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I love this pattern. It's easy peasy lemon squeezy and wonderfully wearable. And it's free. : ) I love the yarn, too: Knit Picks "Billow". I thought I would hate it, but the fabric turned out soft and drapey and suits the pattern perfectly. I'm buying more of it as soon as I can. And, I'm knitting another Caponcho. Because now Emmeline wants one. : )
This week I am reading The Movement of Stars, by Amy Brill. It's a historical novel about an amateur astronomer living in a Quaker community on Nantucket Island who discovers a comet in 1845. Brill based her character Hannah Gardner Price on real life Maria Mitchell. I read this article about it in the Boston Globe and picked up the book at the library, but I'm having a hard time getting into it, which is too bad, because I love the premise of the story. And, it has a beautiful cover:
Last week I read Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen and loved it. It was sad, but the ending was positive and hopeful. The whole story was beautifully told and filled with interesting facts about lightening strikes that I didn't know. Some people who live through a lightening strike get a strange scar called a Lichtenberg figure. The scars look like tattoos of frost patterns or tree branches or lightening.
I've been thinking a lot about the results from my Reading Preference Survey. I wonder why traditional publishers don't offer print books with a free digital download inside like many record companies and DVD/Blu-ray manufacturers do. The only explanation is greed. The big publishers see digital books as an opportunity to cut production costs. Even though 80% of the book market is still print books, they want readers to buy e-books. But, that's Amazon's game, and the big publishers will never beat them at it. They would be smarter to offer readers something that Amazon doesn't: a print copy and a digital copy with every purchase. If they did, it might help justify their significantly higher prices. It might help them win readers, gain a larger share of the digital market space and greater control over that market by making it a non-choice. What do you think?
Happy Wednesday!
Susan <3
Joining Ginny for her fabulous weekly Yarn Along.
Lovely poncho and so is the model :) I think the book industry is greedy. Just like the music industry. If you buy a cd in a store you do not get a cloud copy only amazon is offering that. Same with knitting mags, you do not get a digital copy. I will continue to buy books but if they are public domain, I will read an ebook or find it used.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karen! : )
DeleteMost LPs today come with a download code. I wonder if CDs don't because they are already in digital format. All you have to do is upload the disc to your computer.
beautiful knitting, beautiful girl...good work, mama!
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear friend!
DeleteBeautiful! As an aside, as a pug person,love your photo!
ReplyDeleteThank you! : ) Pugs are better than...well, just about anything.
DeleteIt came out beautiful!! I just love easy patterns.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! : )
DeleteLove your cape! I also like your idea about the books. I am a book designer. And when the ebooks started gaining so much popularity, I had a hard time with it. I love to hold a book in my hand. I was afraid all of our work would go away and not be important, but I'm finding that people miss their books. I think it's swinging back. I do love the ease of my nook and how quickly I can download a sample and buy it at ease. It has it's positives for sure. But I'm still a book in my hand kind of girl.(Found you through Ginny!)
ReplyDeleteThank you! : ) I really enjoyed reading your perspective as a book designer. I prefer print, but I don't dislike e-books. If a book is only available in digital format, I'll still read it. There are pros and cons to both formats. I'm so glad you stopped by and left a comment.
DeleteGorgeous poncho - yours looks better than the pattern photos!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! : )
Deleteoh that looks wonderful and warm! so great to have good books going!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you stopped by--thank you for the kind comment! : )
DeleteThe poncho is great. She cut her hair! She probably did it years ago, lol. It's such beautiful hair, such a glorious colour, and she looks like a really elegant young woman with that style.
ReplyDeleteI have seen some books now with free digital downloads, or a different ebook attached for free. I have a different perspective from other people on this. I believe ebooks are just as valuable as paper books, and when they are given away for free it impacts the income of ebook authors. But I'm biased :-)
Thank you! : ) She got it cut just last week. It took a few days for her to get used to it, but now she really loves it.
DeleteI think all books are valuable, which is why I am in favor of eliminating having to choose between formats. I agree that giving away ebooks for free impacts authors (*all* authors, actually, and small booksellers, too). I detest the practice. But, I don't consider including a digital copy of a purchased print book as a giveaway. Rather, it would provide readers with both formats at once instead of making them choose. Readers should also be able to purchase e-book only, if that is their preferred format.
Germany has a law that fixes book prices across all sellers. It was enacted to protect small booksellers from industry giants like Amazon. France is in the process of passing a similar law. I think it's a good idea.
Echoing many of the comments already here: beautiful project, lovely yarn choice and model (when did she become so grown up, so timeless in the way she carries herself). I hope your current book picks up soon. The Alice Hoffman selection sounds wonderful; I have one of her books in my queue right now.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tara! Amy is fifteen and a half--the time has gone by so fast.
DeleteJust found your blog via another's. The Caponcho is gorgeous! I love your color choice and it looks great on your model! Nice to hear your thoughts on the Knitpicks yarn; I haven't tried that one yet. Lovely blog; I'm sure I'll visit again soon!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and for leaving such a nice comment. I would love to return the favor. If you have a blog, would you leave me the link?
DeleteLove the Caponcho. Wish I could have seen it in person this weekend. It looks warm and cool all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I am a book in hand kinda person. I have a Kindle and will read on it but prefer my books hard copy..for some reason there is nothing to having it in my hand and at my fingertips. We were having the same discussion about textbooks. I can't imagine how students will ever go to all digital textbooks. If they are anything like me, I need to see, feel and highlight in it. I like tabbing my textbooks for easy to find pages. But some people don't like all the bulk and can do ebooks even of that size..I hope they don't ever go away..
Thanks for your hospitality this weekend. We had a great time.
Hello, my Annie! It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad that I got to spend it with you and Pat. Thank you so much for coming. It meant a lot to Paul. He LOVED his party!
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