Merry Handmade Christmas!

Basket Case Kitchen Set

I think we're all familiar with the crazy practice of Christmas in July, but it's not so crazy when you consider that you have about five months to decide upon, and make, all those handmade gifts for the holidays. I love giving handmade gifts whenever I can. I also love receiving them. Partially because they can be economical, partially because it makes me feel good to know how much love and attention goes into handmade products. They don't simply roll off an assembly line, mass produced in a factory where thousands, even millions, of the same design are spit out by machines.

The only part of gifting that makes me happier than bestowing a handmade present is returning to find that gift tattered and torn and used and abused. Why? Because that use and abuse tells me that the item was truly cherished, truly loved. I'd rather return to find an afghan falling apart than one in pristine condition as though it's been hiding in a drawer except when the recipient pulls it out because they know I'll be visiting.

A person who truly cherishes a handmade object (and the person who made it) understands that it won't last forever, and that the maker filled it with love, and that the best way to acknowledge that love is to use the item.

My mother, about thirty years ago, went through this crazy afghan-crocheting binge. I took several of those blankets with me, including one she made specifically for me, when I moved into my own apartment. I still have one of them. I will confess that it's currently packed safely in a box on the floor of my closet waiting for the day when I again have a larger apartment where I can proudly display that afghan (and use it daily). That blanket is one of my prized possessions, which is saying quite a lot when you consider I've become something of a minimalist.

On the opposite side, I have a friend for whom I made a beautiful baby afghan to celebrate the birth of her first child. I searched my personal library for just the right pattern and decided I wanted to cross-stitch an adorable Pooh design to match his room. I stood in the store, pattern in hand and picked out just the right fabric and scoured the rack for the correct colors of embroidery floss. Then I spent evenings and days off, whenever I could find a few spare moments, bringing the design to life. I washed it by hand, allowed it to air dry, and pressed it carefully so it would be pristine and ready for use by the first child brought into the world whom I would be honored to call not "my friend's kid," but "my nephew."

The "baby" is about to celebrate his eleventh birthday. The blanket already has. You see, that cross-stitched afghan has spent nearly all of its eleven years in a drawer. Hours of painstaking work, hundreds, maybe thousands, of stitches, and it has hardly seen any use. That breaks my heart. I begged my friend to donate it to Project Linus or to Children's Hospital so at least a child who needed it could use it. But she refused. Why? Because she didn't want it to get ruined.

If I had known it would never get used, I would have purchased a blanket for half what it cost me to make that one and the store-bought one would have been put to use. Fifteen bucks, fifteen minutes, done.

So why have I shared these stories with you? Because I hope to remind you to choose wisely if you're making some gifts and buying others this year. And if you receive any handmade gifts this year, I hope to help you understand that a handmade gift belongs in your hands where it will be used, not in a drawer where it won't.

The Whole Shebang Value Bundle (pot holders)

Anyhow, let's get to the point. It's time to decide what to make and what materials to buy. And I'd like to help if I can. My Whole Shebang Value Bundle is already a great deal at $24.99 for 18 patterns; that's six different kitchen sets. But I'm sweetening that deal for the month of July*. Use this link which will take you to my Ravelry store and automatically drop the deal into your basket. What's the deal? When you purchase the Whole Shebang, you will also receive my Basket Case Value Bundle, normally priced at $5.49, as my Christmas in July gift to you.

If you prefer, you may drop the two bundles into your basket separately and the highly intelligent Ravelry computer will do the rest. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to offer exactly the same deal automatically via Etsy, so I will do it manually in the back of the house. (That's retailspeak for, "I'll take care of it for you; don't worry.")

*Offer expires July 31, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. GMT.

Merry Christmas!

Two Favorite Authors and a BOGO

When my two favorite authors collaborate, you know there has to be a guest blog. Take it away, Tony:

BUY ONE GET ONE DEAL: SUN HAMMER PARTS 1 AND 2

If anyone had told me a year ago that an idea I had for a sci-fi serial would be an international bestseller . . . I’d have laughed.

But that’s what happened.

Every instalment of FAR FROM HOME has hit to the Top 100 in its category without fail upon release. Its readers number in the thousands, and those numbers continue to rise.

I’m not boasting. But as an experiment in serialization, nobody can argue that the series is a resounding success.

So it was inevitable that I’d team up with another successful author, who just so happens to have his own sci-fi series.

Bernard Schaffer and I have known each other a couple of years now, and I not only view myself as a fan of his work, but as his pupil in many ways. I learn more about the craft with each book he publishes.

Seriously, the guy has not peaked yet. He’s not even half way up the mountainside. Bernard calls his writing ‘weaponized words,’ and you just can’t argue with that.

