her husband that was clearing her driveway. She said she wasn’t sure, but it sounded like him. She ended up dubbing him her “snow angel.”

One day she was looking for suggestions on what she could do as a thank you. There was talk about a bottle of win or a Timmy’s gift card. Both of which were good ideas. Then I came up with another idea that I could crochet a little angel and a snowflake for her to give to him. So the quest began.

There are a lot of cute angel patterns and cute snowflake patterns available. I didn’t really see anything that spoke to me. Until tonight. I thought this sweet little pattern was perfect!

Icicle Angel pattern by Judith Prindle

I’m going to be popping these in the mail by the end of the week. I can’t wait for her to get them!

Wrist Warmers and a Sick Boy

My little Sweet Pea was running a fever last night and this morning. He still has a very slight temperature, but I think he’s going to bounce back quickly. So much for sewing today. That’s okay, I’ve still been productive. I think he’s on the mend, but he’s not 100% yet. The last couple of weeks he’s been eating me out of house and home. Today he’s barely ate anything.

I was FINALLY able to get some wrist warmers on the hook for a very sweet, patient lady. I wasn’t sure what colour she wanted so I just winged it. I figured if the colour didn’t work for her, I could find them another home. I’ve been wanting to work on this pattern for awhile. I’m not sure what the roadblock was here. I think it was that I had tried working on it for the first time when I was overtired. That’s never a good thing to do because it’s a lot easier to get frustrated. I’m sure that’s what happened.

Mad Wrist Wraps pattern by Mad Mad Me

A Productive Spin on a Day

I decided that I needed to do some spinning today (well, it’s yesterday now because it’s the wee hours of Sunday morning). I wanted to get some yarn out to somebody I had promised awhile ago (until life got in the way). I also wanted to get another project spun up. The bright colours are for a personal project. I haven’t decided what yet.

A comparison of “thick ‘n thin” to worsted weight (single). Both of these filled a bobbin. As you can see, you get more yardage with worsted weight


I call this “The Colour of Happy”. There’s a huge difference between the roving and the end result. This is my favorite to spin (so far)

I didn’t expect to fall in love with this yarn, but I have. The picture of the roving is what the colour is

I spun 6 (maybe 7) skeins today. I haven’t spun that much in one day in a long time. It felt good.

Mom’s Birthday Cowl

For the second year in a row, Mom actually told me what she wanted for her birthday! I’m sure most adult children get the old “Save your money, I don’t need anything” line. I find this so frustrating because Mom is the most deserving of gifts and spoiling for all that she has done over the course of my life and continues to do for my son and I. I started telling her a few years ago that she may as well go ahead and tell me what she would like because I’m going to be getting her something anyway. I don’t want the hassle of returning something that doesn’t fit or seeing her not use the item I made/bought for her. I think she’s finally getting it!

A couple of weeks ago I asked her what she would like. She told me that she would like a cowl to match her new coat. She said she wanted something warm and soft, but nothing too fuzzy because she didn’t know how her cough would handle that. She was also specific about what she was looking for in the length and width department. I like it when she’s specific. So we hopped on my computer and started going through patterns on Ravelry and Craftsy.

She ended up choosing the Avena Cowl pattern by Littletheorem Knits. It was well-written and I’m happy with my purchase. One thing I would suggest if you do purchase this pattern is to put a stitch marker every 10 stitches (it’s a 10 stitch repeat). I was working with dark yarn and it got a little confusing. This is nothing to do with the way the pattern was written though. Completely an operator issue *wink* I have fallen in love with this stitch combination. It makes a gorgeous texture.

And since this cowl was for Mom, there was no way I was going to use acrylic! It didn’t really fit her request anyway. I don’t know how happy she is about the part where she can’t just throw it in the washing machine. Unfortunately you have to choose between comfort and convenience when it comes to yarn. I always tell people it’s best to not put hand-knit or crocheted items in the washer and dryer anyway in order to preserve them. I told her that I would wash it for her if she wanted me to.

