Toronto LYS roundup
Our Knitty party at Village Yarns was a huge hoot and we got to meet some really nice folk. We love VY because the service there cannot be beat, period. They have an excellent selection from budget to beyond luxury, and they're always are happy to help with any knitting query. They also serve mighty fine cookies.

Meanwhile, at this time of year, yarn shopping gears up into frenzyland. Boxing Day sales [or Boxing Week, depending on the establishment] are always worth breaking your yarn diet for.

A cohort and I hit two this week. The first was at the new local shop, Lettuce Knit. This place is a tiny gem of a yarn shop in the heart of Kensington Market [66 1/2 Nassau St], and both cohort and I agreed that we'd love to run such a shop if we could. Salad-green walls decorated with circular sonotube slices filled with Koigu and Noro and Brown Sheep. Hemp from LanaKnits and the cool Loop-D-Loop patterns fill out the shop. Not a huge selection, but a quality one. After buying Noro and hemp, we walked two doors down and bought fresh fruit. Love that.

Then we hit the Romni sale. As you'd imagine, the warehouse of yarn was packed with drooling knitters, but they'd pulled in every staff member and were well covered. There were staff wandering the aisles, answering questions and finding things for you. And they had 5 people on cash. Can't complain about that.

Hit the yarn shop with us!
Quickie reminder: if you're in the Toronto area, come to Village Yarns tonight between 7 and 9pm...they're throwing a huge Knitty shindig! Door prizes and yarn on a Monday night. You can't beat that!

a word about originality and creativity
as you're working on designs to submit to Knitty, here's something to think about. there seems to be a misconception running about the internet. people seem to think that a design can only exist in one form in publication.

that is absolutely incorrect, from both a legal and moral standpoint.

to get some perspective, i wrote to a respected, well-known friend in the knitting publishing world and asked for her take on this issue. she had a lot to say, which i'll summarize, with her permission, below.

it is NOT common practice for knitting publications to seek out another instance of a design that's submitted for publication. they have neither time nor need to do so. knitting magazines request original designs and the onus is on the designer to assure the publication that their design is their own work. not that it's the only version of a particular item in existence.

read this again: it must be their own work. that's all.

are you considering googling for similar designs before you submit to knitty? don't do it. that is a waste of your time and energy. the most eloquent portion of my friend's message to me: "I think if someone comes up with a design, they're obligated to themselves to do it. To carry it out in their own way. Why should they look to see if someone else beat them to the punch? That takes all the joy out of personal and artistic discovery. Beauty, in the broadest sense, is more important, I think, than originality. And originality, if you can ever really and truly find it, isn't necessarily beautiful in any sense."

i understand that it can be frustrating to see a similar design to one you've created published somewhere else. but it is the nature of the business, and of the creative process, that this will happen.

the most essential thing to realize is this: if that person's pattern is not virtually identical to yours [and that means in terms of the pattern's language, construction methods and techniques, not just how it looks as a finished item], and you have no proof that the other designer actually accessed and copied your design, you must accept it graciously.

as knitters, we learn from each other. we see things, we get ideas and we try to do it our own way. and that is just fine.

new Knitty!
Hopefully you've been over to the new issue. I hope you like! A lot of really good content in this one...felt like the coding took forever this time. I am most relieved to see it live.

And if you're in Toronto, look at this really cool event -- Village Yarns, our favorite LYS, is hosting a special Knitty night, next Monday (December 15). Everyone's welcome. Details on the page above.

when?
i know, you're wondering.

we go live next monday (december 8)! so if you're waiting to proof your work or just to browse the pages, hang in. writers and designers will be contacted this week.

the rest of you? come by on monday!