hmmmf.

so as some of you know, i got ahold of a pattern to make starsky’s sweater (from starsky and hutch, of course!) that i was all excited about. i wrote off to Leisure Arts, the publisher, to ask — since i had had such a hard time trying to find the pattern, and i knew of other people who would be interested as well — if they would be willing to publish the pattern as a free download on their site, or if they would permit me to post it if they were not interested (with attribution and original copyright information, since i also wrote that i knew it was still covered under copyright and that i was not allowed to reprint it without permission). i even offered to scan it and send it in to them if they weren’t able to find the original themselves, since it is thirty years old. their first response was like “this is still covered by copyright and permission is denied to reprint it. we’ll pass your question about making it available for free up the line to see if the editors will publish it.” being polite (and frankly surprised to have gotten a response that soon), i wrote back and said thanks for responding so quickly, and added that i would appreciate it if they could let me know whatever the final decision was. then they wrote back again and sounded really cranky, and went on about how their publishing schedule is set a year in advance and they don’t know if they’ll ever hear back and so on and so forth. i’m like … dude. i already *said* i wasn’t going to distribute your thirty year old, very kitschy seventies pattern in violation of copyright, and then i thanked you for redundantly telling me i couldn’t do so, then you get all grumpy at me for asking if you could let me know if it gets approved, so i can send it to some other people who want the pattern? jeez, pardon *me* for living. i’d think someone would be pleased that there’s still any interest at all in a pattern published in 1977, especially since it’s pretty damn kitschy at this point and it’s not like if you republish it — especially if you just reprint the whole booklet, wherein it’s paired up with a truly repulsively-seventies women’s hooded sweater — you stand to make a million bazillion dollars. also: dude, it’s a knitting pattern. nobody’s gonna get hurt if you pretend you care about my silly question. and to top it all off, their instructions are annoying. it calls for yarn by the ounce, without specifying content (so, are we talking wool weight, or acrylic?). and it remains to be seen if i can make sense of the stitch instructions. hmpf. (none of this is going to stop me from trying to make the sweater, naturally. i just like complaining.)