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 everytime I look at it.)

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

A few posts ago I alluded to the negative and depressing side of blogging and having anything on the internet. I've had a really bad year for having my designs, images, writing etc copied and it's been festering in my mind so I thought I'd purge it by writing about it. 

Basically it's stuff like this. This person* has cloned over 400 of my images from flickr, my blog and my redbubble page and posted them as their own on a picassa account. Not only that but they've made replicas of some of my knitted animals and are using my images as their printed tags, business cards and on listings on taobau (which seems a chinese version of Etsy). This is only the latest occurance of many and some days it truly makes you just want to jack it all in. I guess I continue because knitting is really what gets me through the day!

I know that I'm way too sensitive but it hurts a lot and I get so upset by this kind of thing. I started making the animals in 2004 as an antidote to some of the difficulties in raising a son with severe autism and I worked very hard to make my designs different to other knitted animal designs that were around at the time. I started the blog in 2006 and quickly discovered that as soon as you post images and people like what you're making then others will steal from you. I'm lucky that there are lots of people who look out for me and let me know when they see things that are copied. I'm lucky too that my work is distinctive and so copies stand out a mile.

In the UK the legal rights of designer/makers are protected by unregistered design right. In the UK you do not need to register a copyright for something that you create. This right is automatic and the instant you make something unique (ie not copied from something already in existence) it is protected by law. The organisation A.C.I.D (Anti Copying In Design) are an excellent source of information and they are strong in championing creative rights. But, regardless of the legalities I see it as more of a moral issue. How you can blatantly copy something you have no creative claim to is beyond me. If people had an ounce of creativity, imagination or integrity it wouldn't happen but in the 'want it now at any cost' culture we've arrived at, the honest, hard working people who just want to make something of their own are the ones that suffer both financially through lost business and emotionally.

*hopefully these links will be disappearing soon as Google's legal team are currently looking into the matter.

PS: It's not just my images and work that have been taken but Dilka's beautiful work has been copied too and another artist who created this image. I know I've seen it somewhere but have searched flickr in vain. if anyone recognises it and know the artist please let me know so I can contact them. Perhaps between us we'll be able to get Google to terminate the offender's account.