I ended up going with Akapana by Mirasol. It’s comprised of 65% baby llama, 25% Merino wool and 10% Donegal. This is the first time I’ve worked yarn containing llama fleece. Let me tell you, this is not helping my evolution into a yarn snob! It’s just going to be a matter of time before I won’t even be able to look at my acrylic stash. I guess that’s not a bad thing though.

I highly doubt I’ll be able to get a picture of Mom modelling her new cowl with her coat. So a picture on the blocking board will have to do. This is one of those projects that felt like it was over before it started. Good job I ended up getting twice as much yarn as I needed! (Craftsy wouldn’t let me download the pattern on my phone so I had no idea what the yardage was). It felt so good that I may have to make another!

Getting My Sewjo Back

Today felt so good!

After I dropped my Sweet Pea off at school, it was time to dive head first into my fabric stash. It was a little overwhelming to be honest. I had a project in mind, but I wasn’t quite sure where to start.

I decided to start with some silk screening. I hadn’t screen printed anything since I was in school, so needless to say, I was a little rusty. So much so that I put the stencil inside the screen rather than underneath it. Round one was a miserable fail obviously. Then it all started come back to me. Round two was perfect! I will share my work someday soon. It’s a gift for somebody. I don’t know if they read my blog, but I do know that they will see my blog post on Facebook.

I had started another bag from a pair of jeans. I have put that one on hold because I’m not quite sure how I want to close it. Button, magnetic closure or just have it flap over. Decisions, decisions…

Then I decided I needed to have some fun. I dove into my stash and brought out some purple fabric. I believe this is going to be a tote bag. That is the initial intention, but it may change if the fabric asks to be something else. Whatever I end up doing, I already know I’m going to have a hard time parting with it because it’s purple!

The making of a bag?

Tomorrow is a busy day. I’m doing my cleaning job and then I’m off to my spinning meeting. I’m so excited about that! I probably won’t get any sewing done, but such is life. I know I’ll be crocheting!

Copyright… From the Horse’s Mouth

It seems there are some out there that didn’t like my post regarding designers thinking they can dictate what you can and can’t do with an item you completed from their pattern. You’ve bought the pattern, you paid for the materials, invested your time. Yet they think they can tell you that you’re not allowed to sell YOUR work or can dictate where you sell it? That’s like my LYS saying you can use the fleece you purchased here to make your own yarn, but you can’t sell that yarn locally or online because we want to reserve the right to sell ours there.

So I decided to send an inquiry to the U.S. Copyright Office to get the answer straight from the horse’s mouth. Sure, I did my homework and researched the subject thoroughly online. I just wanted to make sure all my “t”‘s were crossed and my “i”‘s were dotted.

This is the message that I sent to the U.S. Copyright Office:

Can you sell an item you have made from a pattern? Can pattern designers dictate what you can do with an item you have made from a pattern they have written? I purchased a crochet pattern and nowhere in the listing did it say that it was for personal use only. It was only after I was 3 rows from being finished that I discovered this. Am I legally allowed to sell this item?

This is the response I received:

Generally, you may do what you wish with your own personal copy.

The first-sale doctrine is a limitation on copyright that was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908 and subsequently codified in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 109. The doctrine allows the purchaser to transfer (i.e., sell or give away) a particular lawfully made copy of the copyrighted work without permission once it has been obtained. This means that the copyright holder’s rights to control the change of ownership of a particular copy end once that copy is sold, as long as no additional copies are made. This doctrine is also referred to as the “first sale rule” or “exhaustion rule.”

If you have additional questions or need further assistance, our contact information is listed below.

Sincerely,

cfk
U.S. Copyright Office
Attn: Public Information Office-LM401
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, DC 20559-6000
Email: copyinfo@loc.gov
Phone: 877-476-0778 (toll free) or 202-707-5959
Fax: 202-252-2041
Website: http://www.copyright.gov

There it is. Don’t believe me or don’t agree? The information is right there to contact them yourself. Nowhere did they say that I’m not allowed to sell the finished item regardless of what the designer says in the listing or on the pattern.

