I don’t know if all of you have heard about bitacle.org grabbing blog content from feeds (“scraping”) and repackaging the content (“splogging”). To check on your blog, go to bitacle, select aggregates, and type, for example, “stumblingoverchaos” or “mamatulip” or “knitiotsavant” or “yarnharlot.” I don’t expect to make any money off my blog – but I sure as heck don’t expect anyone else to make money off it either! This crap has already lost us a great blogger in Mama Tulip and I know many others are discouraged by bitacle’s use of their content. (Edit: Just to clarify, bitacle recently removed the ads from the aggregate blogs. However, there is no guarantee that they won’t put the ads back in once all the furor dies down.)
There are some things you can do to protect your content (lots of details here and here and here). One of the major things you can do is set your blog to only send a few lines of your content in your feed. Have you noticed that you can only read a line or two of my posts in bloglines? In WordPress, that’s controlled under Options -> Reading -> Syndication Feeds – set to Summary. This actually appears to be effective, since the main feeds of my new blog are not appearing in bitacle. They were getting the Comments feed, which I have disabled.
In a fit of pique about content theft, I deleted my blogspot blog (all of which was in bitacle). This was stupid of me, as anyone who’s still subscribed to the blogspot feed has probably noticed that someone snatched up my blogspot address and is using it for something other than cute cat pictures and occasional knitting… Please unsubscribe from that feed!!
Anyway! I’m done ranting about this for now. 🙂
So, what are your favorite or most used items that you’ve knitted? When I looked around, I discovered that they were humble things indeed, as you can sort of see in the picture below. (No, of course I didn’t knit Chaos! Heh.)
From the left, my merino-silk fingerless gloves, which see a lot of use at work in the winter as I huddle typing in the cold building at 6:30 am. Next is my ipod shuffle necklace (Regia cotton jacqard), which accompanies me on most of my walks. On the left is a mug cozy (either Fixation or Esprit), which is perfect for keeping my fingers warm and absorbing moisture from the outside of iced soy mochas in the summer. Underneath it all is one of the very first felted bags I ever made (black Lamb’s Pride, with a skein of Kureyon for the stripey bit) – this bag has carried my coffee, lunch, snacks, papers, and so forth to and from work every day for the past four (or is it five?!) years. Humble, yet sturdy, and doubles as a cat bed when I’m at home.
What knitted items do you find yourself using all of the time? I’d love to see and hear about them!
Heh, I think I’ll be hauling some stuff out later today! That’s a great bag, by the way.
Good weekend?
I don’t know if I ever told you, but you knitted me that great grey bag with a bluish-grayish button. I took it with me on my interviews when I was applying for jobs. It was interesting, because most people would think of something slick to carry for interviews. I wanted something meaningful and to bring with me someone that was positive about me. Several people even commented on how much they liked it–at my interviews. It was fantastic. I applied to 24 places had 18 interviews, & 8 campus interviews, so that was pretty good. Me and my tuxedo skirt suit with $13 boots and my made-with-love handbag!
Wow! What a great bag! And a good idea for what to do with my Noro… I knew Cascade 220 and Noro Kureyon felted similarly, I didn’t realize Lamb’s Pride did also…. Are they differently textured?
And mmm what do I use the most? That’s easy! Great idea for a meme. 😀
Hmm… I’ll have to go looking for stuff.
Yup, my whole damn blog is up on their site. Grr…
Thanks for the not about bitacle. I’ve been publishing my summary for some time, but shall do some looking into it.
I love this meme and shall have to follow suit later this week! 🙂
Eek, thanks for the tip!
My Capelet, Nordic sweater, Tilt sweater and Donegal sweater are used most often. Oh, and my felted clogs. Basically only in the winter though. I don’t use my felted bags anymore. No pockets! I need closures and pockets in my purses.
I have two bags that I used all year round. Need to make another. Guess my goal is to have bags of every colour 😉
hmmm i’m listed in bitacle but i dont’ see any of those ads that people are talking about, and when you click on the posts they take you back to my actual site.
so i’m confused. god this internet stuff is over my head.
Thanks for the tips on protecting your blog. My first felted bag is my favorite too, I carry my knitting in it all the time
I wear handknit socks every day. Does that count?
I just looked under “aggregates” and I’m not listed but when I click “blogs” and type in knottymouse.. I get BOTH of my blogs. I’m so not happy right now.
I love all your practical and used knits!! That’s what it’s all about. I definitely need to make me a felted bag like that – I especially like your handles.
I went to bitacle.org and my blog is so lame that no one wanted to steal it. 🙁
Bitacle?? I’ve never heard of that. Have to check it out.
Thanks for the great meme idea, and like Carloe, I think I’ll have to say my socks.
