39 You were asking ...

Back in January, Sue at The Quince Tree listed the questions she's most often asked. Top of her list was 'What's for tea?' - yup, that sounds familiar - but Sue also gets lots of queries about quinces and about cooking. I get asked questions about knitting, photography, and not so long ago, bizarrely, about the cost of posting a parcel from Wales to Japan!* Recently, when I was contacted by someone hoping to guest post for me, I pinched Sue's wonderful answer to such enquiries: 'No, thank you. This blog is my own, my preciousss'. Now I'm pinching her post idea. Sue, I owe you a coffee!

So - apart from the oft heard 'What's for supper?' and 'Have you seen my keys/wallet/glasses/
iPod/homework?' - in no particular order, these are the questions I'm most commonly asked, via comments - here and elsewhere - and by email.

Who designed your blog?

Me.
This has come up quite a few times since the new header photo, email etc. buttons, and title fonts appeared. I guess people are hoping I can recommend a graphics designer. But all I can suggest, if you're looking for affordable custom blog graphics, is that you try Etsy. Or you could commission me!


You get a lot of blog comments, any relevant tips for a newbie blogger?

I dread this question.I never cease to be amazed by the numbers of people who visit this little blog of mine - hundreds and hundreds every day - and that some make time to comment is a constant thrill. I turn up here and write, and you turn up here and read, and contribute to the conversation, and that honestly feels more like a mini miracle than any kind of achievement. I guess it helps that I've made commenting easy - no word verification - and that I understand SEO, and that I enjoy reading and commenting on a fair few blogs myself.
But the only tip I have worth sharing is keep blogging!


Do you mind if I 'pin' your images?

Oops, a little wishful thinking creeping in there, they get pinned all the time but no one has ever asked if it's okay with me. And that despite Pinterest's clear statement that pinners should seek permission from copyright holders. Actually it's kinda' okay, and it kinda' isn't, because Pinterest strips all the EXIF data from image files, including any copyright management and/or contact information the photographer may have added, and I do mind about that. There are a lot of orphan images on Pinterest that simply can't be traced back to source, and I'd rather mine weren't among them. I guess my love/hate relationship with Pinterest will continue until this issue is resolved.


What camera do you use?

I have a Nikon D80 with a Nikkor 18-70mm f/1.35-4.5 zoom lens, with 2x and 4x magnification lens. And a Canon EOS 400D, used most often with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens (so no zoom, for the less photographically minded), and sometimes with a Sigma 55-200mm f/1.4-5.6 zoom lens.
I also have a bunch of vintage Polaroid cameras including a 680 SLR, an SX70, and a 350, but film for these babies is beyond exorbitant now so they rarely see the light of day.
My dream camera is currently a Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Anyone out there who'd like me to test drive one for review purposes, you can be my very best friend, forever!


Can I buy prints of your images anywhere?

Postcards will be available to order soon, with larger prints to follow if there's sufficient demand. And thank you, I'm really flattered that you asked!


Why does the Demne baby jacket pattern include so many provisional cast-ons?

Because, as a cuff to cuff knit, it works best that way.
You can of course omit them and substitute your preferred cast-on method and stitched seams and such, but your garment will not have the drape you see in the model, or the matching edgings.
And, as an aside, the thing I like least about designing? Complaints from knitters who choose to do things their way and then don't like that their knit doesn't look like the original. Just saying.


Will you teach me to knit/knit lace/knit a provisional cast-on?

I'd love to, and hope to be running classes locally in the not too distant future.
With apologies to most of the people who have asked, sadly you live far too far away folks.


Can I sell the accessories/babywear I knit from your patterns?

At the moment the only patterns I have published are available free of charge. I've done this to benefit charities such as p/hop so I'd really rather you didn't profit personally from my altruism. But knitting a Demne or a Downton etc. to benefit a charity you support is absolutely fine.
It's worth noting here, given the often heated debates about issues of copyright that take place on Ravelry, that although copyright applies to the written pattern only, in the UK designers also have internationally enforceable design rights.


Can I commission you to knit something for me?

No, sorry. My husband is still waiting for the sweater he commissioned me to knit for him at least six years ago!


And the question I like best ...
Please tell me more about the whippets.

Their names are Finn, Tadhg (pronounced Tyg, an Irish Gaelic name, one meaning of which is badger), Taran (an essentially onomatopoeic Welsh name meaning thunder), Jim, and Griff. No two look alike. The fleetest, Finn, is coloured a dovelike blue-grey; the clowns of the pack, half-brothers Tadhg and Taran, are both black, but Tadhg has four white paws, a white chest, and a white stripe that runs the length of his face; stripy boy Jim I've posted about before; and wild child Griff is the colour of set honey, with a black muzzle and smudgy black 'eyeliner'.
They are my joy!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
The hugest thank you to the lovely Lisa at Bobobun, whose Craft it Forwards giveaway I won recently. Lisa made me the most perfect crochet pincushion which arrived, along with some other goodies, just the other day. It felt like Christmas, opening the little parcel and unwrapping the unguessed at delights within. I promise I'll tell you more about it soon, when I post about my own Craft it Forwards giveaway.

And finally, and in keeping with tradition, a Welcome! shout out to everyone who's new here: Monica at Ink and Chai, Gina at Fan my Flame, Gillie at The Stitching Gift, Jan at Serenity, Serendipity, and Stitches, and Sandy at Stories, Stitches and Silliness. With apologies to anyone I've missed, and a promise to remedy any omissions next time.

* I'm guessing because of this post.