The Blankie

Is still hard at work, tucking in everyone, everywhere.

This fills me with such joy, words are completely inadequate.

In case you missed it the story of the blankie is here.

An Oblique...

...fracture of the proximal phalanx.

This. Just sucks.

This. Just ugh.

Its been nearly 3 weeks, and I am done, ready to have freshly healed and happy bones.

Update on the Ravelympics Debacle!

Life goes on, it is just knitting after all.

Not a matter of life and death.

Ravelympics, or Seriously USOC?

In case you hadn't heard:

(Copied from Ravelry post by Casey)

"We received this notice from the General Counsel of the United States Olympic Committee.

I’m still talking to our lawyer about this but it’s the second time we’ve dealt with them and it’s looking like we may have to rename the Ravelympics. They’ve made the suggestion of “Ravelry Games”.

Don’t worry - worst case, they force us to ask the Ravelympics mods to change the name of their group and the event. That’s all."

Dear Mr. Forbes,

In March 14, 2011, my colleague, Carol Gross, corresponded with your attorney, Craig Selmach [sic], in regard to a pin listed as the “2010 Ravelympic Badge of Glory.”  At that time, she explained that the use of RAVELYMPIC infringed upon the USOC’s intellectual property rights, and you kindly removed the pin from the website.  I was hoping to close our file on this matter, but upon further review of your website, I found more infringing content.

By way of review, the USOC is a non-profit corporation chartered by Congress to coordinate, promote and govern all international amateur athletic activities in the United States.  The USOC therefore is responsible for training, entering and underwriting U.S. Teams in the Olympic Games.  Unlike the National Olympic Committees of many other countries, the USOC does not rely on federal funding to support all of its efforts.  Therefore, in order to fulfill our responsibilities without the need for federal funding, Congress granted the USOC the exclusive right to use and control the commercial use of the word OLYMPIC a and any simulation or combination thereof in the United States, as well as the OLYMPIC SYMBOL.  See the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, 36 U.S.C. §220501 et seq. (the “Act”).  (A copy of the relevant portion of the Act is enclosed for your convenience.)  The Act prohibits the unauthorized use of the Olympic Symbol or the mark OLYMPIC and derivations thereof for any commercial purpose or for any competition, such as the one organized through your website.  See 36 U.S.C. §220506(c).  The USOC primarily relies on legitimate sponsorship fees and licensing revenues to support U.S. Olympic athletes and finance this country’s participation in the Olympic Games.  Other companies, like Nike and Ralph Lauren, have paid substantial sums for the right to use Olympic-related marks, and through their sponsorships support the U.S. Olympic Team.  Therefore, it is important that we restrict the use of Olympic marks and protect the rights of companies who financially support Team USA.

In addition to the protections of the Act discussed above, the USOC also owns numerous trademark registration that include the mark OLYMPIC. These marks therefore are protected under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1051 et seq. Thus, Ravelry.com’s unauthorized use of the mark OLYMPIC or derivations thereof, such as RAVELYMPICS, may constitute trademark infringement, unfair competition and dilution of our famous trademarks.

The USOC would like to settle this matter on an amicable basis. However, we must request the following actions be taken.

1.  Changing the name of the event, the “Ravelympics.”;  The athletes of Team USA have usually spent the better part of their entire lives training for the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games and represent their country in a sport that means everything to them.  For many, the Olympics represent the pinnacle of their sporting career.  Over more than a century, the Olympic Games have brought athletes around the world together to compete in an event that has come to mean much more than just a competition between the world’s best athletes.  The Olympic Games represent ideals that go beyond sport to encompass culture and education, tolerance and respect, world peace and harmony.

The USOC is responsible for preserving the Olympic Movement and its ideals within the United States.  Part of that responsibility is to ensure that Olympic trademarks, imagery and terminology are protected and given the appropriate respect.  We believe using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.  In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.