As I had mentioned before, I won’t purchase a pattern from somebody who states their wishes in the listing that they don’t “allow” items made from that pattern to be sold. Even though I don’t always buy a pattern with the intention of making the item to sell, I do need to have that option in case things don’t work out the way I had planned. I want to respect peoples’ wishes. I would also much rather support a designer that supports their customers. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. If a friend sees an item I made and asked where I got the design, you bet I’ll send them to the designer. BOOM! Another sale for the designer. I also believe in giving credit where credit is due. I’m sure there have been a few sales generated from my finished pieces for those designers who encourage sales of finished items. That fuels their business and allows them to keep writing patterns. They help us help them help us help them…

Happy stitching.

KyCave 2.0

I made the decision earlier this year that I needed to move the KyCave upstairs. My laundry room is tiny. There’s hardly any light. It’s cold (I could turn the heat up, but why pay to heat more space when you don’t have to?). I’m isolated. On top of that, my Sweet Pea is now at the age where he knows not to touch things I tell him not to. He’s always been very good about it, but this Mama Bear wasn’t taking any chances. I also think that if he sees me being creative with a different medium, that may help expand his creativity. The other bonus is that it would give him more space to colour and draw since I won’t have my work scattered when he’s around because of pins, needles and that fun stuff.

I’d been rearranging and organizing quite a bit last week. Today was the day to jump in and move the big stuff. I’m Very excited about this! My poor sewing machine hasn’t really seen much action since early last year. I have all these ideas floating around in my head. I acquired some vintage dresses from my Granny Girl’s basement. They are just dying to be re-purposed. Now it’s time!

The hard part about rearranging and getting rid of old clothes? Rather than seeing clothes, now I see projects LOL

I still need to organize stuff and get my fabric stash neatly placed under the table. This is a good start. I should be rockin’ the machine by the end of the week.

Long Live the Little Guy

I have been doing a lot of reading on Facebook lately. There’s all these advertisements for big companies invading your news feed. They’ve set it up so that small businesses have a harder time getting their word out now unless they pay money to promote their posts. You know, those people who can barely afford to stay operational because the “big guys” can offer similar products for a lower price? But ah yes, Facebook will always be free. Just don’t expect to reach customers that way.

Sometimes these big companies see the little guys. They have a good idea, so they want to buy that idea up. Quite often they buy the business name too so that the existing customers are lead to believe that they’re getting the same quality product, that nothing has changed. Many don’t even know the business has changed hands. Take a Canadian brand of kettle potato chips started by a lady in a small town. Her chips were famous. She ended up buying equipment to make them on a larger scale. The big guys found out about this and she sold out. She was using locally-grow potatoes and REAL ingredients. I can almost guarantee that the quality of these chips are not the same. They may taste similar, but you can bet they’re loaded with crap now and not made with the same pride as when the lady owned the business. But then again, if you’re paying low wages and your employees that are sweating their butts off for your factory can barely survive, they don’t owe you any of their pride.

What spurred this post is the respect that I have for John Lendrum, the man behind Lendrum spinning wheels. The last I heard, the waiting list to buy one of his wheels is up to at least 14 months. Why is this? If his product is that popular, why not expand or even sell it?

Mr. Lendrum insists that his hands touch every wheel that goes out his door. He does have employees that help him with certain parts, but he still touches every spinning wheel. He said that if he didn’t, they wouldn’t be Lendrums, would they?

How is that for commitment to your customers and commitment to quality? I have a deep respect for this man. This is one example of how the little guy wins and the almighty dollar loses.

Many small businesses have to charge more than “the big guys.” But when you buy from the “big guys”, are you getting the same quality and care that you do when you purchase from a business with a handful of employees? I can promise you you’re not. So the next time you put that $25 sweater on that you purchased from the import store only to find the seams coming apart, remember… You get what you pay for!