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

New Leaves on Old Plants

Do you ever get the feeling it's time to do things a bit different than you have been? Or return to a routine that made you feel good? That's where I'm at right now. I've just started on some new medicinals (with my doctor's input) that will hopefully have my energy back up and my pains back down. With those I'm also getting myself back into the routine of my physio passive stretches, and that's opened me up to having about an hour of me time every morning. Today is day one of this "new" routine so we'll see if it flows as smoothly as I intend it to.

And speaking of new, we can't have too many beginnings without an ending or two and I have an ending to show off! I finished my Simee Dimeh last evening :) I don't have the strength in my back at the moment to try to block it (why are floors so far down? In my dream craft studio, there will be an island with its top covered in blocking mats, and all kinds of storage below for pins and blocking wires, and maybe a sink towards one end for the actual "bathing" before blocking... I digress. A nice counter height blocking space to save my poor back having to lean over as much and crawl about on the floor.) but it is off the needles and looks quite nice, if you want my completely biased opinion. Here it is for your assessment:

There it is, my first FO of 2021 :) Which means I can soon cast-on my next me project! Yay! New cabled sweater for Síle! 

And with all this turning of new leaves, or should I say rejuvenation of older plants, I'm hoping to get the Hornpipe Bag finished up fairly soon. I'm aiming to have it in techediting by the end if February and testknitting in March. Keep an eye out for more on that soon!

Are you starting anything new, crafting or otherwise? I'd love to hear about it.

Yours in yarn and an empty project bag,

Síle