It looks as if this is the third time that the Ravelympics have been organized, each coinciding with an Olympic year (2008, 2010, and 2012).  The name Ravelympics is clearly derived from the terms “Ravelry” (the name of your website) and OLYMPICS, making RAVELYMPICS a simulation of the mark OLYMPIC tending to falsely suggest a connection to the Olympic Movement.  Thus, the use of RAVELYMPICS is prohibited by the Act.  Knowing this, we are sure that you can appreciate the need for you to re-name the event, to something like the Ravelry Games.

1.  Removal of Olympic Symbols in patterns, projects, etc.   As stated before, the USOC receives no funding from the government to support this country’s Olympic athletes.  The USOC relies upon official licensing and sponsorship fees to raise the funds necessary to fulfill its mission. Therefore, the USOC reserves use of Olympic terminology and trademarks to our official sponsors, suppliers and licensees.  The patterns and projects featuring the Olympic Symbol on Ravelry.com’s website are not licensed and therefore unauthorized.  The USOC respectfully asks that all such patterns and projects be removed from your site.

For your convenience, we have listed some of the patterns featuring Olympic trademarks.  However, this list should be viewed as illustrative rather than exhaustive.  The USOC requests that all patterns involving Olympic trademarks be removed from the website.  We further request that  you rename various patterns that may not feature Olympic trademarks in the design but improperly use Olympic in the pattern name.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/olympics-rings-af...\

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vancouver-2010-ol...

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/2010-olympics-inu...

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/olympic-swimmer-d...

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/2008-olympic-ring...

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/olympic-rings-nec...

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bode-miller-hat-2...

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/usa-olympic-hat

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/belgianwaffleknit/usa-oly...

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.  We would appreciate a written reply to this letter by no later than June 19, 2012.  If you would like to discuss this matter directly, please feel free to contact me at the number above, or you may reach my colleague, Carol Gross.

Kindest Regards,

Brett Hirsch

Law Clerk

Office of the General Counsel

United States Olympic Committee

1 Olympic Plaza

Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Geez, I would hate to denigrate some athletes when I work on my Salt Lake City Norwegian sweater...

Seriously? Way to kill everyone's enthusiasm about your event.

Hey Dale of Norway, don't denigrate those skiers!

Circus Girl

SO sad.
Circus girl is moving away. 

Her wonderful family, who I also adore immensely, 

is moving away to a wonderful opportunity with amazing recognition and I am so sad.

Circus girl requested socks,
so I have started socks for her.

She really does have a spine, although rumors are that it is nothing but a noodle.

Sofa's socks.

Button Bands, Again and Other Issues

The bane of my knitting, well, those and heels. I'm knitting this cute little striped sweater, Little Coffee Bean Striped Sweater, and I have finished the body, and sleeves, and now it's time to knit the d*mned button bands. To start with I never, ever, remember which side is which for who? 

Girls right? Boys left? But wait, which side is right? What? 

Will the baby notice, or complain, or look at me with that disapproving side eye glance? Nah.

Okay, so onto pick up and knit the button band, thankfully Elizabeth Smith of the Brown Stitch wrote in the pattern ( and shockingly I even read this part!) to pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rows - she specifically wrote that you "pick up and knit 3 and then skip 1"!!!!! How simple is that, and why on earth was it so challenging to me to figure out how to do that? Not anymore, thank you Elizabeth Smith!

Now, I did say there were other issues. Ahem. When you knit stripes in the round you get a bit of a jog. You can yank the previous color's last stitch tightly and that helps eliminate the jog but you do get a bit of a "seam" like line. So, I am knitting along and I looked and I was so impressed and amazed by my knitting skills and all around rock stardom because Whoa! I managed to get rid of the "seam". 

Oh, yeah! I am so awesome!

Uh. Except that I didn't. Huge fail, I merely screwed up enough to move the "seam" elsewhere - AND Bonus Fail, see that nice little grey stripe that just pops in out of nowhere.

Oh CRAP! What did I do?

 Oh well. I will have to frog the sleeve back and re-knit it. It's just knitting and nobody got hurt - the pride gets a slight abrasion sometimes though.