Tunisian Crochet Baby Blankets has gotten some nice reviews from crochet bloggers! Check out the words of Tammy Hildebrand at http://hotlavacrochet.blogspot.com/
Eurona (Hands in Delight) at http://handsindelight.com/
and Karen Whooley at
http://karenwhooley.com/2013/12/08/4-weeks-of-advent-book-review-and-giveaway-week-2/
(The giveaways are finished now, so please don't enter.) These work of these expert crafters and designers is worth becoming acquainted with if you aren't already. You'll probably find projects you want to add to your Pinterest boards right away! Thanks to all of them for taking the time to review the book. More book tour stops are coming up in January. Leisure Arts will be issuing the book in print form then, too, and it will be available from them and on Amazon.
In other news, I am just a week away from submitting my next book to Stackpole Books. All of the patterns are written and edited. Most of the photography is done; technique photos will be shot tomorrow. I have made faster progress on the symbol charts than I had feared. Right now my computer system isn't robust enough to handle the software with symbols, so I draw everything out by hand. The publisher has someone turn them into computer drawings. (I'll be upgrading my system in early 2014 and will purchase and start using the symbol program.) I'm very excited about the 23 projects in the book! As soon as I get the okay from Stackpole, I'll share more information with you. I'm also really looking forward to handing in the package and getting a break from the intensity of working toward a book deadline. Many things have been pushed to the back burner. Eager to pay attention to those!
It has been disconcerting to find many of my titles being pirated by illegal download sites. And I'm not the only one! Other designers are victims of these same schemes. We go after one, and another pops up. It's like whack-a-mole. I urge everyone to make sure that when you find a book you like available in electronic form, you make sure it is from a reputable seller before downloading it. Any entire books that are offered for free download (unless by the publisher for a special promotion) are probably stolen. Most legitimate sales sites offer patterns at what I consider very reasonable prices. For example, Tunisian Crochet Baby Blankets is sold by Leisure Arts at $7.99 for eight original patterns. $1 per pattern is a good deal! If you ever come across a suspicious site offering my stuff for free, please let me know.
I wish all of you a happy, healthy, fulfilling 2014! Thanks as always for your interest in my work.