Yarn Blog | Adventures with Yarn

April 20, 2008

I wonder about copyright

Filed under: Uncategorized — Sally @ 5:40 pm

I am about to continue knitting a gorgeous scarf called Shetland Chic which first appeared in an English magazine called My Weekly many many years ago. Last year I knit the same scarf using Jamieson and Smith 2ply lace weight yarn and decided to knit the scarf in stockingette stitch because one of the photos showed it done like that. About a month ago I realised I had more than enough of the same yarn to make the same scarf so this time I am making it in garter stitch which of course gives it a totally different look. While I love the look of the stockingette stitch when I attempted to graft the two ends together it did not look good, so ended up doing a three needle bind off which is quite nice and certainly lays completely flat. It will be interesting to see how the join looks when I do a graft “hidden” in the garter stitch.

What I want to know is how XRX Books Scarves-a Knitter’s dozen can have exactly the same scarf published in the book dated 2005 on page 56 designed by Mary Kay. In the front of the book it says it is against the law to copy etc. etc. without permission and yet I know my magazine copy came out well before the year 2000. There was even a kit offer from Jamieson and Smith in the magazine so I know that it had to be something they knew about as their address and phone number is included in the offer.

So why did XRX Books not mention Jamieson and Smith in the book, or mention perhaps that Mary Kay had previously designed it for other publications????? Someone involved with the Knitters Magazine is not being totally truthful about where they obtained the pattern from which seems to mean that they are not following copyright laws themselves.

April 17, 2008

Alpaca Heaven

Filed under: Knitting — Sally @ 7:47 am

Good morning,

Naturally like any “normal” knitter I have several things on needles but I am trying to complete a couple of things quickly so some will be UFO’s for a little longer.

One of the most pleasurable items I have on needles is the Hydrangea Lace Scarf by Eugene Beugler. I am using size 4 addi turbo lace needles and the yarn I have chosen is from Barefoot Alpaca Farm at Grass Valley in California.

It is lace weight Suri Alpaca in a natural brown colour and it is absolutely a joy to have it running through my fingers each time I pick up the needles. Eugene’s pattern has a wide and a narrow scarf, and I decided to do the wide one as I have so much of the alpaca to use.

Recently I discovered the Heirloom Knitting site in the UK and I have purchased a Hap Shawl Kit from them as well as two books and three other shawl patterns. If you enjoy lace knitting especially Shetland, you would really like the website for the patterns and yarn.

Sharon and Michael do a great job on mailing their products around the world and it is a pleasure to do business with them. Sharon’s research and historical knowledge about the lace and the area where it was so popular makes each pattern and book even more interesting.

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