EPIC FANDOM STITCH-ALONG NEWS
Just a quick post to let folk know that the Epic Fandom Stitch-Along from several years ago is still free, and available for download here at String-or-Nothing. AND I’ve made it much easier to do so.
I have consolidated all of the individual week by week releases along with the general info provided before the project began into a single 50-page PDF document. No more hunting for the single page you need in a forest of other pages! It’s now on the My Books tab, and I’ve added a link to the top of the SAL tab, as well.
Or you can click here to hop directly to the PDF.
As ever, enjoy! I do hope some folk are brave enough to try this one. And like always, nothing brings me more joy than seeing the pattern children out at play. Do the whole SAL, cherry pick the panel you want to do.
Same restrictions as my other offerings – personal use only, and please respect my copyright. Other than that, have fun. 🙂
ENSAMPLARIO ATLANTIO VOLUME III!
I am delighted to announce that the third volume in my free-to-download series of blackwork pattern booklets is now up and available here on String-or-Nothing.
Like the previous two volumes, Ensamplario Atlantio Volume III contains original (and a very few redacted) filling designs of the type used in inhabited blackwork. That’s the style that fills outlined shapes with fields of diapered fillings, as seen in my Unstitched Coif project submission, and in my current sampler. The new fills I created or redacted for the Coif are all in here (I had to do more – I actually ran out of suitable ones!)
It also contains most of the strips found on the several tribute and protest samplers I’ve done over the past several months – the various mythical beasts, interlaces, swords, and other fantasies in thread. (The ones not found in here are from Ensamplario Atlantio II, The New Carolingian Modelbook, or The Second Carolingian Modelbook.)
And to top that off, there are lots more designs in there I haven’t stitched yet, including tunic yokes and pieces with corners that could be used for framing necklines, or table linen. For SCA folk there are a few items of special interest – the populace badges of the East and Atlantia, and a belt motif that can be infilled with the colors that signify patronage relationships (squires, protegees, apprentices).
In truth, I’ve rushed this one to release. I apologize if there are errors or inconsistencies. I plead time pressure. If major errors turn up and I get a chance, I’ll go back and fix them. However, the very few source attributions in it have been thoroughly confirmed and are genuine. Except for those redactions, all of the other material in there is my original output.
Why free? Why not? My goal is to promulgate the spread of stitching, and to make it easy to do so. Yes, I could have bundled these books up and sold them on Amazon, like the Carolingian Modelbook series. But in truth, the yield is a pittance because I am under pressure to price the books low enough to discourage massive piracy. Higher pricing restricts access and defeats my goal of spreading the joy.
For the record, The Carolingian Modelbooks are the product of a lot of research, exacting redaction, writing, and indexing. The Ensamplario series is a lark. Largely just my doodle notebooks, produced with minimal effort. I felt justified in asking for recompense for them on the basis of labor alone. But EnsAtl books are candy to be shared just for the fun of it. You can pay me back by sharing photos of works you’ve done using these designs, teaching someone else to stitch, flaunting blackwork-embroidered garments or accessories in public to increase appreciation and awareness, or just by doing a good deed for someone in need (I release my pattern broadsides as Good Deed Ware, too.)
HOWEVER I retain copyright of my drawings, and release these designs for PERSONAL USE ONLY. For any other uses including including duplication, inclusion of the patterns on patterns or finished items for sale or charitable distribution, I request you contact me privately. I’m not an ogre, but neither do I want to see my goodwill answered with appropriation. My terms (if any) will be mild, and reasonable. Oh, and feeding them into AI for training is total anathema, and is expressly forbidden.
You can download Ensamplario Atlantio Volume III by clicking the link below, or by hopping to the MY BOOKS tab at the top of every page here on String. The earlier EnsAtl volumes are on MY BOOKS, too.
>>> CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF FILE OF ENSAMPLARIO ATLANTIO III <<<
Comments? Questions? Random remarks? Go right ahead.
DEJA VU, BUT WORSE
A serious digression from stitching, knitting, crochet, and general blather.
Back in 1981 I was an eager young space cadet, a staff technical writer in the employ of The New York Institute of Technology. I was working on grant proposals and on research contracts the school had, mostly with US Federal agencies.
Among the proposals and grants were ones that funded the NYIT computer graphics lab – the staff of which eventually moved up and on to become Pixar; and a fantastic early intervention math and sciences augmentation program aimed at assisting minority kids, but especially girls and young women from middle school, then up and into college for tech/science/math. It included full NYIT scholarships for those who prospered in the program. Sally Ride was the speaker at the initial kick off banquet for that one. I’ve always wondered what became of those kids…
On the general editing/compilation side beyond LOTS of grad school grant requests and assorted small publications, this one really stood out.
The effort was led by Dr. King Cheek, a dean of NYIT and brother of the then president of Howard University. Dr. Shannon was a noted researcher in labor economics and education. I was the foot soldier going where they sent me, collecting data on index cards, alphabetizing, condensing abstracts for inclusion, and typing the volumes for printing on a Selectric (this was before NYIT got early DEC word processors). For this they both graciously suggested my name appear first because their reputations were already established – another publication wouldn’t mean much; but for me as a 25 year old, it would be quite valuable.
It was 1981, still in the pre-Internet, pre-automated/accessible collections era. Annotated bibliographies on specialty topics were quite common, as were resource lists. The two volume set was intended to be updated annually, and was funded by the US Department of Labor, Office of Youth Programs.
All well and good. The bibliography clocked in at 363 pages, with about 1560 entries. The resource list, 159. Both volumes were indexed. The set from kickoff to print took about 18 months to achieve. Other than a temp typist to help in the last three weeks to make deadline, and copious guidance/improvement suggestions from my leaders as they read through each day’s additional content, it was all me. We printed something like 750 sets, with the Office’s intent to distribute to DOL locations, academic libraries, and other stakeholder/interested parties.
While the books were being duplicated and bound, then President Reagan abolished the Office of Youth Programs.
While we had gotten paid for the contract, there was no one to whom to submit the books. We were directed to box them all up and ship them to a Federal Archives location. And so with the exception of my two copies (one my mom has for bragging rights); the copy retained by each of my co-authors, and (possibly) one at Howard University, these books were never distributed, in fact – never seen again.
So for me at least, current events bring a wave of deja vu. But not the pleasant, nostalgic kind. The kind that sizzles against antagonistic blundering about, and produces intense anger.
We’ve been here before. It wasn’t as blatant then, but it isn’t new.
Something has to change, and change can’t happen soon enough.
String-Or-Nothing 