Awesome Ami-book giveAway

Google+     A funny thing happened to me on my way to receiving my copy of the awesome amigurumi book Zoomigurumi... my copy got lost in the mail. So you are probably asking yourself now how is that funny???  I'm gonna tell you the whole story (and ask anyone who knows me, I don't tell short stories) so bare with me and you will see.
     So sometime later last year (I cannot remember how), I came across this group of 12 designers (see their work here) who were working toward doing what is probably on the "dream" list of all of custom amigurumi designers, publishing a book of their designs. Over on the blog Amigurumipatterns.net the idea behind it was "... fond of crocheting. Looking  for patterns on the internet we built a collection of the ones we liked best." ... I thought it would be nice to collect them all in a handy website to share with everyone." Interesting thing was that when I looked at who the group of 12 designers was, I had already flagged the majority of them myself as ones I liked best and wanted to follow. So following the link back I found that for a small donation to help them towards the cost of publication we would be rewarded with a copy of the finished book. I jumped on the opportunity to have something I already knew was going to be great.
     Skipping ahead... once the book was published and they were all sent out I waited....
     I knew that the book was coming from Europe and since I am all the way out in California, USA (that's on the west coast for any "geographly challenged", I figured it would take a while to arrive. Well after mailbox watching for about 1 month I decided that something had probably happened when it had not arrived yet. So I shot off an email to Joke at Amigurumipatterns.net explaining that I had not received my book and was wondering what she thought. She was very sweet and assured me that it did get shipped and to wait til the end of the week and if it still hadn't arrived she would ship me out another.

     Well you might want to note that all this was going on in the Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday season and to anyone who knows anything about mail and shipping about 60% of a years packages are shipped throughout this time period. So it is perfectly natural for something to get "lost in transport". I gave it another week and still no book. (Not too much a problem as I did still have the digital format, and was busy working on holiday projects anyway.) Still I really was looking forward to getting the "printed copy". I contacted Joke again and she sent me out another.
     Now I do want to note.... this so far has been totally an issue with the "shippers" and the time of year, not Amigurumipatterns.net, Joke or any of the Zoomigurumi designers.... and is just a part of my story. So please so not think badly of any of them.
     So on Christmas eve I arrive home from my "day job" and what so I find has arrived.... "Squeeee...!!!! (insert sound effect here)... Yes, the brown envelope has at last come!!! So I tear it open and Merry Christmas to me... it is just as wonderful and cute as I expected. I send another email to Joke informing her of it's arrival.

End of story.... (mmmm.... don't think so.)    FYI,  told you I don't do short stories, just novels.

     Holidays come, holidays go... just before New Years I come home again to find what do you think, but another familiar looking brown envelope. "Oh boy..." So what do you think??? The severely geographically challenged envelope had finally arrived! Well if I had paid attention to the postage I could have noted that the 1st package (was the original, how to know - electronic postage - much easier with "hundreds" of packages to ship out.) 2nd package (the replacement copy - covered with many hand placed postage stamps.)
     So once again I sent an email to Joke telling her about the latest in the adventures of an amigurumi book. I also offered to return to her the additional copy, or I could forward one of the copies to someone here in the U.S. that had purchased the book (which I figured could cut a shipping expense), or I also though do some kind of giveaway (only as long as I had her complete blessing).

     So here we are I have an extra copy of this "wonderful" amigurumi book, with some of the cutest designs, by some of the most talented designers out there. And with Joke's blessing "... if you could make someone happy by giving it away, then don't hesitate!" So I am going to give the book away, but I want to make it fun for everyone and get as many people involved as I can. The only rub is that this is "new" territory for me and I am not sure what will get the best response. I mean it would be fine if there were just 3 or 4 people to participate, I will still be giving it as a prize. But wouldn't it be even better to have many more people involved. I am not opposed to shipping it back out of the USA to anyone who will really appreciate it. It really is an awesome book!

     So here is what I need... IDEAS!!! Responses, comments below, thoughts, ideas, ideas and more ideas!!! The more the better. 

     Do you want to do a CAL??? If so what on holiday or season themed, winter, spring or Valentine's Day is coming up???  Pattern themed, picking 1 pattern for everyone and letting people loose with their creativity??? Animal or design themed, do you love bears or monkeys or bunnys??? You tell me what you want to do and we will do it!!! I bet you can come up with many other better and creative ideas.

     Starting today Saturday, January 19th (PST) thru next Saturday, January 26 for 1 week I would like to hear your ideas. After which time I will make my decision as to what kind of giveaway I'm going to do.

Thank you, Shannon