Lots of Newness :)

Well I have a lot of changes in my life since my last post. My husband and I bought a new car and moved into a new apartment. Its all been wonderful, albeit challenging for my health. We had been living with friends of mine for the last year and so neither of us have any furniture and so moving into our first apartment together has been really like starting over. We had to by all new furniture and kitchen ware, and everything. I am starting to feel like this is more like home and having a little more time to be crafting. I am making a latch hook rug (my first ever) for our apartment, working on Valentine's presents for my husband and trying to build up an inventory of amigurumi critters to sell on my artfire and at our local swap meet (I have a friend who is selling them there for me at her booth). So here are some of my projects from the last month.
The bear came from a pattern from a book I got for Christmas called Amigurumi Two! and I have used it more than any other of my amigurumi books. I find her patterns really easy to follow and I like her choices of animals and things to make. I tend to improvise as I go along, so there are my own touches of course. and the heart came from Owlishly. I have used her patterns before as well and I always like them. I am a little torn, however because I have this debate going about free patterns. some designers are very clear that they do not want you to use their designs for profit, ie if you make something that they designed then you cannot sell it, only make it for gifts or personal use. I can see from their point of view that they came up with an idea and they don't want tons of their design out there being sold and they are getting nothing for it. however, on the other hand, as I am learning this new technique and style of crochet called amigurumi, sometimes I have a vision of what I want to make, but I don't know how I can do it without following a pattern first and then expanding on what I learned later. but I would still like to be able to make some money for what I made. and then I am wondering if I made any changes to the pattern, does that make the original designer's request that I not sell it null and void? anyway, my answer to all this has been to try and stay away from other people's designs and just make up my own thing because my conscience just can't take it. I am waaay too honest of a person to be able to just ignore some designer on the other side of the country's wishes, lol.
Anyway, I am really happy because I got to make cookies today and it is the first time in four years that I have been able to bake in my own kitchen. It feels like some kind of accomplishment to have come out on the other side of divorce and traveling across the country from place to place and living kind of like a very lucky vagabond for four years to now having my own place to live again. with cookware that is mine, cookie sheets that are mine to cook with, it feels like a little bit of heaven. Now while I am healing from the rattlesnake bite and have to be at home all the time resting, is the time for me to get to indulge my creative passions and domestic bliss.