Fluff

In sorting through a tiny, tiny portion of my horrifically huge fabric stash (really -- I could have bought, perhaps, a car instead with all the $ over the years...) I came across a collection of 10" squares of a mystery fabric (silk/cotton blend, maybe? do they make such things?) shot through with metallic thread that I had washed and then left all wadded and tangled up and stuffed into a fabric storage bin. I couldn't bear to see the stuff so abused, so I de-tangled and ironed it up. Off of the mass I cut this tangled collection of threads and I've been unable to part with it. Please note that it is all thread and fiber -- there are NOT tangled up hairs in the mess. Anyway, I see some life in this little lump somehow; perhaps it could be twisted into a fairie's wings, or made into an insect pin, or something. I think I may try a party dress for a small rabbit out of some of the main fabric (I can only think it came as a monthly installment of some fabric pack mailing I signed up for, back in the day when my disposable income was such that I could dispose of it in such a frivolous way). I'm sitting here now, appliqueing a wool felt heart onto the polar fleece hat I made for myself, somehow thinking that this kind of multi-tasking means I'm being productive and not just spending more time screwing around on the computer.

Still thinking a lot about the bloggers' debate on copyright. At issue, in one thread, anyway, is whether the look and feel of the photographs and the general feeling of a blogger's content is somehow protected -- can SHE be somehow prevented from having HER blog look so much like MINE that even my friends think her site looks like mine?!? And I think, gently and good-naturedly, that this would be like decorating your house to be a perfect reflection of you, and then visiting a friend's home and being aghast that your style has been stolen (since she liked the look of your family room so much, she went out and painted it the same color, and bought similar furniture, etc. etc.). It's kind of weird and disturbing, perhaps, and not ethical, perhaps, but it isn't illegal. Also I've been looking more carefully at crafter's output and the kinds of things people are "copyrighting" -- again, there can be a real issue at stake when money is being made and someone's ability to sell her work is impinged upon when someone else rips off the design -- but so little seems really "original" that I'm not sure you could ever argue who really owned the idea. I did buy Hillary Lang's pattern booklet because I wanted to make, exactly, her bunny, kitty, and bear and would not have just cobbled them up myself given that she does indeed sell the patterns. I still would never sell things I've made, and certainly wouldn't even think of selling something I made knowing that I had knocked off someone else's creation, and I want to be so entirely on the up and up about giving sources (I've even emailed Amy at angry chicken and would kill the soup recipe if she wanted me to)...but I think the "idea pot" out there in the world is pretty big, with plenty of room for all.

And, ultimately, while I would like to be credited for things you might want to take off my blog (and REALLY would want you to link to me from your blog and I'd do the same), I put things out there in the hopes of adding some of me to that big pot of ideas.