Who's Ready For FOYAL?

The weather has been a tad gloomy here, and the temperature's are dipping down. As the colder months set in it's time to turn my mind to the Fasten Off Yarn-A-Long (FOYAL).

What is the Fasten Off Yarn-A-Long? It's a make along promoting independent designers of knitting, crochet, Tunisian crochet, and loom knitting patterns, that is hosted on a number of social media platforms. It starts with a sale period (November 24th through December 8th this year), where you can purchase patterns from participating designers (like me) for 25% off. Yes, I said 25% off. The Yarn-A-Long itself kicks off on November 24th and runs through December 31st. And I mean through the 31st: the New Year's Eve Boonanza rings in the New Year in every time zone and then keeps going! 

Games, with chances to win random prizes, are run on our more popular social media accounts. These include the FOYAL Discord server, and Instagram account. Volunteer registrations close tomorrow (Nov 10th) and will give organizers a better picture of where games can be held. Random prizes can also be won just by posting on your preferred social media using the hashtag #FastenOffYAL. The prize pixies will be ready to contact winners when things start :) If you'd like to volunteer, volunteer sit this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqHY0fzGN8-NN5-XX_qzPcSE3nXjjT5oVPqxzNh2nfY0Ocsw/viewform

If you're a designer and would like to participate, Designer registration is also taking place right now. Last year there were over 100 designers, and over 3500 patterns involved in the sale! Visit this link: https://www.fastenoffyal.com/signup.html

What does this mean for Knit Dance Repeat Designs for the end of the year? I'll hopefully have the Four Hand Reel released during FOYAL. And I will be working on my current sample as well as some small projects for FOYAL. I'm in the midst of a sea of moss stitch on my Countess Cathleen:

What's been on my personal needles? I knit two Treble Reel Toques recently for gifts. They turned out well:

You can find the Treble Reel Toque pattern here: link🔗 (link stays on this website)

I'm working on my summer cast-on, a Colorica Cardigan🔗 (pattern by Romi Hill; link goes to her website). I'm working on the right front of the yoke. It's been slower going than I'd like but I've been working on it inbetween other projects but I'm really happy with how it's looking:

The stockinette fabric really wants to roll! I have 18 rows left in the mauve, and then the light green section, matching the left front that is visible in the photo. I'm thinking light blue for the third color. I'm using remnants (and hanks) of Briggs & Little Sport that I have on hand so it will be a very colorful Colorica ;)

That's all from here at KDRD headquarters!

Yours in yarn and end of the year plans,

Síle

Summertime & the Knitting Countines (Slowly)

I'm happy to report that the Hornpipe Bag pattern🔗 (link remains within this site) was well received last week. And testing for the Four Hand Reel is going great. One tester is nearly finished! Depending on the photo situation, I forsee a fall release of the tote bag pattern.

I'm happy to say our temps are down slightly which is allowing me to knit again for at least short times. Roomie has gone to Town to attend tonight's George Street Festival concert, so I'm here with my yarn and her cats. One of the items on my list to tackle today is cutting/sewing/attaching the lining for my Four Hand Reel. I found the cutest fabric a while ago:

Isn't that fun? Especially since I use my tote as a large project bag.

Speaking of large projects, I've been knitting up samples of the various knotwork motifs I've charted in order to help me choose the right one for Countess Cathleen (the cabled and hooded cloak design). So far I haven't found the right one, but I'm really hopeful for KW#7 :) KW#5 was cool but waaaay too big. I might have a place in the lineup where it can shine though. Possibly. I digress! Here are some of the rejected knotworks:

I was able  to watch Romi Hill's Youtube live last night. What a wealth of blocking lace knowledge! If you're looking for lace tips and tricks, her Youtube channel is a gold mine. Anyway, she mentioned that there other ways to block lace besides those she covered, one being a shawl frame. These were/are commonly used in the Shetland islands to block out their beautiful lace shawls. I believe there's also a type of shawl frame from Estonia/the Baltic countries; I confess I was only skimming the google-foo results. Knit Picks has a tutorial🔗 on how to build one that can be easily taken down for storage. Dangerous knowledge for me lol. Still I think building one is most likely, although with the price of lumber it might not be, the cheaper option. I'll add it to my list of things I should build with the portable dance floor so I don't have to treble on concrete in the basement ;)

Why did I bring up lace and shawl frames? Well, the Planxty Hap needs a good blocking before I can get pictures of it, and then get it into techediting and test/beta knitting. I really want to get that out for everyone to see. It's a fairly soothing lace project, and I'm a bit proud of it.

And there will be (at least) another lace shawl coming sometime down the road too. I have the charts finalized, I "just" need to get the yarn and knit the sample. I have to laugh because I have so many designs at this particular stage right now. I'm looking at my list of ideas/charts that are fully realized and can count 6. At least it keeps me out of trouble lol

In my personal projects, I'm actively working on a cabled pullover (Twist Again by Robynn Weldon🔗), a not overly lace cardigan (Colorica Cardigan by Romi Hill🔗), and a fun and colorful shawl  (Who Ya Gonna Shawl by Mary Annarella/Lyrical Knits🔗). All of these links go to either the designer's own website or their Payhip shop; none send you to R@v.

That's today's little round up. I hope you've been staying relatively cool in the summer heat. Have you  been fiber crafting? Perhaps you're using a cotton or linen blend yarn to knit a tanktop or crochet a beach/pool cover-up? Let me what you have on the go :)

That's it for me today! Stay cool!

Yours in yarn, and summer heat,

Síle