Random Monday

Over the weekend I got a lot done on the Scarborough Fair sock for the pattern-for-the-general-public, but I'm not going to show it until I officially launch the pattern, so I've got nothing to show you today. Instead, I thought I'd mention a few random things that have been bouncing around in my mind lately.

First of all, I've gotten more emails than usual lately from people whose computers have crashed wanting me to resend patterns they've purchased. This is not a problem, but when you contact me for this, I'll need some information - for obvious reasons I'm not just going to email out pattern files to anyone who asks. If you'll give me the email address you use with your PayPal account and as close to an accurate date for the purchase as you can remember, I can look you up in the system. Once I verify that you did purchase the pattern, I'll send the file right out to you.

I'm not sure why there's been a rash of computer crashes lately- other than a virus the only way I know of to crash my computer is to put my address book into it - I tried it three times and each time the computer would crash within a week. I finally accepted defeat and bought a nice address book and keep track of thing the old fashioned way - on paper. The computer hasn't crashed since! Anyway, most of us are pretty good about backing up the REALLY important things on our computers, but I would strongly suggest that you find a way to backup your purchased patterns. There are more and more designers who are self publishing patterns and using efile delivery systems to get the patterns to purchasers now, so backing them up isn't really as crazy as it sounds. I have a thumb drive/USB Flash Drive that I use to keep purchased patterns on (as well as backup copies of my own pattern files) and this is probably one of the easiest ways to backup your pattern collection. You can get a decent sized thumb drive in the checkout lane of Target so it's not like you have to spend a lot of time looking for one at a computer store, and they're not expensive at all. Please note that I'm not suggesting that you backup your pattern files and share them with all your friends - that would be a copyright violation. I'm suggesting a backup for your own personal use, in the same way that many of us make a copy of a pattern we're working so we can keep notes on it and drag it around with us, while keeping the original neat and unmarked.

Has anyone else noticed that Spring is going to be bright and colorful? The few Spring lines I've started to see in stores and catalogs look just plain FUN! Very excited about having a colorful Spring this year.

Finally, (hey, I said it was going to be random in the title) if you're one of the gazillion people in the US who is trying to work out more this year (you should see parking over at the Park and Rec center in the afternoons - trying to get to swimming lessons is involving a hike just to get to the door) and you're starting to lose interest in your workout, or just want to add a new exercise or two, Shape Magazine has a website and you can pull up entire workouts or individual exercises to target specific problem areas. Some are pretty equipment intensive but some take no more than an exercise ball or dumbbells. Just thought I'd mention it since I'm one of those people who gets bored doing the same thing over and over for too long.