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

Fasten Off Yarn Along 2020

I mentioned this last post and now I have more details to share!

Fasten Off Yarn Along, the OffRav indy knit and crochet designer pattern sale and make along, starts on November 25th! Wednesday! Tomorrow!

So first off is the pattern sale. 93 designers, including me, will be offering a selection of their patterns at 25% off their usual price starting on November 25th and ending on December 5th. The sale code is the same across the board, on any platforms the designers choose to set it up on: FO2020. For example, the code will be good on all of my designs (except my ebook because it isn't fully complete yet) both here on KDR (see the sidebar labeled My Patterns --->) and in my Payhip shop (link also in the sidebar). All designers participating have at least one OffRav option for your safe pattern shopping, whether that be their own site, Payhip, or Etsy.

And I'm sure you're wondering what other designers are getting involved, and how to find them. Never fear! The crack team of Kathleen & Rachy have thought of that. There is website located here (also linked in the sidebar of this blog under Other Sites of Interest) which has searches of both designers and patterns, plus by craft, category, and who will wear it/use it.

What about the make along portion? I'm so glad you asked. This event is cross-platforms, and not just sales platforms!! There is a Twitter account, an Instagram account, a Facebook page, and a Discord server! Participate with whichever ones you're most comfortable with. If you're using Twitter and Instagram in particular, be sure you use the hashtags: #FastenOffYAL & #FastenOff2020 so your posts can be found and get the make along love they deserve. I have to say, I'm really liking Discord for chatting despite just learning how to use it. Old cats can learn new tricks! ;) 

The make along portion of events starts at 9pm EST (GMT -5) on November 25th (giving you time to buy a pattern or two first) and wraps up December 31st at 11:59pm EST (GMT -5)! Stay in and make along with old and new friends to Fasten Off 2020! There will be chatter and crafting and fun and community!!! Join in and help Fasten Off 2020 in crafterly style!

During the entire make along period, there will also be prizes! Each participating designer is donating free patterns of the winner's choice, plus there have been some generous donations of gadgets, and even yarnie goodness!! And there will be games! What's more fun than fibery games? Well, besides crafting that is! 

I hope you'll be joining in with me at the Fasten Off Yarn Along. I'll be cheering participants on, answering any questions, and making sure this is a fun and safe event for everyone. Unless someone is rude or bullying or using harassing language. That has no place at an inclusive yarn community event, and I will delete any harmful posts if they pop up on my watch. The code of conduct is posted on the Fasten Off Yarn Along site. It really boils down to be respectful and have fun while allowing other participants to do the same.

Now, I need to find those pompoms so I can properly cheer everyone on...

I wasn't kidding, I totally have pompoms at the ready:

Yours in yarn and pompom glory,

Síle

New Ways to Find Things

There's been a lot of discussion about how the fiber arts community that can't and/or won't use R*velry can find each other. Here are some ways to find and/or connect with this part of the community.

There are a few websites that have been set up; you'll find a link to the Fiber Indy List in the sidebar (full disclosure: I'm listed there), but also there's the Accessible Patterns Index (I'm also listed there; 11 of my 15 patterns include Low Vision Accessible pdfs) and the Yarn Database.

Websites are great for finding designers and patterns, but what about other crafters? There are healthy crafting communities on Instagram and Twitter! And the easiest way to find them is through hashtags. Through polls and discussions this last week or so, Twitter user BirdieToldMe (@kaysaraahsaraah) has helped to add some hashtags we can use to search for other crafters, as well as designers, indy dyers, and notions makers; talk about finding your community! #RavelryAccessibility, which was coined during the first throes of NuRav to enable ease in finding out what was going on when forum threads were being locked and archived almost as soon as they started has been decided to be left to information posts, and these are the decided upon hashtags to use on pertinent community posts: #OffRav , #OffRavDesigners ,  #InclusiveYarnCommunity and on Wednesdays be sure to use #WIPWednesdayOffRav on your progress pics. By following these tags on Instagram and Twitter, you'll quickly find the vibrant communities existing on both social media sites.

You may be wondering why I've capitalized each word in the above hashtags. It makes them readable to screen readers instead of being garbled, and also easier to read by individuals with sight issues and some who are neurodiverse. I find them easier to figure out as a glasses wearer since age 9 ½. Unfortunately, this means typing out the hashtags every time instead of relying on auto fill or the suggestions that pop up. But I think those extra few seconds are worth it to make the hashtags accessible and inclusive. If we want to say we have an #InclusiveYarnCommunity, we can show it by our hashtags.

Some designers have set up new places to house their forums as well. Louise Tilbrook moved her "Everyday Knitters" group off of Facebook earlier this summer to a new home on Mighty Networks. Tania Richter had been using Discord; I'm not sure if she's still using it due to her extra severe migraine and subsequent medical appointments/corrective lenses/minimizing time of any kind of online activity/medications. I've heard others are trying to incorporate fora into their existing sites, but I'm not aware of anyone who has this up and running just yet; if you're aware of anyone who does, please let me know in the comments below so I can boost it. 

I've given my R*velry group members a heads up that the group will be disappearing before the Classic Rav deadline is up. As of this writing, I haven't decided how, or if, to replace the group. It was never as much as a hub as I'd hoped. I'll be hosting test knits via either Fiberly or Yarnpond going forward, which was the main reason for my group's existence, so I don't feel I really need one right now. Something to think of in the future maybe. 

Yours in yarn and hashtags,

Síle