This is Plain Wrong

Yesterday, a concerned reader of my blog alerted me to the following: An Etsy seller named "youandmegogreen" is selling prints of my copyrighted image of my white lamb in a sweater. Here's what she say in her listing: in "about this item" description "Handmade by youandmegogreen and made to order."

Here is a screenshot of the listing. I am contacting the owner of the shop and telling her to take down the image which is clearly mine and copyrighted. I have already contacted Etsy about this. This image "White Lamb in Sweater with Crochet Flowers" is available as cards and postcards here on my website. I do not sell on Etsy at this time.

A few weeks ago, another friend sent me an email from a "nail salon." She told me a local Colorado beauty salon had used the same White Lamb in Sweater with Crochet Flowers image in their mailing. I didn't respond to their unauthorized use. I should have and I will today. They did not take my name nor copyright sign off the image. They should have asked me to use the image. I may have said yes. Now, I am just plain upset. They should have at least linked to my site.

 

 

I have been fuming about this for over 24 hours now. What should I do? Write about it on my blog or just let it go away and forget about it. But I have decided I just can't let it go. I sell cards of this image here on my website. My website is the only place the image is and should be sold. I do not wholesale the cards and image - they are exclusive to my site and my work. The little lamb is our lamb. I knit the sweater, crocheted the flowers, stood in the snow to photograph and get exactly the right shot (three separate days to get it just right). I processed the image and it is clearly mine. Why should this woman named Laura at "youandmegogreen" make a profit from my work? She shouldn't.

 

So why am I bothering to bore all of you with this problem? Here's the thing, I have many loyal readers out there, many kind people. They write to me asking if they can use an image of mine for their screensaver. I usually say yes. You all support me by buying my cards, my handknitting patterns. My family and I work very hard to keep this place going - just like most artists and farmers out there in the world. We have to pay our own health insurance and it is not cheap. We have a child with special needs and precarious health issues. We have to pay our taxes just like everyone else. I am not complaining about this - It just irks me to no end that people can take the image that My Farmer grew, I knit, photographed and composed, edited, and printed and say it is theirs and sell it.

I have had publishers ask me if they could use that same image. I have told them no. Seriously, do I need their $50? I would rather keep the image as my own for my future work. Once it goes into print in their book, my future publishers will no longer want me to use it. 

So the moral of today's post is... please think about using other people's images. They are theirs. If you do use them, ask them, credit them, link them. It is only fair. None of us are getting rich on this. At least give the owner of the image proper credit and do the right thing by asking.

I thank all of you for your awesome support over the past years - of my knitting, designing, authoring, photography, farming and teaching. You all are fabulous. Back to regular programming tomorrow. Off to hug the sheep and puppy.

Crazy Cute Cards for Knitters Available Here on Kristin's Blog

The perfect gift for the knitter on your list - Kristin's Lambs in Sweaters. Or to send to your knitting friends - my Merry Knitmas card. Read all about them and order here.

For all you locals, my family and I will be selling our Leyden Glen Lamb, my holiday cards, and books at the Amherst Winter Farmer's Market at the Amherst Middle School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m on Saturday the 11th. Stop by to pick up a leg of lamb for your holiday feast and to save shipping charges on cards and books! It is a great market with all kinds of local produce, meat, greens, and more. Music too!

Kristin's Knitting Inspired Holiday Cards - For a Limited Time Only

NOTE: Scroll down for new posts. This post will be at the top of my blog for quite awhile!

You asked for it! And here they are for a limited time only..... drumroll please.....

Knitting themed folded holiday cards!

These are not my normal postcards! Printed on super heavy glossy card stock with white envelopes. All cards are blank inside. Size: 4.25" x 5.5". These cards are only available on the blog - They are not listed on my website. These will only be available until my supply runs out. I won't be able to re-order before the holidays so jump on it if you want some!

Sets of 10 of a design - $12.50 each set plus postage & handling (you can find those rates on the shop page of my website here but they will pop up when you order on Paypal).

A Merry Knitmas

I painted this Christmas scene using gouache. Inset in a purple border. Image features handknit cabled, lace and colorwork stockings, a sheep painting over the mantelpiece, a shepherdess and her sheep, a knitter's gift list, balls of yarn, knitting needles and a tea cup.

