Wednesday, March 15, 2006

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.

12 comments:

Rain said...

I like what you've done with it, it looks a lot different from most I've seen.

Lara 900 said...

Vow, you were so quick to finish it. It seems like no time at all has passed since your questions about the stripes. And it does look very different from any other I've seen so far. Nice. Good work.

SuzannaBanana said...

Wow, that was fast! I love what you've done with the stripes.

Knittypants said...

Congratulations on your Tubey! I like the changes you have made.

Rachel said...

Your minimal stripes came out very nicely. Looks great!

Steph said...

I like it!! Did you have problems with bunching on the back?

allisonmariecat said...

Thank you, everybody! I'm pretty happy with it. I just wore it out to lunch with a friend, and it's very comfy, in addition to being a look I like.

Stephanie, you can see slight bunching on the back in the photo above. That's without making an effort to tug it down or anything, so it's something I can live with. I'm guessing that some bunching is inevitable in a stockinette-perpendicular-to-ribbing design. They're such different textures, with different levels of stretchiness.

K said...

I love the way you did that!! doing a solid kinda thing but adding stripes on the edges! very clever, I like, I like!

leedav said...

Very nice! I think I might like yours better than the original so there you go with your creativity! It's flattering too. I just might have to make one...

String Bean said...

Damn! That was quick! It looks great. How long did it take you? Maybe 2 days?

allisonmariecat said...

This was a fun pattern, Lee. I definitely recommend it.

You crack me up, String Bean! It took more than two days. Let's see...I cast on March 6, and finished March 14. So 9 days (evenings and weekends only).

Bonnie said...

I like your modifications to the pattern--you've really made it your own sweater, and it's very flattering!