Did you know?

Today I did some research, and I learned something very interesting.

In the US, those copyright notices that pattern designers put in their patterns saying "for personal use only", or "you may not sell objects made from this pattern" apparently have no legal significance!  Copyrights on patterns/instructions for useful objects (like knitted/crocheted clothing, accessories, blankets, etc.) only cover the actual words and pictures in the pattern.  So while you may not distribute copies of the actual pattern, what you do with the items you make from it is none of the designer's business.

I find it very aggravating that so many pattern designers think it is appropriate to bully their customers with fake legal notices.  Customers who know their rights and sell the items they've taken their time to make, often even face harassment.

*An Exception: If the pattern contains a panel of color-work artwork (an example), the image could be covered under copyright.

Obviously, as a law school dropout,  I'm not a lawyer and this should not be construed as legal advice.

I wish I had like 3 more pairs of hands

I don't care if people would run screaming whenever they saw me.  I don't need to leave my house.  I would get so much knitting done I could afford to have my groceries delivered (and I could knit 3 projects while I cooked and ate with my other 2 hands!!!).  I'm just so unbelievably INSPIRED right now, and I can't knit fast enough to keep up with all the projects I'm imagining.  The most frustrating part is, I already HAVE all the yarn for the projects I want to make.  I can't even satisfy myself with saying "I can't afford that yarn anyway".  I'm being good and looking at projects on ravelry by searching the yarn I have on hand that I don't know what to do with.  So now every time I walk into my yarn closet, I'm accosted by like 40 different potential projects and I have to choose just ONE.

Do you guys wanna see some really pretty projects and patterns?  None of these are mine, they're just random people I found on ravelry, and I'm so inspired by their beautiful color choices.

Gorgeous gay pride lace shawl.  I'm planning on making this (minus that terrifyingly difficult looking edging), with my rainbow Kauni.

Infinity Scarf with a fantastic blue/green color spectrum.

Same infinity scarf pattern with bright springy colors.

Really fun faux-isle hat.  This might be my first major fair isle project.

Totoro mittens!  I'm so glad this pattern includes the mitten designer's artwork as well as a trademarked character, so I'm not tempted to sell them when I make them.  The fact that they would be illegal to sell is an excellent excuse to keep them for myself!

I may never get around to making this, but WOW!

Linen Stitch Scarf.  What a great stash-buster!  I'm gonna be making some infinity scarves like this, for some reason "infinity scarf" is such a hot search term on Etsy.

Breaking my rules

As I mentioned earlier, I've been trying really hard to not start lots of new projects when I have a bag full of wips I should be working on.  I'm also trying to make some money so I've been making projects that are meant to sell.  AND I'm trying not to buy new yarn since I have a closet so full of yarn that I no longer have room for all my clothes (seriously.  I have to space out my laundry loads over a few days, because if it is all clean at once, there isn't anywhere to put it).  This week I've been bad.  Not only have I started TWO new projects, but one of them is for me (selfish knitting!) and one of them involved buying 7 new skeins of yarn.  Oops.
But anyways...they're pretty awesome projects.  The one for me is a pair of legwarmers.  I found the most fantastically tacky pair of cable-knit clogs on clearance, and I just HAD to make a matching accessory.  The other project is a granny square rainbow afghan, since Etsy seems so fond of my first rainbow squares afghan.  Naturally, I had to buy yarn in every color of the rainbow :D If my etsy site traffic stays like this, there might actually be A LOT of rainbow items in my future.  Luckily, both of these will be relatively quick projects so I'll be back on track with de-stashing and stocking my Etsy shop within the week.

Wiping out the WIPS

In the knitting world, we refer to a work in progress as a WIP and I have a BIG bag of them....and a few other big bags of them at my parents' house.  Now that I'm all caught up on commissions (btw if you want a Link,  a Chaos Afghan, or even a Joker, I finally have time to make one), I'm starting to work through my bag of WIPS.  I've found some pretty cool stuff that I completely forgot about in there.
One thing I found was The Joker...and he's not even really a work in progress.  I'm all done knitting him, I've just been meaning to get him set up to mount on a wall.

This might be one of the coolest things I've ever knit.  It's called an "illusion knit" and its made entirely of solid color stripes.  On each stripe I follow a chart and switch between knit and purl stitches, so that when you look at it from an angle, you see the image.  I became aware of the illusion knitting technique from a website called Woolly Thoughts, but my awesome boyfriend figured out how to design the patterns himself so I can make whatever image I want.
I also found the rainbow spectrum afghan I mentioned in my last post, and I'm getting close to finishing it!  I'm currently working on attaching the 2nd to the last row of squares.  I'm really looking forward to seeing this finished.  Even though I've had a plan of how I would assemble it from the start, it's just impossible to realize the full effect of the color flow until it's all finished.  Hopefully I'll be posting back with pictures of the finished product in a couple days.  My afghans have been by far the best sellers in my shop, so I'm excited to add this one to the product line.

Rainbow in progress!

I'm finally getting closed to finished with my rainbow spectrum afghan.  It includes 49 squares with every color of the rainbow matched up with every other color.  I knitted all the squares for this while I was in Hawaii way back in August, so its about time I finish it up.  The last 4 squares are blocking at the moment, and I've joined the first few rows. I hope to get it completely finished and on the shop tomorrow!