Earlier in the week the postman brought me a wonderful package from Lilfishstudios containing a little present to myself to celebrate autumn.

It was so beautifully packaged in a vintage sewing pattern bound with twine, with a felted autumn leaf and owlish card as lovely little details.

Inside were pretty muslin bags topped with felt leaves and inside those a collection of gorgeous felted autumny acorns!

I’ve had my eye on these for a while and they are greatly admired by all here as you can see – I just hope the hodgers don’t gobble them up!

Thanks so much for all of the kind and supportive messages. I’m glad now that I didn’t continue festering on in silence – that old ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ adage is true. This kind of thing must happen daily to people posting images, ideas, creative writing, designs on websites all over the world. Hopefully though by sharing information and shaming the people who have no regard for right and wrong we can send a message that it’s not acceptable to take what doesn’t belong to you just because you can.

Just for the record I wanted to say that I wrote about this because there is no doubt in my mind that those are my images and my designs. I have however never had a problem with anyone copying any of my designs for their own pleasure, to make for their own children or to give to friends and loved ones – no problem whatsoever and I’m very happy to think that others might be inspired by something I’ve made. Where I do get upset and angry is when others either take my images, cut and paste my writing or make replicas of something I’ve made in order to sell it as their own work. I do have a problem with this because it is dishonest and quite frankly stealing.

I also want to stress that I am not laying any claim to knitted animals in general, I did not invent the idea and neither did I invent any new knitting stitches or techniques. What I did do is create a pattern with a ‘look’ (a signature if you will) which is distinctly mine and that is all I’m trying to hold on to. There are many, many other knitters who’ve created their own animal patterns which are distinct to them and I know that they would defend their rights to their own designs and rightly so. I suppose the message in essence is to go your own way, make something of yours, take inspiration from others but not the whole enchilada.

Anyway, thanks again for your very kind support and comments. A couple of people asked about my bunny egg cosy situation from earlier in the year. It is partially resolved in that Tesco took their product off the shelves following my blog post but that’s all I can say for now.

Well, the weekend approaches and I’ll be going into it with a smile – sharing a happy after school snack with my two lovelies, enjoying the autumn sun in the garden and thinking happy thoughts (helped out by my lovely new snack tray from ISAK which makes me smile every time I look at it.)

Hope your weekend is a happy one and once again, thanks x