Hi All,
I have a new design to share with you...
Before I get to the new pattern I want to apologise for the lack of posts lately; my last post was 6 weeks ago! I'm afraid I've been a bit disenchanted with the whole blogging and designing experience... I've been aware of another blog, in German, who has done a translation of my lily pad hexagon flower, complete with a photographic tutorial - pretty much a copy, picture by picture of mine, for a few months now. It crossed my mind that it would have been nice to have been asked, and I mulled over whether to do anything before thinking to myself that it wasn't worth getting my knickers into a twist over and forgetting about it.
Only I kept seeing it pinned on pinterest, and when I saw a couple of pins with the comment "pattern only in german, but with good pictures" I'm afraid my anger bubbled to the surface and I looked at the blog post again and with the help of google translate deciphered the post to find out if she mentioned the original source at all. Not once within the blog post did she mention that this was not her pattern, but after she had signed off at the very bottom of the post where nobody obviously reads, she had put a link titled "Translation in English here" - or something to that effect (I'm relying on google translate). She had lots of comments congratulating her on her tutorial and she had replied with thanks to all but one - from an english speaking person asking if she could do a translation in english... Blood boiling by this point I commented myself, pointing out that this was not her pattern nor tutorial, that I thought it, at the very least, good manners to ask the designer before publishing a translation of the pattern, that she hadn't featured my blog or credited me with the original nor, tellingly, responded to the commenter who wanted the pattern in English.
A couple of days later after not hearing anything from her I checked her blog again and found that she had removed my comment and, again at the bottom of the page after her sign off, she had replaced "Translation in English here" with -
This is
the original, on this page I found this
flower.
Something at least I guess... but I still feel that the original creditation should be within the body of her post. For anyone interested the blog post is
http://elbeglueckmd.blogspot.de/2012/03/hakelblute.html
Am I being petty? Should my designs be considered fair game to pass off because I share them for free... I can't help thinking that she wouldn't have dared do this had she bought the pattern.
Anyway I'm sorry to say that it has made me reconsider sharing so freely, and while I will no doubt offer the odd freebie I have decided to open an Etsy shop and sell my patterns from now on. It is something I was planning on doing eventually anyway, just not quite yet... At the same time I have been asked by a few people if I would produce my patterns in a printable pdf format. When time allows I am going through my patterns, producing both a pdf photographic tutorial and also a brief non-photographic written pattern (to aid in printing) of all my past patterns, and I am adding them to my Etsy Shop. The charge for these will be half that of any new patterns that have never been published publicly before..
So, my first brand spanking new pattern in my brand new Colour in a Simple Life Etsy Shop is the Cobblestone Square...
I originate from Ulverston, a small market town in South Cumbria (also the birthplace of Stan Laurel - it's only claim to fame!) where the market street is cobbled, and these squares remind me of the textures of it's old streets. The pattern pack includes a photo tutorial to produce a Cobblestone Square, plus directions and photographs to show how to 'join as you go'. Adaptable to lots of different things - blankets spring to mind - I have also given simple directions how to make them up into a cushion cover.
Illustrated in bright colours with a cream background they also look fabulous with bright backgrounds...
I really hope to see you there...
To all my fellow musers out there (muse to lose blog); in my misery I have hurled myself off the wagon most spectacularly, but I hope to clamber on again very soon. I quite understand if you have all lost patience and abandoned the cause...
Happy crocheting everyone!
Karen
xx