Okay, I’m confused. I found mine in Bitacle but don’t get the difference between that and say, Bloglines. How are they making money?
great idea, to use the bag as cat bed too. Glad you got your blog stuff straightened out.
Hi Chris- Why do people have to step in and ruin a perfectly innocuous thing such as a knitting blog, so they can profit?
I have a shawl I use all the time, and of course, my Noro socks.
I need to make a cat bed before Kitten-Chow hears that everyone else has one.
Thanks for that wordpress tip, I just changed my setting.
Thanks for the tip about aggregates. Interesting stuff. And thanks for the tip about going with the abbreviated posts. Now, how to change the comments. I DID find my sites in there. Disturbing.
I had never heard about aggregates. I’ve got to check that out. I had been warned about deleting my blogspot blog though. It’s the only reason it’s still sitting there.
Y’know, Chaos, there *are* child labor laws.
Hi C, V (spells with) said you might be able to answer my question, and judging by today’s post, I’d say yeah, probably so. I just started blogging a month or so ago, got a free account w/ livejournal, then somebody recently told me to get off that because there are ads that put out cookies. So, I got a blogger account (knitnzu.blogspot), but haven’t put much but a “this is new” post. I would LOVE to transfer the month’s postings in livejournal to blogspot. Do you know how to do this? Any tips/books/web pages to bring a newbie blogger up to something resembling speed? I’m sure my blog’s about like maryse’s, but I will definitely check out this bitacle thing. Fave knitted things? Lowly and too bulky fingerless hand warmers. A crummy plush scarf. A cotton blend hoody in one of my favorite colors, orange. I tend to give the “good” stuff away…but I have plans and a stash to put those plans to use!
I’ve just deleted my blogger blog too and followed your tip about syndication. I am really pissed off about Mama Tulip so I’m just glad that you haven’t voted with your feet too.
Love the favourite knitted objects – just got to wait for my camera to charge now 🙂
cute gloves…i need to make some little armwarmers for these cold mornings
I never even head about bitacle…I found my blog but I already only do snippets. I dont really get what bitacle is to be honest…explain!
Love the mittens! And the bag is gorgeous! I do use some of my items more than others; I’ll have to do the meme sometime soon!
Oh, that’s disturbing. The things I have no idea about. (Bitacle, not Chaos nosing about your knitting.)
Hmm. Do I even have any handknits I use all the time? My wool socks to bed.
What is the comments feed?
Sorry Bitacle got you too.
I LOVE that bag!
I have an afghan that was knitted for me by a friend’s grandmother in college and some socks, which I sadly won’t get to wear as much anymore, but they are my favorites.
guess my only knitted items I use right now are my socks. I’m thinking about knitting some fingerless mitts/gloves one of these days, but I want to finish my 7th complete sock for this month first 🙂
Yikes – it looks like Bitacle is Bloglines’ evil twin, one that comes into your house uninvited and appropriates everything, then asks for a fee to show it to people you don’t even know exist!
Ooo… sometimes I find myself slogging around the house in knit slippers, knit socks and my wool shawl thinking how nice it is 🙂 Your knit bag looks very useful and cool!
I love the bag and your rant. I’m sending folks who ask about blog theft to your site. You explain it well!
No pictures, but it’s this plain old pair of wool socks made from heavy worsted weight barn wool. Sooo comfy, my daughter and my husband steal them too.
Thanks for the tip about bitacle. I’ve gone and changed my feed thingy now. Didn’t find much on bitacle regarding my blog, but then I don’t post as prolifically and as intelligently as some 😉
Yup, even my teeny tiny blog is there. Humph. No ads, but still. I’ll have to investigate the innards of Typepad and figure out how to limit the feed. Thanks!
This is very interesting. Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for sharing the “how to fix” info. Sorry someone took your name on blogspot. Time for a trademark.
Thanks for the info. Also, if you have wordpress, they say that using the –more–feature also limits the amount of text in a feed. This is good news for me because I’ve been using more for over a month!
Good luck and I’m sorry to hear that someone took your blogspot name.
Thanks for mentioning that. I also noticed that they grab a photo from Flickr also. I assume without permission. I’ll do my most used items tonight.
Thanks for the info – I’ve never heard of bitacle but I’ll look at it.
Hey, thanks for the tip, I’ma check it out.
Gosh, I guess the most used knitted items I own are my dishcloths, from a phase I was going through. I was boycotting the cheap discloths sold at the stupormarket, so for a while I knitted my own. I’m still amazed at how long they have lasted——four years!
Great knitted stuff! : ) I’m glad to know these Fixation/Esprit mug cozies work… I always wrap napkins around my fraps because, Cold! Wet! :b
And PS, thanks for the heads-up/links re: bitacle.
Hmm. Meadow (bucket hat). I wear it on a daily basis. I should knot more bucket hats!