White Lamb in Pink Coat with Crochet Flowers

Winter White Lamb wearing a pink knitted sweater with crochet flowers. Who will be able to say anything but ahhhh.... A perfect card for sheep and wool lovers at the holidays or whenever. (Don't worry - no © on card front!)

Black Lamb in Striped Coat

For sheep lovers too! A teensy black day-old lamb dressed in a red striped coat. How sweet! A perfect card for the holidays or whenever. (Don't worry - no © on card front!)

If you are an international or Canadian customer, I will send you an additional invoice for the cards once the freight is calculated at the Post Office. When you pay the extra freight invoice, I will ship the cards.

As always, my family and I thank you for your support of our farm and knitting enterprise! Happy Holidays to all of you out there! FYI - the pattern for the sheep/dog coat is available for sale by PDF download on my webpage here.

2011 Leyden Glen Farm Calendars - Available exclusively by PDF Downloads

I hope everyone in the States had a Happy Thanksgiving full of turkey, family and fun. We're continuing our Thanksgiving Holiday, spending today at my sister Nancy's in New Hampshire - eating leftover turkey and doing a Christmas craft. Today I want to share with you something I have been working on for a few weeks.

Over the past few years, I have had many requests for calendars made from my photos of our farm. I have hemmed and hawed over it but this year I bit the bullet and spent several days editing photos and building a set of calendars. They are a little different than your normal calendar. They are available EXCLUSIVELY HERE on my blog via PDF Download.

Once you buy the download, a message will be sent to your inbox with Download Instructions. (Make sure you download the calendars within the specified amount of time - otherwise you will have to contact me for further downloads.) Each calendar comes with 12 pages of months, a cover and a back page. When you buy the download, you can print the calendar out as many times as you want - either on your own computer or at an office store. If you are so inclined, you can use the files to make calendar presents for your friends and share a bit of our Animals, Sunflowers, and Domestic Scenes with them. You can keep one at your office and one at your house.

There are 3 calendar versions and each costs $6.50. Each calendar month prints on a standard 8 1/2 x 11" page making it a calendar which would fit nicely in an office cubby or near a phone. The photo is at the top half of the page and the days are on the bottom half of the page:

Animals of Leyden Glen Farm

12 months of sheep and lamb photos following the cycle of the year here at Leyden Glen Farm.

Animals

Sunflowers of Leyden Glen Farm

12 months of sunflowers. I thought this might be fun for you all to gift to friends of yours who could care less about sheep or yarn or wool but who might like to be introduced to our farm and the blog.

Sunflowers

Domestic Scenes of Leyden Glen Farm

12 months of pretty photos. This calendar also includes 2 bonus months - you can choose which image you want for April and September. The bonus months are 2 photos of sheep which are not included in the Sheep Calendar. This calendar also includes two of my favorite cookie recipes.

Domestic Life

Calendar Bundle - Buy all 3 calendars!

You can also purchase a CALENDAR BUNDLE. You will receive all 3 calendar files for $15.00. The email you receive will give you 3 separate download codes so that the file sizes are much smaller than if it was a giant multi-page file.

Leyden Glen Farm 3-Calendar Special Offer


I went to Staples and had them print them out for me so that I could show you how they look if an "office store" does the printing for you. The Sunflower Calendar (below right) is spiral bound and included a clear plastic cover, a punched hole and a cardboard cover. Here it is next to my telephone (below right). My version of "The Animals of Leyden Glen Farm" Calendar uses an office clip and I have it hanging on the door of my computer cabinet (below left). It is easy to un-do, change the month, and re-hang. My version of "Domestic Scenes of Leyden Glen Farm" is put together with my Julia Yarn (center). I punched two holes in the same spot on each page and then threaded the yarn through all the pages. It is easy to flip the pages on this one too.


In order to preview the calendars, I made up some little videos of the images. Sort of like the back of a calendar that you look at in a store but via video on your computer with music! Check them out!

The Sunflowers of Leyden Glen Farm Calendar:



The Animals of Leyden Glen Farm Calendar:



The Domestic Scenes of Leyden Glen Farm Calendar:



The Farmer, Julia and I sincerely thank you for your support of our farm and creative pursuits. It is a pleasure to share glimpses of our life on our sheep farm with all of you throughout the blogosphere.

p.s. If you don't do Paypal or order on the web, you can fill out the order form on my shop page here and send a check to my PO Box. I will then e-mail you the files. (Please make sure you send your email address on your order form!)