Hat weather
It has turned distinctly chilly around here. I have a very pretty new green crochet tam (no, not made by me).
But has that slaked my hat thirst? No.
What I really long for is one of these, preferably in green (although the green one seems to have sold). It looks very cosy and not much sillier than my Tibetan woolly hat. But a largish part of me feels that they don't look all that hard or time-consuming to knit - and that it would be silly to pay $39.99 plus $8.25 postage when I could buy the wool and make it myself.
Oh people who knit, can you see anything complicated about this? It looks like a simple garter stitch border plus stockingette, both of which I can do, in a chunky yarn which would knit up quickly. The shape seems to be a simple rectangle with decreases which taper it on each side, and then a seam along the sides of the tapered bit. Provided I can work out gauge to fit, I think I could do all that.
Or do you think it's wrong to copy someone else's idea, even if you make up the pattern as you go? I'm not intending to do anything but make a hat for me, but would I be infringing the etsy seller's copyright in some moral sense?
I don't think I'd feel this way if I'd decided to knit a version of something I'd seen in a shop but couldn't afford, but etsy feels different because it's all small sellers. But this seems such a simple basic shape, it's hard to believe nobody else has ever made a hat this way. What do you think?
ETA: I decided to look on Ravelry to see if there were any free patterns for anything similar. And found this:
http://earthlyfae.blogspot.com/2008/03/winter-hangs-on-just-like-jilted-love.html
Which is a pattern clearly written by the original etsy seller! Evidently she's quite happy for other people to make her hats. She even says it's so easy that she hardly likes to call it a pattern - so I think this is a definite project.
But has that slaked my hat thirst? No.
What I really long for is one of these, preferably in green (although the green one seems to have sold). It looks very cosy and not much sillier than my Tibetan woolly hat. But a largish part of me feels that they don't look all that hard or time-consuming to knit - and that it would be silly to pay $39.99 plus $8.25 postage when I could buy the wool and make it myself.
Oh people who knit, can you see anything complicated about this? It looks like a simple garter stitch border plus stockingette, both of which I can do, in a chunky yarn which would knit up quickly. The shape seems to be a simple rectangle with decreases which taper it on each side, and then a seam along the sides of the tapered bit. Provided I can work out gauge to fit, I think I could do all that.
Or do you think it's wrong to copy someone else's idea, even if you make up the pattern as you go? I'm not intending to do anything but make a hat for me, but would I be infringing the etsy seller's copyright in some moral sense?
I don't think I'd feel this way if I'd decided to knit a version of something I'd seen in a shop but couldn't afford, but etsy feels different because it's all small sellers. But this seems such a simple basic shape, it's hard to believe nobody else has ever made a hat this way. What do you think?
ETA: I decided to look on Ravelry to see if there were any free patterns for anything similar. And found this:
http://earthlyfae.blogspot.com/2008/03/winter-hangs-on-just-like-jilted-love.html
Which is a pattern clearly written by the original etsy seller! Evidently she's quite happy for other people to make her hats. She even says it's so easy that she hardly likes to call it a pattern - so I think this is a definite project.