Betty, It sounds like you had a wonderful French adventure this summer! I'd glad most of your plants made it. I cannot remember where you are in Oklahoma, but if you're in northeastern OK, The Tomatoman's Daughter is open now with fall transplants. I'll link her website below. Many local nurseries have fall tomato plants, some big box stores do or will in the next couple of weeks and some growers sell them at Farmer's Markets. I usually grow my own fall transplants, but even though I got the seed out at the right time and have it right here on the table beside me, I haven't started any. I'm still on tomato overload from summer and don't even know if I want to grow fall tomatoes. I do have quite a few plants that are really healthy, have fought off persistent pests, and will survive and produce for fall if I don't yank them out, so that may be the route I take. Tomatoes that look almost dead are pretty good about coming back given the chance, but there's no guarantee of that. Fresh fall plantings often have a lot more vigor because they haven't been fighting the pests and diseases for months. The advantage of keeping spring-planted plants going is that they have a huge root system already. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: The Tomatoman's Daughter

I just completed my first BSJ......it is a simple enough pattern to do ( although I am an accomplished knitter, not a beginner)....BUT....you will have to follow the chart which is included ....exactly. During the knitting I could not imagine how this silly thing was going to go together ! It does, and nicely too. I did make an error when doing M1 . In order to avoid a hole you must K that st in the back of the st. I ended up with nicely spaced holes near the beginning of each sleeve edge and decided to weave a ribbon through it and tie it in a bow. Cute addition for a girlie sweater. My only advice is to choose a good yarn that will knit up in an interesting way. The variegated ones sometimes don't do up as well as you'd think. I imagine that a self-striping would be really nice. My advice: DO IT !!

I have knit many, many of these. I usually just cast on the increases in that is called for in that row when I cast on the sweater's first row, and then I don't worry about the increases for that row when I get to it. (Casting on makes the sleeves wider right at the elbow, and since I like to lengthen the sleeves, it looks better.) You will be increasing 9 stitches on both of the side sections(which are the sleeves), not the back. You continue to do the decreases every other row in the same spot just like you have been doing, even with the increase of 9 stitches evenly spaced on either side. I just do the math, divide by 9 on each side of the back, and after each group, do a backwards loop increase. Then when I knit the next row, I knit into the BACK of the cast on stitch, which will make the hole that develops from the increase less obvious. Is this what you need to know?

On the subject of copyright: the design for a useful cannot usually be copyrighted although in some instances it can be patented--say for a unique baby carrier, or a new sleeve design. So, as a quilt pattern designer, I can copyright my text and drawings (art), but I cannot copyright the quilt itself. If I develop a completely original technique (unlikely!) I can possibly get a PATENT on that technique. So, if you buy a copyrighted pattern, you cannot reproduce that pattern in any way that's barred by the copyright, nor can you profit from reproductions--i.e. scan, print and sell them. What you do with the pattern in terms of YOUR OWN USE is up to you: color it, make it into a paper hat, modify it, use any colors, fabrics, thread to make it. In an interesting twist, the fine line between useful object (can't be copyrighted) and the uniqueness of a quilt as a piece of ART (which can be copyrighted) was tested in the courts about two years ago when a Houston, TX hotel had Karastan custom-make their lobby carpeting EXACTLY from a quilt that the hotel owner's wife had seen at the Houston Quilt Show. The maker/designer of the quilt successfully sued Karastan for copyright infringement. It's a fine line. In all honesty because it's virtually impossible to enforce copyright when it comes to quilt patterns, my partner and I don't even pay to have it done--it's just a waste of time and expense in our eyes. All we hope is that if someone uses one of our patterns to make a quilt, that he/she will credit us. Now, if I were to write a quilt book, I can get full copyright protection for the text and images, but again, not for the designs. Annie