Our writing styles are completely different . . . and yet as we came to realise when we worked on this collaboration, they sort of complement one another.

I shot a suggestion across Bernard’s bow a few months ago with regards to teaming up, maybe having a two-part story that crossed from my universe to his, or vice versa. He was instantly excited by the idea, and we emailed back and forth to work out a story that would take an antagonist from the FAR FROM HOME universe to that of his GRENDEL UNIT.

We each wrote a rough draft, then shared it with one another – something neither of us ever does. As Stephen King says, “your first, rough draft is your own private domain. It happens behind a closed door.” But with this project it was essential we read where we both were and made notes, suggested changes.

We fired some more emails, then set about rewriting.

Finally, we worked with the wonderful (and hardcore) Laurie Laliberte to make the two pieces shine.

The two halves are called:

FAR FROM HOME & GRENDEL UNIT: SUN HAMMER PART 1

and

GRENDEL UNIT & FAR FROM HOME: SUN HAMMER PART 2

respectively. And as a special offer this Sunday and Monday, I am making Part 1 FREE on Kindle. This way you’re getting a TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE deal.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy it enough to grab Part 2 and see how the story ends.

This two-part collaboration is very much a stand-alone tale in each universe, meaning you don’t have to have read either of them before to enjoy it.

It’s a good old fashioned romp in space, and I swear Bernard rocked my socks off the first time he sent Part 2 for me to read.

Grab SUN HAMMER PART 1 for FREE in US.

OR grab SUN HAMMER PART 1 for FREE in UK.

And why not get SUN HAMMER PART 2 for ONLY $0.99 in US?

Or get SUN HAMMER PART 2 for ONLY £1.01 in UK.

Thank you for reading. And thank you to Laurie for letting me post here once again.

Happy Reading!

The KAS Takes on Comic Con

My original intent today was simply to reblog Alexander Maisey's post recapping the boys' trip to Philly ComicCon. However, the entire KAS panel had great posts to talk about last Sunday's shenanigans. So, I will instead share with you the links to each author's blog post and encourage you to check them out.

Alexander Maisey

Bernard Schaffer

Michael Shean who didn't actually make it, but blogged about it anyway ;)

William Vitka

And, in my desire to inject at least one photo into every one of my posts, I offer you a sneak peek at my most recent crochet projects. They will all appear in my next crochet book, but you will also find them here on the blog* . . . eventually.

I can barely put into words how much I am enjoying this project.
Shown are the Large Tote and the Tablet Sleeve.

*The motif on every piece in this collection is the Big Girl/Blog Collection motif. I have every intention of keeping my original promise to my readers that those patterns will be available on my blog free of charge. I have no release date for the book yet, but the patterns in it will be released on the blog, one at a time, over the next twelve months.

By the way, the boys plan to take on New York next. Stay tuned to the Kindle All-Stars website for more news.

Keep Calm and Comic Con!

Lining and Cheating

Hey y'all! Perhaps one day I will blog about this week's adventures and tell you how much fun it isn't to have a mile-wide tornado headed straight for your neighborhood, but not today.

I won't have time to offer you a proper blog post, so instead I will round out the Windmill Bag series with a link to a fabulous tutorial I found for making a lining for your bag. I plan to use this one myself if I can find just the right fabric. (Call THAT a great excuse to visit my favorite Wal-Mart on the other side of town.*)

I can't tell you how deeply I've fallen in love with this bag. My version, the original that inspired it, and all the many incarnations shown in the project pages on Ravelry. (Confession: sometimes I visit the project page of that one just to ogle the various ideas Ravelers have come up with.)

I guarantee, if you are a Handbag Queen, like I am, you will be making more than one whether it's mine, or a version of the original, or a concoction of your own.

So, here's that link and a sneak peek (check out the pic below) at what you might see when I release this series in the Kindle store!

Fun right? The yarn is Lily Peaches and Cream in Hot Blue and Hot Pink.

*Oklahoma City is such a huge land mass (according to the 2010 census, OKC covers 606.41 square miles) that there are at least ten Wal-Mart locations inside the city limits.

Happy Crocheting!

Get a Grip (Free Pattern/Tutorial for Windmill Bag Shoulder Straps)

click to see the ravelry project
which will take you to the pattern

I get very excited about crocheting handbags because when I make one for myself I use it . . . a lot. That said, this method of putting straps on a bag came from some trial and error while making the two other bags pictured in this post. I'm really proud of them, though, so I MUST show them off to you. I'm so emotionally attached to these bags that when I first made one or the other, I slept with it under my pillow. I still have, and use, both of them.

