This is the wee scarf that I have been distracted by. I would have liked to make the shawl length, but it would have taken 7 skeins of yarn, and 7 just was not in my budget right now.
The scarf version took 3 skeins and a weekend to knit. The yarn is Diamond Yarns Mulberry and Merino, a truly lovely silk and wool blend. It is a softly spun single that glows as if it had a source of light on the inside.
I dream of an enveloping huge Shawl That Jazz out of this stuff, or a nice comfy cardigan with a deep collar to hide in on chilly days. Sigh. To dream. At least I have the scarf.
As I said I am conflicted. I bought this pattern. I like it a lot. BUT
it is awfully, and I do mean awfully close to Laura Chau's Just Enough Ruffles.
That is one of the things that Ravelry really reveals. The nature of creativity seems to be if one person has a great idea, shortly there will follow several absolutely independently arrived at projects. Sometimes they are so similar as to make you wonder about influences that bring up these good ideas at almost the same time.
And sometimes, it makes you wonder where the line ought to be between what is a pattern someone can claim as theirs and what could be sorted out by every knitter. What makes a design a design?
Brooklyn Tweed and his Noro Scarf . On the Ravelry pattern page, he says quite plainly,
"First off, this is not MY pattern. It’s been done time and time again. I’ve written up how I did MY version on my blog (follow the link below), but I’m not claiming to have designed this.
I was urged to list it under my designs for the sake of "Queuing" on Ravelry. "
I was urged to list it under my designs for the sake of "Queuing" on Ravelry. "
I like that he says this up front. Almost too universal for a pattern, but it was his idea to do it out of these two yarns and he was inspired to do it at the right place in time. He does not claim it as a pattern, but in my opinion it is his and I do attribute my making some to him. (I knit 2 for the donation bin) This pattern is free.
Another one. The Easy Drop Stitch Scarf Same thing. The designer is very willing to say this was based on a stitch pattern. That is the first thing she will tell you about it, but it was her idea to put it into a scarf, and it was her idea to do it in a yarn that inspires so many people. It also seems to have influenced a host of other drop stitch designs. This pattern is also free, though there is a fee for commercial use if you wish to sell scarves you make. It is more a way for the Frazzled Knitter to track who is using it commercially than anything else. And Christine is having a lot of fun watching people knit and enjoy something she sat down and did one day. (so am I. I live vicariously through smart people!)
So if I can sit down, figure it out and do it all by myself should I? I don't think so. Not without attributing it to the original person who came up with the bright idea to use 2 colours of Noro, to use a drop stitch pattern, or to put ruffles on one edge and to size it to a scarf. Not by me.
But how do I deal with something like this scarf pattern? Where a commercial company is cutting so close to the design that if it was me doing it, I would have to acknowledge the original and keep it free? This pattern is dirt cheap, by the way. At wholesale prices, just barely enough to cover the cost of printing. They are not going to make money on it, that is for sure. But does that make it really right?
I don't know, and maybe it doesn't matter. Were it not for Ravelry, I'd be sitting there assuming this was the only one of its kind, thinking what geniuses they were for figuring it out. I'd still buy the pattern and I would still use this yarn, and I would still love it. Of that I am certain. But I am sure conflicted about patterns like these.
** I'm sleepy. If there are errors...
3 comments:
When I saw the picture, I thought it was Laura's Just Enough Ruffles, which I have. I didn't realize how close it was.
You raise a good point. I sometimes look at patterns and think - I could do it without the pattern. But a good pattern will have so many things no immediately evident - sizing, shaping and other hidden attributes that make it special.
THere are somethings I do without a pattern, but many more that I buy the pattern becasue it;s beautiful.
Your post today got me thinking about some of the things that bug me about self-publishing and working as an independent designer.
One of the things that bugs me, as a fledgeling independent designer, is when a well known designer takes a stitch from a stitch dictionary, slaps three garter stitches on each end, and sells it as a pattern.
Seriously? My personal approach to design is that unless I did some serious calculating, worked out some awkward transition zones, and actually had to THINK a lot to get the design to look right, it isn't worth charging for.
But as my husband says, if someone is going to pay good money for a pattern that is simply a traditional lace pattern with garter edges, let them. I just won't be the person doing the charging.
One does make certain assumptions when purchasing a pattern - that it is well written, that the details have been worked out and are described properly, etc. Sometimes independent designers do a great job. But sometimes they are incredibly sloppy about the details, and some patterns are really just garbage. As a purchaser, you just don't know until you've spent your money already.
Self publishing is a realm ripe for conflict.
If I start out with a pattern but then modify it I usually post it on Ravelry under the original pattern, but then share my mods in the description. You could do that in your case.
If your mods become popular it will be reflected in the number of "this description was helpful" tags. That little life-ring symbol is the key to so many pattern improvements - it's the first thing I sort by when I'm looking at a pattern because it tends to make the cream rise to the top, especially when there are thousands of projects! I think that's the most ethical way to post your own version while still referencing the original inspiration. There are plenty of examples of people making scarf-sized versions of shawl patterns and sharing how they did it in their project description.
As for the Drop Stitch Scarf - I spent a lot of time playing with the repeats and size of the dropped stitches so that it looked best with my variegated yarn and to my own eyes, and back then there weren't any scarf patterns using drop stitch out there that I'd ever seen, but I still didn't feel I'd done enough work to justify selling it. I just posted it on my blog for my own reference, and never dreamed that it would eventually spread like wildfire through Ravelry. It's still pretty shocking to me, and really just a fluke. There was something about the proportions that I used, combined with that variegated yarn, that captured the imaginations of a lot of people. In hindsight I often joke that I wish I'd charged a dollar or two for each pattern but I know that if I had there wouldn't have been thousands of people knitting it in the first place!
The commercial use version was an experiment to positively direct people who may want to make money from my free pattern to doing it in a way I'm comfortable with, after receiving many, many requests. It saves me literally hours of ethical struggle it used to take before replying to each request (I hated to say no to people who were nice enough to ask, but I certainly wasn't comfortable with letting people do anything they wanted with it, either, and you would not believe how much time I'd spend considering each request). It gives me a chance to stipulate that if a shop wants to teach a class with the pattern it's important to me that they let their students know that it's a free pattern available on Ravelry or the internet and have them download it themselves. If they want to sell the scarves they can't pass the pattern off as their own, etc.
Offering a commercial-use version also gives people a chance to make some money from their knitting, which isn't an easy thing to do when so low-knitting-time:high-wow-factor patterns are strictly for personal use only.
Post a Comment