Patterns & Working Copies

The other day in a Facebook group somebody asked why people don’t give credit to the designer/project when they share photos of what they’ve made.  It’s only fair blah-blah-blah.

Sure, designers definitely deserve recognition but we should also celebrate somebody’s talent that went into making what they just shared.  I don’t see the need to get uptight about either one.

Most people replied they were just excited they were done.  Some were a bit more hard-line that they were innocent and *always* gave credit ’cause they were perfect and the angels sing down from heaven when they enter a room.

I was the weird one.  I usually am.

I have good intentions but somewhere along the way, I disagree with a pattern or I don’t like the way something fits or flows….and then it’s no longer the pattern it started out as being.

Sure, I could share the pattern but if somebody likes what I just shared a photo of then tries to get what I got based off of that photo, it’s not going to be the same.

Does that happen with anybody else?

I’m rather notorious for it among my friends and I fear it’s rubbing off on a few of them.  *innocent grin*

Therefore, I always end up making a working copy for any pattern I’m working on, even if it’s a simple quilt or something I’ve designed, so I can mark down the changes I make as I go along.  …especially if it’s something I’ve designed.  Then I usually just have a sketch of the item and a blank notepad for lots and lots of notes so I can write it up later.  Things I brew up end up being even less like what I had originally intended; projects take on a life of their own here.

I’m horrible at following directions and am always making alterations to things I make.  Usually the changes are intentional or I don’t like the designers methods (either I’m stubborn or dense, maybe both), sometimes they’re happy accidents…but I can’t think of a single thing I’ve ever made exactly like it was written.

An example of my working notes from a knitting project.  >_>;

 

I’m really hoping the cross stitch pattern I’ve been preparing and belly-aching over will be the exception.  I really am starting it with the best of intentions to keep it true to the pattern, totally and completely.  There are 282,500 stitches so I’m going to be a coloring queen to keep from getting lost.

I love this pattern.  I don’t want to mess it up.

Plus, there are 90 colors of floss.  I’m not artistic enough to go off on a wild hair on this one.  I’ll be lucky enough to keep all of these straight.

Not pictured is shiny Kreinik #4

I asked L to make me a working copy of the cross-stitch pattern yesterday so I can officially start once I finish gridding off my aida.

He gets limited personal use of the office machinery at his work and it saves me $50 in ink — it’s first time we’ve taken advantage of them having a copier.   My printer is a snot and won’t print in black unless it also has all three color cartridges full.  I think it bleeds or evaporates ink, just to be a money pit.  Never buy an Epson.  *sigh*

He forgot to get the copies until after his administrative assistant left for the day.

It never, ever occurred to me that he didn’t know how to work a copier.  It took him over half an hour to figure out how to make the 45 pages I needed — nothing special, just 45 pages so I don’t destroy my original copy.  It would have taken his admin aide two minutes, tops.

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make you feel slightly smug and special…like the thought of a super genius like L struggling with a copier.  😛

 

 

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