The Joy of Progress

First, here's Tubey, all finished:


I used 4 skeins of Cascade 220 in grey, 2 balls of Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in Charcoal, and 1 ball of Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in Lavender, to make a size medium. I picked up the prescribed number of stitches, but I shortened the length by two inches.

This project made me think about designing, which is something I've been wanting to start (but there are too many great patterns out there that I want to try first!). What is an original design? Copyright law in the U.S. prevents "copying"--really, could they make that more vague? An original design doesn't infringe on copyright law when it's not "substantially similar" to an earlier design (and that 30% rule you've heard is made up). I've changed the yarn, the colors, the stripe pattern, the length, and the location of the stripes on my Tubey, but I don't consider it an original design, because I think it's substantially similar to the original Tubey pattern. But the main reason I think that is the unique construction, which is a process, and therefore not protected by copyright law. You can't copyright the idea of making a sweater out of two tubes. So it's possible that my Tubey (and many others out there who have taken the pattern as only a suggestion, especially the short-sleeved version I've seen) is original enough to qualify as an original design. That makes sense when you think about the purpose of copyright law, which is to promote creation. It both gives the original designer exclusive rights to her design, which encourages design in the first place, and it isn't restrictive enough to prevent other designers from drawing inspiration from that design and improving it. I still wouldn't market my Tubey as my own design--when I start designing, I want it to be very clear that my designs are original.

Writing: Over 14,000 words! Nearly at the end of chapter 3.

Reading: Still on Killing Cassidy. It's the "message from the murdered man whose death didn't look like a murder" plot device, which I think would be a lot of fun to write. Your sleuth is the only one who thinks the death is a murder, because she's gotten a letter from beyond the grave saying "If you are reading this, it means the person who is trying to kill me has finally succeeded!" No one else thinks it's a murder, because the victim died in a car accident or of food poisoning or something equally banal. The sleuth has to run around trying to investigate (naturally, the police aren't interested), and finds nothing at first. Was the victim just paranoid? And then, BAM! A couple of things that just don't add up, and your sleuth has helped the victim solve *his own murder*. Good stuff.

Cooking: Hmmm. Ask again after we've gone to the grocery store.