All three bags were made from yarn seconds which might otherwise have been discarded. Further, the Hakelbeutel used squares that I made to test a pattern for another designer, which I doubt I would have used for anything else had I not come across that pattern. Add to that the shapes of those two bags actually inspired this series, and you now get a glimpse into my own creative process.

Enough with the background information; let's get to work.

If you've followed my Windmill Bag pattern, you've now got a sack with four points at the top. Each point should be 17 stitches high and this pattern can simply be followed as a pattern to give you a finished bag. You could also use this pattern as a tutorial for adding straps to your hakelbeutel. Simply adapt the stitch count to fit the bag you're working.

The finished straps end up being a bit over an inch wide (just a bit wider than 4 rows of sc). And the top border is just a hair wider than the straps (5 rows of sc). This method makes two very long shoulder straps as shown in the picture of the finished bag. Feel free to adjust to your preference.

Finishing the Windmill Bag

Supply Note: For a full list of supplies, consult the original pattern for the Blog Collection Windmill Bag.

Design Note: Rounds are worked continuously so as not to show joins.

Place stitch markers at each of the four peaks of the bag. You may wish to mark the four valleys (lowest points) of the bag and your very first stitch as well (whatever you need to do to make it easier to identify these key spots). Make sure bag is turned right side out.

Straps

Round 1: beginning at any peak, join w/sc in 11th st, sc in each of next 6 sts, [sc in end st of each row (for a count of 17), *2sc in next st, sc in each of next 16 sts] 3 times, sc in end of each row (for a count of 17), *2sc in next st, sc in each of next 9 sts (140 sc)

*Move stitch markers to the first sc in the 2sc. This becomes your new peak.

Round 2: sc in 1st st and in next 5, [sk next 2 sts, sc in next 16 sts, *3sc in next st, sc in next 16 sts] 3 times, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 16 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in next 10 sts (140 sc)

*Move stitch markers to the center sc in the 3sc. This becomes your new peak.

Round 3 (first round of straps): sc in 1st st and in next 4, [sk next 2 stst, sc in next 17 sts (last st should be in a marked st--do not move marker), ch 90, being careful not to twist ch sk next 34 sts, sc in next sc (this should be your next marked st--do not move marker)], sc in next 16 sts, rep from [ to ], sc in next 11 sts

Round 4: sc in next 4 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 16 sts, sc in each loop of ch (just as you would if beginning a pattern), sc in next 16 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 16 sts, sc in each loop of ch, sc in next 12 sts

Round 5: sc in next 3 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 14, sk next st, sc across single row (next 90 sts), sk next st, sc in next 14 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 14 sts, sk next st, sc across single row, sk next st, sc in next 14 sts, sc in next 11 sts

join w/sl st in 1st st of Round 5, fo, weave in ends

the blog collection
windmill bag

Front and back openings

lay bag with unfinished portion facing you, attach yarn with sc at marked st to the right

Round 1: sc in next 16 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 17 sts, sc in rem loops of ch across (next 90 sts)

Round 2: sc in next 15 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 15 sts, sk next st, sc in each sc of strap

sk next st, sc in next 14 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 14 sts, join, finish off, weave in ends

Repeat for opposite side of bag.

Design note: Although the pattern and tutorial for the panels and assembly have been tested, the pattern for the straps has not. I plan to remake the bag very soon, so I will be testing it myself. If you find mistakes, feel free to let me know in the comments below and I will make corrections as soon as possible.

Believe it or not, I used a very similar method to make the straps for the shell bag because the original called for a store bought handle. I prefer a long shoulder strap so the bag itself is not in my way and so it can be easily hung on the back of a chair.

All bags pictured were crocheted using Pisgah Peaches and Creme yarn seconds, 100% cotton, which is no longer available. However, the company was purchased by Lily, the makers of Sugar and Cream, and another yarn I highly recommend.

Happy Crocheting!

click to see the ravelry project which will also lead to the original pattern

Get It Together (free tutorial for assembling the Blog Collection Windmill Bag)

Okay, last week you got the pattern for the panels of the Windmill Bag based on my signature, Blog Collection, motif. This week, I'm going to show you how I assembled the bag. There are many, less complicated, ways of putting the pieces together, but I use this one because it only requires two seams. (We have already established that I hate to sew, right?)

If you're a newbie, I'd recommend trying a simpler assembly method first. You'll find numerous tutorials on various blogs and on Youtube.

Lay all four of your pieces out so they are set the same way. The bottom is your beginning chain; the top is Row 17.

On the bottom, place a marker at the 17^th stitch from the left (mine is green). On the top, place a different colored marker at the 18^th stitch from the right (mine is blue).

