Rainbow cake jumper with pompom's

Firstly thanks to everyone who commented on my copying post.
I found the comments really interesting, especially the difference in perception of what constitues a copy.
I've done some more research and have come to my own conclusion which I'd rather not share - enough said!

So onto my rainbow cake jumper with pompom's
As you know I've been working on this

And I was a bit bored with it, there is not enough colour changing, the existing colour scheme is a repeat of what I've already done. I need to be challenged.
So I decided to put it on hold and think about it for a while.

In the meantime I was crochetless, after last week's tooth incident I lost inspiration.
I've always found the way to tackle loss of inspiration is to just crochet something mindless.
So I rooted around in my stash and found 2 skeins of aran handspun that I had bought from my very talented friend Daniela, you can find her shop HERE
She spins the most amazing art yarn, if you fancy a treat I highly recommend a trip to her shop.
Anyway I also found a big pile of Dazzle Aran that I had intended to use for a blanket, I had done some swatching and decided I didn't like using such a thick yarn as I couldn't get enough detail into the piece.

Un-loved Dazzle Aran - I'm afraid I didn't photograph Daniela's skeins.

The 2 piles of wool fitted together perfectly so I decided to make a cake jumper.
If you are wondering what a cake jumper is have a look at this Father Ted video clip on Vimeo
Cake jumper has become a term used for big baggy shapeless sweather in the NDS household.

Its cold in Lynton and its not a glamous place, nearly all the residents are self employed and work very hard for a living, so everyone tends to walk round the village in their work clothes, a lot of the time their attire involves wellies and mud.
In the 9 months I've lived here I've only seen one or two suits.
I'm not glamous I'm scruffy, most of the time I have blue hands and dye stained clothes, no one cares,  I feel I can wear a cake jumper without being judged or laughed at.

So here it is, I started it saturday and am hopeing to wear it to the pub friday night.

Coincidence or not??

As I have already told you on several occasions I am not a prolific designer.
Each one of my designs takes ages to make and design, I put my heart and soul into my crochet, I do it because I love it.
So when I discover that someone might have copied me I get very upset and angry.
My designs are very personal to me and I feel betrayed and helpless.
My initial reaction is to shout about it and make a huge fuss, then calm down, forget about it and move on.
Yesterday I was made aware of the pattern below.
I decided to sleep on it and to see how I felt in the morning.

Lily is probably my most popular pattern, it was first published in 2011 and was a best seller almost instantly.
It has nearly 2300 hearts on Ravelry, plus loads of projects.
RAVERLY LILY
We have sold thousands and thousands of copies of the Lily pattern all over the world.
It always has pride of place on our stand at shows and always gets lots of attention and admirers.
Lily was designed in honour of my mother, so is very personal and special to me.

Our Mini Skein club grew out of the need for mini skeins to make Lily.

Last year not only was the Lily pattern in my blanket book, its also the cover photo.

So why am I so upset??
I'm upset because I found the links to this.....

The motif is almost identical, the foundation chain has more stitches, round 2 uses trebles instead of half trebles and round 5 is missing.

My Lily chart.

The other one

You can find it HERE on Ravelry.

You will notice the published date is January 2013.

There's a Facebook group HERE

and best and most upsetting of all it's been published in a book which is currently selling on Amazon.

Now you tell me...

Is it a coincidence?

Am I overreacting and being too sensitive??

Should I grow a thicker skin and be less of a drama queen??

I don't know, what do you think?

Star Scarf part 2

Here it is.

The orange trianges have begun to fade.
And you should be able to see the design emerging.

Quiet day's & books

The snow has gone and the temperature has gone back up, the birds are singing and the sun is shining and its very peaceful here on Sunday morning.

I thought I would share what I have been doing for the last few days.
We were snowed out of the studio for several days last week, so we have been working at home.
I decided it was about time I started on the next motif book, so I have been gathering motif patterns together and sorting through swatches and photographs.
It doesn't sound like a lot, but it takes ages, each photo needs editing and charts need to be re-checked.
Today is day 3 of photo editing, so I'm having a break for a while and writing this post.
My evenings are spent crocheting and I have a lot of swatches to make for the book, but I'm really struggling to make them, all I want to do is make orange triangles.

So not only am I working on a motif book, I'm also working on an orange triangle book.
I'm using the same motif for all the designs and each one will have at least 1 orange triangle lurking in the design.

So far I've made 2 blankets and 1 scarf and have just started work on a second scarf.
You have already seen the first blanket - Lecchi
And sneaky peaks of the second blanket which is still secret.
The first scarf is going to be published in a magazine, but I do have a photo to share.
Its a pile of ends, I like sewing in ends, if you do it at the end or beginning of every time you sit down to crochet it becomes easy and a lot less stressful.
But sometimes I don't want to stop crocheting so end up with a huge amount to sew in, thats why I have this pile of ends.

For the last couple of night I should of been swatching motifs, but did this instead - its the second scarf.
Can you see the orange triangles??
Its made with Dazzling lace and so this swatch is quite small, I'm hoping the orange triangles will disappear into the background as it grows.

This scarf won't be secret so I can post photo's as I make it, but you won't be able to buy the pattern until I publish the book :-))