Curious...
The Great Poncho Debate: Y'all have probably seen what's going down at Wendy's: My understanding of the flap is that she's being flamed for refusing to distribute Colinette's Vintage knits poncho pattern. Apparently, the pattern is only available in one of those huggable and expensive knit-a-vest-poncho-or-throw kits and some readers have needled Wendy for not sharing. (You can view her fabulous ponchos here.)
I agree with Wendy. This is an intellectual property issue. Though I'm fuzzy on the law--Becky help!--I have some ideas about ethics. Let's pretend the poncho is your pattern. You designed it. You're selling it. You hope to make some extra cash to fund your trip to a knitting conference. If it were me, I'd send it to my mom for free and my best friend, assuming they had interest. I might even use it for educational purposes and copy it for my students. But I would never send it to random bloggers. That would be dumb. You're the market.
Let's put it another way. You buy Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore. Do you post the St. Brigid pattern on your blog? Do you copy and fax it to people willy nilly? Of course not. One, it's illegal. Two, it's a pain. You politely tell them, they can take a second mortgage on their house and acquire the book themselves. Or you point them to their local library.
I understand poncho lust. I've had it too, watching Wendy whip up these glorious knits. Because she's generous and meticulous in her blogging, we know exactly what to do should we want one ourselves. She's also ethical enough to know that Colinette owns the poncho pattern.
So teach a couple of knitting classes. Work inventory at your LYS and buy one too. We're lucky to have Wendy as part of our blogging community--Jeez, have you ever seen a better knitter? She's there to inspire us, not supply us.
My pattern sharing policy:
1. Will share books and patterns with friends and family.
2. Will copy my patterns and free Internet patterns to use in class.
3. Reluctant to copy commercial patterns for class use.
Vogue Knitting has a concise copy right guide on their home page. Check it out.
8:12:51 AM
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