Lay your pieces out end-to-side as shown so they resemble a windmill. Attach them using your stitch markers. Each row at either end will require one stitch, hence the count of 17.

At the center (which will be your bottom), hold all 4 together with one marker.

Fold up your opposite ends and attach them to one another using the stitch markers so they resemble the picture that shows the assembled piece. The corner of one panel will meet the blue marker of the next panel. This will give you the zig-zag effect at the top. You may want to pin the sides or use additional stitch markers to hold them together as you might if you were sewing a fabric bag.

At this point, you should be able to visualize a finished sack.

Hold the bag inside out with right sides (outside) facing. *Attach your yarn with a slip stitch at the open end (top) of the bag through two layers and slip stitch the pieces together.

Continue stitching through the center where all four pieces join and end at the opposite side, on the top of the bag.

Repeat from the * for the remaining seam.

Note: Assuming the seams would go through quite a bit of strain, I chose to crochet through all 4 loops to give the bag more strength.

You should now have a sack that resembles the one pictured except for the border and shoulder straps.

I will publish the pattern/tutorial for the border and straps next week.

Happy Crocheting!

Don Quixote Eat Your Heart Out (free pattern)

I began working on this pattern about a year ago. This is why I haven't posted any free patterns on the blog in so long. Finding the time to crochet has been tough enough, but finding the time to design and work a prototype has been darn near impossible.

However, a few weeks ago, I stumbled across the pattern and supplies again while cleaning and decided I was so close to done that I should go ahead and finish the job. It has been my go-to project whenever I feel the need to procrastinate.

I planned, initially, to do two bags: the Windmill (aka pinwheel), and a basic hobo style. Because I love a hobo bag, but I enjoy having several sizes at my disposal, I later came to the conclusion that two hobo bags -- one round, one oval -- might be a better idea.

But the ideas kept expanding and changing as I got further and further into the project. Now, it's quite likely you will see a collection of four bags and a wristlet. I'm testing each of the patterns here on the blog where you will eventually find them all at no charge, released as each pattern and prototype is finished.

I also plan to group the whole collection and make it available as an e-book for Kindle. If all goes well, you'll eventually see it in print and on other e-reader platforms as well.

I also intend to keep the promise I made to my blog readers the first time I posted a free pattern here: Although you may find these patterns for sale elsewhere, any pattern bearing my signature (Big Girl/Blog Collection) motif will be available here on the blog at no charge.

The Blog Collection

Windmill Bag

Supplies:

about 400 yds (4 balls, 8-10 oz) worsted weight yarn

size H-8 (5mm) crochet hook

stitch markers or pieces of scrap yarn in two colors

yarn needle or smaller crochet hook for weaving in ends

Note: If you plan to sew the pieces together rather than crochet them, you will need a yarn needle regardless of how you plan to work your ends. Do not weave in ends as you go since you may wish to use long ends to connect your pieces. The assembly tutorial does not make use of the long ends. Instead, it illustrates my preferred method of assembly which is not recommended for beginners.

Make 4:

chain 58

Note: All rows count 57 stitches.

Row 1: sc in 2^nd ch from hook and in each ch across, turn

Row 2: ch1, sc in each st across, turn

Row 3: repeat Row 2

Row 4: repeat Row 2

Row 5: ch1, sc in BLO of each st across, turn

Row 6: ch1, sc in FLO of each st across, turn

Row 7: ch1, sc in BLO of 1^st st, [dc in BLO of next st, sc in BLO of next st] across, turn

Row 8: ch1, dc in FLO of 1^st st, [sc in FLO of next st, dc in FLO of next st] across, turn

Row 9: repeat Row 7

Row 10: repeat Row 8

Row 11: repeat Row 7

Row 12: ch1, sc in FLO of each st across, turn

Row 13: ch1, sc in BLO of each st across, turn

Row 14: ch1, sc in FLO of each st across, turn

Row 15: ch1, sc in each st across, turn

Row 16: repeat Row 15

Row 17: repeat Row 15

finish off, leave long end unless you plan to use the assembly tutorial

one completed panel

The tutorials for my methods of assembling the pieces and crocheting straps will follow in upcoming posts over the next few weeks. My method is kind of advanced, not meant for beginners. I came up with it to minimize working with multiple pieces. (I can't stand having to sew/crochet pieces together.) You will likely find simpler methods on youtube.

As always, please don't re-post or share the pattern. You are welcome to link to my blog and I would encourage you to make more than a few to sell at craft fairs or in your Etsy shop. All I ask is credit for the pattern and design.

Happy Mother's Day!