Copyright anxiety

(Topic: Anxiety, copyright, right-of-usage)

Hi Friends,

I'm not sure if you've noticed that I try to post twice a week. Generally on Wednesdays I try to post something specific to life after loss, and on Saturdays I often keep it lighter with pictures of something I've made.

Recently, though, on January 26th, I missed a day without letting you know. And after that post, any pictures in my blog have had a copyright notice on them, either as a watermark or as text across the picture. Why?

Well, a blogger friend of mine has been having issues with her images and sometimes text being used without linking back to her blog (attribution), and without permission.

If someone wants to share one of our blog posts, it's easy: copy the link in your browser, and paste the link wherever! If you paste in Facebook, then your post in Facebook will have a preview of the post with a link and a picture. If you paste the link in Pintrest, it will let you choose which picture to show.

What you should not ever do, is save a picture and use it as though it were yours, without saying where it comes from. ALWAYS give credit to the person that the picture is from!

In the United States, by writing something, I own what I wrote ("copyright"). So anything that I write in my blog in my own words is mine. Out there for people to read, but it's mine! So to remind people, I put a copyright notice at the bottom of my blog.

~~~

Well, I had a conversation with my friend on how to prevent unauthorized usage that doesn't give her credit, such as adding a copyright notice at the bottom of her blog, adding watermarks or text to her images, and such, and talking with her on how to report Facebook or Pintrest posts that use her work without linking to her blog or giving her credit, and also advising her how to contact site administrators for other websites if people there are using her material.

I hope this conversation helped her.

Unfortunately, it had the side effect of making me worry that the same sorts of things were happening to my pictures and my posts. It's not as likely (her topic is much more sharable than mine) but it worried me so much that I couldn't post that day. Or the next day. Or the one after that.

The downside of life after infant loss is that you often end up with side-symptoms, like depression symptoms or anxiety symptoms or ptsd symptoms (though often not enough for a full diagnosis of that thing, interestingly). In my case, I have grief with a side of anxiety. This means that small things loom really large, and the idea of adding watermarks going forward was already difficult, but add to it the thought that someone might be stealing Charlie, and that I should add watermarks going back through all the old posts too!!! You might imagine that this ended up becoming a pretty hefty roadblock, mentally.

Once I worked myself back up to it, I started adding watermarks and text to my images just on the posts I was writing new, though I am also slowly working on older posts too. I'll be keeping my eye out for people using my material without permission - but if you see it first, please let me know!

In the meantime, if I post something useful, that you want to share, PLEASE DO!!!
JUST BE SURE TO DO IT BY COPYING THE LINK, NOT THE PICTURE!!!

Thank you all so much!!!💗💕


Yours,

Sarah

To subscribe, find the "subscribe by email" note in the left column and enter your email there. Links to posts will be emailed directly to you whenever I post them! Nothing else gets emailed.

Resource list: Visit my spreadsheet at www.tinyurl.com/infantloss

Keeping Pookie Warm

(Topic: Knitting, Weighted bear clothing)

Hi Friends!

A few weeks ago we had a cold snap and a lot of snow. On the spur of the moment, I decided Pookie needed some cold weather accessories! He didn't have a scarf yet, and though he did have mittens and hats already, I figured a matching set would be fun!

I started by rummaging in my yarn stash to see if I had something that grabbed my eye. You may recognize this yarn: I used it before on a color-pooled crocheted scarf! For this project, though, I'm just using it as a variegated yarn without worrying about trying to pool the colors into a pattern.

I started by casting on to what looked like a good width, and created a 2x2 rib for about an inch and a half as a border. I then just knitted every row (which creates a garter stitch), until the scarf looked like it was the right length!

The result! I'm quite happy with this. It wraps well but is just long enough that if I want to put a knot in, I can.

Well! One piece down, mittens and hat to go! I decided to work the mittens next, fitting them as I went. Because Pookie's paws are pretty small, even using magic loop didn't feel like a great idea, so I worked the mittens flat. I then drew the top together, and seamed the side.

Cuff is on the left. See on the right, where the top of the mitten is, that I have a light blue bit of yarn drawn through the last row of stitches? That's what I pulled to cinch the top of the mitten.

Cinched and seamed! This is the inside of the mitten.

It looks like a muffin!!! If I ever need to knit toy muffins, I'll do it like this! Well, maybe not, since it wouldn't have a bottom.

I added a string, because I really don't want to loose them by accident (I've lost Pookie's rain hat already, which I consider to be a tragedy of the highest magnitude. I'm not going to loose a hand-knit mitten because I didn't take the time to tie it on!). The string is 6 strands of yarn, braided.

Snug in his snowsuit, and modeling the new scarf and mittens!!

Still chilly. Pookie borrowed my couch snuggle blanket.

 Well, if Pookie is still cold, I'd better throw together a hat! I decided to do this in the round, using the magic loop technique so I would have flexibility to try it on him easily, and also so I wouldn't have to change techniques as I decrease toward the top.

I started with a 2x2 rib again, so that it would match the edging on the other pieces. Since I was shaping as I went, rather than following a prewritten pattern, I decreased when I got high enough for it to get over his ears. With the rib pulling it tight below, and since I didn't change needle size to a larger one or decrease the stitch count, the brim pulls inward and then it bulges out - and the goes pretty flat on top to match his head shape. This means that it looks a bit funny when it's not on him, but looks great on his head!

I also decided to add a pompom, just for fun! The annoying thing about doing a garter in the round is the same as doing stockinette flat: you have to alternate purl rows with knit rows, so you have to be sure to know where your round starts and ends.

"Yes? Oh - yep, I love the hat!"

Modelling the hat. If you look closely, you can see the braided tie, tied under his chin, to help prevent accidental hat loss!

We found out that, due to the interesting shaping, that it works as a tam too!

I'm really glad I added the mitten string, because he has no wrists to help keep the mittens on! They have a tendency to slide off, but they stay on pretty well if the cuff of the sweater or snowsuit is over the mitten.

Yours,

Sarah

To subscribe, find the "subscribe by email" note in the left column and enter your email there. Links to posts will be emailed directly to you whenever I post them! Nothing else gets emailed.

Resource list: Visit my spreadsheet at www.tinyurl.com/infantloss