The Library
Delighted with myself I browsed their craft section and came home with a bag full of books, some fiction and two knitting books. The first that caught my eye was Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas. There was quite a few patterns in this book that I really liked. One in particular really interested me and I just happened to be in the yarn store recently and look what screamed at me to take them home.
It's Rowan 4ply soft in the most beautiful brown shade (brown is one of my favourite colours). It's just the thing to knit the Beaded Sweater in this book. I have however,been a little troubled about this endeavour.
Firstly I really shouldn't be buying Rowan here - there's plenty of NZ yarns I could be buying. Added to that I still have a DesignerRowan account at home so I could have bought it wholesale if I was prepared to wait. In addition I'm really not sure about how the whole copyright thing works for pattern books borrowed from the library. Those who know me, know that I don't photocopy patterns from knitting books I don't own - I feel it is important to recognise the work the designer has put into designing the garment and that he/she should be rewarded for that, so I tend to buy the book if there's something I really want to knit. How does that work though if you've borrowed a book from the library? - a book which has patterns in it, in fact nothing but patterns. Does it mean that I must knit the garment while I have the book in my possession (even though it's on loan) or should I not be knitting anything from the book at all. Is this any different than borrowing a book from a friend and knitting a pattern from it? Or indeed photocopying a pattern from a friends book to make a garment?
Further adding to my confusion is the inclusion (not in this particular knitting book I borrowed) but the next - A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen, wherein readers who have knit items from the book have informed the library of errata in the patterns and the library have added typed inserts into the relevant pages of the book saying thanks to Mrs XYZ who has pointed how that there is an error in the instructions for the sleeve, where it says decrease by 12 it should say increase by 12 etc.
I'm really not sure quite how to square it with my conscience but it didn't stop me making a trip to the bead shop to acquire the necessary beads to make the Beaded Sweater. Or indeed adding 4 more balls of Rowan yarn to my basket to make the Mittens with Cabled ribs also featured in this book. I hang my head in shame.
I have come up with something of a plan though - maybe I can buy the book. I'll just wait until I get back to Ireland and meanwhile will knit from my library book. Does that work?
As for the Beaded Sweater I've started the beading process - I've to thread 300 beads onto 3 of the balls of yarn. Whilst I was in the Bead Shop I wanted to ensure that the beads I'd chosen would fit over the yarn I'd fallen in love with. I usually ( actually I've only knitted with beads once before) use a darning needle but this time it wasn't going to work. The girl in the bead shop showed me a nifty trick (maybe it's old news to all the other knit bloggers) but I thought it might be worth sharing.
Firstly, loop your yarn around a very light gauge wire.
Then holding both pieces of the thin wire together thread a bead over the wire.
Sorry the beads didn't photograph well but I hope you get the idea. Then push the beads over the loop of the wire and the loop of wool. Viola, the beads are now on your yarn. Repeat over and over and over again. 
A Gathering of Lace is a fantastic book by the way as I'm sure many lace advocates already know. Holly, you might be interested in having a look. There's a gorgeous pair of gloves in it that I'm itching to knit. Oh, does this mean I've another book to buy?
Labels: Knitting Books, Stash Enhancement
posted by Sharon in Ireland/NZ at 5:13 pm
6 Comments:
I love Vintage Knits. My mom just bought it for me for Christmas. I have the yarn already to make the pretty pink camisole. The pattern you picked is gorgeous, too. Can't wait to see you knit it up! And thanks for the beading tutorial, how handy.
Book sounds great. I'll keep that in mind. I love the brown yarn. Look good enough to eat.
That's a lovely book that I've just returned to the library here. (overdue)
My view with music, that I think applies here, is that I don't mind borrowing something temporarily, but that I will generally go on to buy the album at a later date.
I think your plan to add the book to your knitting library when you return home is perfectly reasonable, and you should knit away happily.
I love reading but as a general rule I don't buy books, I get them from the library. Once I mentioned this on my blog and an anonymous commenter said something like 'good thing all booklovers don't just go to the library because then the authors wouldn't be able to make a living!' - so I did a little asking around about this. I'm not sure how it works in NZ but I have heard that there is a 'royalty' type system whereby copyright holders (usually authors or their publishing houses) are paid an amount based on lending levels of their books from a library - similar to how radio stations pay royalties to artists/ record companies for playing songs on the air.
Of course this does not make it alright to willy-nilly photocopy whole chunks of books with patterns, but I think it might help ease your moral pain a little bit. The quicker you can return that book to the library shelf, the more likely someone else will come along and check it out!
It's too bad that there couldn't be an a-la-carte method of purchasing patterns. Often I'm looking in a book where I would only consider knitting up just one pattern and can't justify the 20 or 30 euro price tag for it. It'd be great to be able to purchase a downloadable copy via the designer's website. Maybe that would eat into their profits, but I've turned away from books because of that. Gotta have at least 3 or 4 patterns to make it worth it for me...
I'm lusting after the beautiful brown yarn!! I would've bought it johnny on the spot, too! I can understand your library question, I've wondered about it myself. However, I'm sure it's expected, I think you are in the clear to copy it without guilt!
Post a Comment
<< Home