Not everything is free

With a few minutes to spare this morning, I thought I would do some catching up with my blog while I sip on my coffee. The last post I wrote showed a shawl I was working on for a dear friend's birthday. We have known each other for about 42 years (yes, we were mere children), so I was more than happy to knit one for her when she requested it. When we were barely in our twenties, I used to crochet her and her sister sweaters. I then taught her sister how to crochet, but she had no desire to learn. Her sister and I would sit by the hours crocheting our little boys jackets. Anyway, the shawl I showed you has since been frogged. Gone. History. The yarn I purchased for my friend's shawl just wasn't playing very nice, so I wasn't going to fight it anymore. It clearly did not want to be the Multnomah. My friend is on a two month long vacation with her husband traveling the United States, and since I have had the Traveling Woman shawl in my queue for a very long time now, it occurred to me that I should try that one. Bingo! It's exactly what this gorgeous merino/silk blend wanted to be!! And how fitting that my friend is a traveling woman these days! I am loving this pattern. It is so intuitive and fun to knit! After this one, I think I'm going to knit a shawl by Angela Tong, called Kouyou. It is so pretty and can be knitted from either worsted or sport weight! Is it obvious I'm on a shawl jag at the moment? :=)

Many of you have asked about the progress of the dress I'm sewing for my granddaughter's project. Let me tell you...this has been a true labor of love, and I've enjoyed every minute of it!! The entire dress had to be lined, and I added buckram to the last foot of the bottom of the skirt for stability and so you don't see the outline of the hoop at the hemline. Each of those flounces takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. I won't go into detail the reason why, but suffice to say, they are all done!!! The only thing left to do is one last fitting in order to measure for the length of the dust ruffle (historically accurate, remember?) and hem it. I will spend the next couple days sewing the bodice so that when I take it to my granddaughter, I can then gauge (connect) the skirt to the bodice, and tweak anything that might need adjusting. She messaged me yesterday that she got her hoop skirt to wear underneath, and is anxious to put the whole ensemble together. She is making her era hat, and I just wish I had had enough notice to have time to crochet her gloves and purse. I'm sure it will all come together though and she will be gorgeous!!

In reference to the title of today's post, I wanted to point something out for those that are on Ravelry, or any other website for that matter. A couple of times, I have noticed at least one individual who evidently wants us to know that she has now learned how to link images, most of the time rather large ones, to the groups she belongs to on Ravelry. There are a couple of problems with doing this. First, if you don't OWN the image yourself, and it's hosted on someone else's website, you are possibly in violation of copyright laws, if you don't get permission from the owner to use it. The other issue is that when you link it directly from another website, this is called "hotlinking" and is a no no on Ravelry. The problem with hotlinking is that when you do this, you are stealing bandwidth that someone else is paying for. It is not FREE just because it is on the internet! I have seen this person violate copyright laws on several occasions. Not only is this practice immoral, it is just downright annoying to other people when a person dominates nearly an entire page of a thread with a picture she/he stole (I'm just sayin'). The safest practice to use would be if you aren't the actual owner of the image, or if it doesn't provide you with an html code to copy and paste (indication that it's ok to use), don't use it.  Please don't mistake this for what I have done in this post by linking a pattern name back to Ravelry. This is different. I spoke with one designer about it, and she encourages bloggers to do that as it helps to generate sales of her designs. I'm strictly talking about Ravelry members who use other people's websites on the internet to grab pictures and then post them elsewhere. As co-moderator of a group on Ravelry, I would discourage this practice, and I know my fellow mods and administrator would be in complete agreement with me.

Tomorrow, I should be the proud owner of a new Schacht Ladybug spinning wheel! I'm very excited, and hope to learn as much as I can about spinning. As soon as I get some time, I want to order some fiber to play around with. Get my feet wet, so to speak. As I move along in my spinning journey, I'm sure I'll have much to share with you!

Happy Wednesday, and if I don't see you back here before the weekend, I hope you have a relaxing, productive, and enjoyable one!!!