Tee Hee - the Sale Edition

One of my pieces sold at Metaphoric Fibers - Untamed Knitting and Crochet at the Textile Center of Minnesota.

So long "Depression". Enjoy your new home.

Wait, wait, wait.

How do I feel about this?

I thought I overpriced her so she wouldn't sell.

So hard to let go of the babies.

Oh, just shut up and enjoy basking in the glow.

Tee hee. Now I can call myself a professional artist. Tee hee.

Very professional, indeed. ;-}

tee hee, yet again

Hook On!
C

Where Does Entrepreneurial End and Sleazy Begin?

This is my Garden of Eden / Apple and the Snake inspired chatelaine:

Snakelaine

it's designed to corral sewing paraphernalia:

pin cushion - scissor keeper

It's the type of thing that my giggly imagination enjoys creating. I sold this item at my etsy store to someone that bought the only other chatelaine I had listed at the time as well. I'm not completely naive - I knew that such a purchase meant the customer was likely going to resell the items. More power to them. I was new to the business and had made the rookie mistake of underselling my wares. I am fine with this. Live and learn. That's the entrepreneurial spirit spotting an opportunity - even if it is at someone else's expense. That's what makes capitalism spin.

I personally don't like taking advantage of people and that is why I am a bit of a schmuck. But in the interest of full disclosure, I am also not very good at spotting said opportunities and have never had to put that altruistic statement to the test. And further truth be told, the design elements for the other chatelaine bought that day:

Swirly Chatelaine

were a hodgepodge cut and paste mix of two other people's unrelated yet publicly published patterns. So my ethics, at best, are subjective.

I digress.

What I wanted to write about today is that I found a listing for the Snakelaine at an unrelated online store. So it was indeed bought for resale; HOWEVER, the person had used my photos and my description directly from my etsy site without even a hint of attribution to their source - yours truly.

Lifted verbatim.... even calling it a Snakelaine.

This galls me.

How lazy do you have to be to steal someone else's three sentence copy? And don't try to tell me that only so many words exist to describe things and duplication is inevitable. My writing is fairly distinct. And even if they were able to come up with the same lame little puns that I prefer to pepper my copy with the odds against coming up with the exact same words in the exact same order under the exact same vaguely blurry photo and all under the exact same punny title are astronomical.

So what? Not illegal. Well, yes it is. However, proving plagiarism is difficult and any attempt to do so is tantamount to lunacy in a situation that deals with an item that sold for $10.50 and resells for $25 $21.

My question then, is this:

Is it worth incurring the sizable legal fees simply to prove a point?

Grrr....

and Hook On

C

Oh, Wait - March is over!

Oops. Forgot to talk about my latest pride and joy: My snarky feline ode to the Ides of March.

So okay, yes, that was way back on March 15th, but cut a gal some slack - sometimes I actually do get busy.

... and not merely distracted by shiny objects

... or air.

"I come not to praise Caesar,
but to bury him... in kitty litter."

Where did this come from? Well... I've been on a serious cat-plique bender for quite some time now. Also, I wanted to celebrate March with something other than the obvious and predictable: two traits I would love nothing more than to scour bloodily from the feel of my work - and my life really.

As an aside, I must confess that I did go the green cat route for St. Paddy's which would seem to be a betrayal of my search for artistic individualism. However, the love of the cute and catty is a deeply entrenched facet of my psyche and, therefore, commands a large presence in my work.

So, in keeping with those things which most clearly identifies my view of the world, I opted to combine cute cats and a snarky historical reference into my more involved tribute to March - and thus, "The Cat Ides" was - uhm... well... bred?

I did post images of this tableaux at my flickr photostream. Although I had been warned by my artist/artistic sounding board brother that I would need to decide on which figure was the Feline Brutus, I admit that I was unprepared with a definite answer. Still am.

Is Brutus the one staring off in the distance, lost in contemplation?

Hmm?

...or the one hailing the emperor with a welcoming paw as his robes conceal the short sword behind his back?

Hey there!

...or is he the one overwhelmed with zeal taking a flying leap at the gilded Emperor-for-life?

MEOWRRRR!

It wasn't a conscious decision, but I'd wager that the purple assassin kitty is meant to represent the infamous Brute'.

