A FOYAL-ing We Go!

We're nearing the middle of December, fiber friends! We're close to running out of 2024! 

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty much living over at the Fasten Off Yarnalong Discord server right now. Now, is anyone surprised by that?

If you answered yes, welcome! I know you're new here. Returning fiber enthusiasts will recall that each November and December I become very animated about the Fasten Off Yarnalong. 

But what is the Fasten Off Yarnalong? I hear someone in the back asking. And I'm so glad you did!

The Fasten Off Yarnalong, aka FOYAL (rhymes with royal), is at its heart a multiplatform yarn along celebrating some of the talented independent knitting and crochet, including both Tunisian crochet and machine knitting, pattern designers! 

What do you mean by multiplatform yarn along? You can participate in the yarnalong on any or all of your social media platforms. This year we have volunteers staffing the @FastenOffYAL accounts on Bluesky, the Discord server, Facebook (page, not group), Instagram, Mastodon, Tumblr, and TikTok! There are games and giveaways happening on most of these, and lots of fun content featuring the work of the 93 participating designers, and highlights of what crafters are working on from those same designers.

FOYAL kicks off every year with a two week sale on a selection of patterns from the participating designers; some designers offer their entire catalog of off Ravelry accessible patterns!!

Why the stress on off Ravelry patterns? To be plain about it, since Ravelry launched NuRav in June of 2020, many crafters can't use or can only spend limited time there. I wrote extensively about the effects of NuRav over the course of the summer of 2020 through to the early taking away of "Classic Rav" in March of 2021 that was letting some of us be there for short amounts of time. 

I was onsite the morning NuRav was suddenly launched. I went down with a two day migraine after about 20 minutes. I was nauseous. I was miserable. And it wasn't until people started asking questions on other places like Twotter that I realized it wasn't something I did or ate. I don't suffer from migraines as a rule! This was completely out of left field. I wasn't the worst impacted by any means either. The WIPinsanity blog (the news and views of fellow FOYAL organizer, Kathleen Sperling) documented sooo many things that I wasn't keeping up with recording. I was at the same time launching and building this site, learning from very baby-basic coding to pull my newly minted Payhip shop into these pages. I wanted and needed my own space, where I would be less likely to be blindsided out of the work that was giving me creative freedom and a purpose after losing the ability to work a regular job after my injury.

FOYAL was launched in November of 2020 to be an event parallel to the Indy Giftalong, which is still going strong on Ravelry. It was meant to highlight some of the designers who couldn't participate in the GAL due to medical reasons, and give a bit of community to the now adrift crafters.

That's where it started, and happily it's caught on! There are several designers this year (and years past) that participate in both the GAL and FOYAL, which is pretty cool. Both events are about promoting indy designers and gathering crafters together to craft. 

So every November and December I take a step back from my designing and roll up my metaphorical sleeves to help make this year's FOYAL a great one. I'm one of the organizers, yes. But I just love our community. And not to knock any of the other platforms (the Prize Picker reels on Instagram are a personal highlight) but the FOYAL Discord server is seriously so fun! Because of the set up, we're able to host longer runs of the various games, which means more prizes to give out. I'll let you in on a very ill-kept secret of the FOYAL (especially on Discord; everyone there knows): I'm the Prize Pixie 🧚‍♀️ If you've ever gotten a pattern prize email from FastenOffYALGames and there's a yarn ball or pixie at the end of the signature line, that was me. Hi, great to see you outside of your inbox *waves*

Ok, in addition to our social media platforms and the games and giveaways, because that's just not enough, the Fasten Off YAL website has all kinds of information about the event and our participating designers but the crowning jewel is the database.

The FOYAL database contains as many off Ravelry designs as possible for each of our participating designers. But not only are these all collected in one place, there's a fully filterable search that will find just about any idea you might have to make. And not only is this year's search up for the event timeframe, it's there all year. You saw a shawl pattern in November but decided to get the glove pattern to make for Aunt Gloria right away instead. You can come back in May or July and find that shawl again!

The database and the search are the result of three things: Kathleen's incredible mind for coding, and the data entry volunteers and/or designers who make sure everything looks right, and then the site testing volunteers who check out new search features and the links to the various patterns before the event opens! Cool right?

And that, my fiber friends, is all from me today! I'll pop some FOYAL links in before I hit post. 

Yours in yarn and a FOYALing good time ;)

Síle

The Fasten Off Yarnalong website: https://www.fastenoffyal.com/🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Discord server: https://discord.gg/Vz6mpzQz🔗

My Ask-Me-Anything thread from earlier today (on the Discord server): https://discord.com/channels/769735278872100894/1311559461646766121🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Bluesky account: https://bsky.app/profile/fastenoffyal.bsky.social🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FastenOffYAL/🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/FastenOffYAL🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Mastodon account: https://mastodon.art/@fastenoffyal🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Pinterest boards: https://www.pinterest.com/fastenoff🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fastenoffyal🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Tumblr account: https://www.tumblr.com/fastenoffyal🔗

The Fasten Off Yarnalong Youtube account: https://www.youtube.com/@fastenoffyal🔗

Falling into Fall, Anyone?

