Last year there was a challenge on one of the Rav forums to see if I could create a bandana shawlette inspired by a design on the highstreet.  The result was the CloudBurst
shawl, which I posted on Ravelry as a free pattern.  Afterall it was an afternoon of ‘playing’ and then about a week of writing up / pattern testing so it didn’t seem fair to charge.

I was delighted when the pattern was  taken up by so many (currently standing at 105 finished projects, and 600+ favourites) and got a sense of warm satisfaction from having appealed to more than just myself and the original requester.

Imagine my surprise when this week I got a message from another Rav member to let me know that not only did she enjoy my pattern, but she enjoyed it enough to start producing them and selling them in her etsy shop!  I’m strangely proud of this, despite the fact I had absolutely no involvement in the process or production – I simply made a pattern available for her to go off, but I feel I have somehow had some validation of myself by this acceptance – not hindered by the fact that the seller gave me a shout out in the product description!

I have several designs in the ‘pipeline’ and this lovely message this week has firmed my resolve to get cracking on them and get them published!

Incidentally, for those who want to know, the original shawl pictured above was gifted to my sister in law, who looked at me like I thought she was 90 and who, as far as I know, has worn it once, as a ‘granny shawl’ in a production of Oliver!  She seems to be bemused when I tell her this is a popular shawl design on the internet and that she owns the original.  Some people just don’t get it do they?