Unfortunately, his facial expression offers no clue. I work hard to make the faces convey specific emotions, but it is difficult at this scale. The cats are only about 2" tall. Hopefully, the stitched features capture the intended look of surprised dismay on the main subject:

Emperor Puss

as well as the shiftiness of betrayal on his flanking senators:

Senator Kitties

BTW, the background is intentionally mono-toned (well, at least close within a color family) - originally to suggest white marble halls and columns but ultimately to direct attention to the colorful figures instead of the background. I've had trouble with suitable backgrounds in the past. This is one attempt to address the issue. Not so sure it sent the missive to the appropriate location, if you'll pardon the postal pun.

Maybe not?

Hook On!
C

Lame' - ntation

Loss of Lion Lame'

Just found out Lion yarn is discontinuing the lame' line of crochet thread. I've used this thread for years even if it is called "yarn". I've tried other metallic threads and none of them had what Lion's lame' had. Bright, true, pure color.

There are other allegedly metallic crochet threads to be sure. Most are simply wisps of metallic tinsel wrapped around a weirdly bland, matte thread colored a sickly mustard gold. Others themselves are whisper thin dental floss with a dull edge. Closer to bronze than gold.

I shouldn't fault these manufacturers - metallic thread can't be cost effective to produce. And I can't imagine that the demand for it can offset that cost. I personally use the stuff like - well - like it's going out of style (oh bitter irony, thy wicked lash) and yet I only buy 3-4 tubes a year.

So as most fiber enthusiasts know, an artist is very particular about their supplies and fiercely devoted to their favorites. I couldn't help but get emotional about the loss of my shiny golden friend, and needed to console myself with a hackneyed clip-art laden tribute; heart-felt if cheesy.

Alas, the complete line of Lame' thread will be discontinued - there goes my beloved silver into the sepulchral mist.

Oh sure, the Lame' could be a festering pain in the gluteals to work with - it was rather stiff and scratchy and unraveled easily from the free end. But it made for stable, strong and shiny dimensional finished pieces.

They will be missed as I scour the internet for something to fill the void - probably in the embroidery aisle at some of the finer, less-expensive craft outlets.

On the up-side, the remaining lots are on sale at Lion's website. Really good price too.

I'd pick over the remains myself, but gold is long gone and my heart too heavy (and pockets too light)to consider hoarding up on the silver. Alas.

Hook On, dear friends in fiber,
C

Happy Easter

As the Unsuspecting Kitty Naps

Nothing like a Photoshop-hack to welcome in the Spring season. Unless of course it's with a crocheted version. My bad. ;-)

Happy Easter everyone.

Hook On!
C

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patty Catty

I've pretty obviously been on the cat-plique bandwagon for quite some time now and planned to continue along the same vein with a green cat as St. Patrick complete with bishop miter, crook staff, green robes, and fleeing snakes. But alas, time ran short.

I considered paring down the idea to St. Patrick's younger cleric days and have a green kitty with a white priest's collar but I wasn't sure if it was specific enough. Green cat priest is funny but ultimately too vague even with a snake dangling from his little mouth or maybe just under his paw. And of course, legend proclaims that Ireland's patron saint drove the snakes away, nothing was said about killing them or even merely standing on them.

So, short on time and eager to do something for the day, I settled on the little green kitty with golden yellow eyes and a leprechaun-style belt as collar.

Wishing you all the luck of the day.

Hook On!
C

More Pattern Translation

Sigh. Someday I will get the hang of writing out these patterns so that normal folk can understand them. But for now...

Sitting Cat

Amended version with expanded and clarified instructions - now available as free pdf download at my Ravelry pattern store.

This replaces the pattern posted previously on this blog. I keep forgetting that I have patterns floating around out there that are still in my shorthand/lazy-butt instruction form. I find it easier to use the shorthand while I'm trying to document a pattern. I was so excited to get the patterns posted in the early days that I sometimes forgot to translate from Cecinatrix-ese into something intelligible.

My bad.

My sincere apologies.

Hmm I guess I better go through the older patterns and bring them up to snuff. Cool. Now I have something to do today. Wheeeeeeee.

;-)

Hook On!

the great big C