Where'd August get to? And most of September for that matter? Ok, who threw the clock to make time fly?? 

All joking aside, Autumn has returned to the Northern Hemisphere this weekend. And thankfully cooler nights and days are back too. I don't know about you but it's a step in my sleeping better. I'm still not sleeping great, mind you, but that's down to having nerves and a spine that are actively trying to cause me as much pain as they possibly can. I don't think they're onto my knowing what they're doing though so I'm just biding my time ;)

I still need to do the photos for my full double-knitting tutorial. I got sidetracked, which is unfortunately a byproduct of both interrupted sleep patterns, and chronic pain, by a few things. Like actually presenting my double-knitting workshop to a private group in August which was super fun and I've had some lovely feedback from some of the participants. So yay!

I told you last post that the sample for The Butterfly would be going on my needles soon, and it has! Here's a little progress photo to tease you:

I'm further along than this; ever so many more beads have been added lol. I'm so glad I chose the Windwept Fibres Best Kind sock as the yarn. It's an absolute dream to knit with, and the lace is coming out soooo pretty. 

I'm currently doing a workshop with designer Julie Robinson called the Sweater Design Challenge. It's been really interesting, and we're into the sizing/grading portion now, which is super excellent information. I've got two knit garments that I'm really excited to get through the whole process eventually. Admittedly, one I don't have the yarn for yet so my swatching and number play has been a wee bit theoretical so far. But that one's also the easier one in terms of shaping, so the numbers shouldn't be too bad once I have a real gauge and set of measurements to play with. To come in 2025? Maybe?? Most likely not considering my current timeline for things.

Oh! Speaking of timelines! Guess what's returning for its fifth year ;) It happens in the late fall and early winter, involves a lot of knitters and crocheters, and independent designers of patterns for those crafts. And I talk about it. A lot! Any guesses?

The Fasten Off Yarn Along for 2024 is being organized as I type, fiber friends! You can find the website, with our current calendar, links to previous years' designer and pattern databases, and links to sign up for our newsletters, right here: https://www.fastenoffyal.com 

Ok, my friends it's 4:22am here in Newfoundland on a Sunday morning, and while I won't be sleeping anytime soon, I need to step away from the screen and rest my eyes a bit. Don't worry, I have knitting in hand lol

What are your crafting plans for the next month or so? Canadians crafters, are you thinking of Thanksgiving/harvest? Or are you jumping right to knitting pumpkins and/or crocheting black cats for Halloween? I'd love to hear what you're working on and/or planning. I have a Treble Reel Toque🔗 (link stays within this site) for a friend's birthday on my personal needles, along with a Jeri cardigan🔗 (designed by Kat Riddell; link goes to her Payhip shop). There are more WIPs than those lol They're my active ones that aren't design samples.

Yours in yarn and a crisp night/morning,

Síle

 

Cruel Summer

I don't know where you are in the world but I think a lot of us are experiencing uncomfortable temperatures and/or conditions this year. The town I live in, on the island of rain drizzle and fog (aka RDF) has had to implement some low grade water retention measures. Never thought that would happen here.

Those measures might be lifted soon. Or not. We had rain yesterday and this morning; unfortunately both times it turned into sauna conditions very soon afterwards. To quote Jakey, or rather quote what I interpret Jakey's grumpy face to be him saying, "I no like, Auntie!"

Speaking of the fluffy furry nephew, he's been miserable from the heat and humidity, and really letting me know about it. Between him passing along his discomfort all night, my getting a bright idea at 3am, and the continuing indoor/outdoor sauna conditions, I'm functioning on caffeine, and ice water today.

Oh, and a spritz bottle of water! Roomie picked up each of us one at the local dollar store a few weeks ago, and between those and the giant 2.3L/78ounce water jugs with handles she got on the same trip, we're trying to keep cool and hydrated.

Needless to say, I haven't been knitting a whole lot this past bit. Thanks to last night's bright idea, I've got another new design in the "once I have the right yarn I can cast-on a sample" stage though! I have to confess I'm on quite a shawl kick this last while.

Speaking of my shawl designs, a new one will be going on my needles this fall. When I was in Town last month, I got to pop into The Artisan's Loft downtown on Water Street, and I met Pam from Windswept Fibers & Designs🔗 (link to the WSFD website). She dyes some of the loveliest colorways, and she just happened to have several hanks of the one I've been eyeing online, and on her Best Kind Sock base (75% superwash Bluefaced Leicester / 25% nylon; 100g / 3.88 oz = 388m / 425yds). I don't think I need to ask if you want to see it:

Isn't it gorgeous?! This is the Sea Glass colorway, and I'll be using it to bring my shawl design, The Butterfly, to life. I'm really looking forward to casting this one on!!

That's all for today, fiber friends. My photo tutorial for double-knitting should be up soon. I need to finish up the photos; kind of important in a photo tutorial ;) Expect that to be live here fairly soon.

Yours in yarn, and humidity,

Síle