The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is set to begin today, and I’m always real excited this time of year. It is, hands down, one of my favourite yearly knitting events. This is my fourth year participating as a designer, and while I wrote a little intro to the event and what it is way back in 2016 (my first year participating), I thought it was high-time to create another intro post.
So what is it?
The Indie Design GAL is a knit-a-long/crochet-a-long that runs approximately five weeks, from the end of November until the new year. It all kicks off with a massive sale by all participating designers (about 300 this year!) to jump start your holiday knitting (or just to get a bunch of patterns for yourself!). The sale starts at 8 pm ET November 26 and runs to December 2nd at 11:59 ET. All designers have selected 10-20 of their patterns to be included in the sale, and all patterns are at 25% off for that time using the coupon code giftalong2019.
But that’s just the beginning…
But the sale isn’t all of it – the real joy of this event is the make-a-long part. From November 26 – December 31st, thousands of makers join together to knit and crochet together, all while chatting it up in the Indie Design GAL forum.
And there’s not just chatting either – the organizers have games and prize draws all throughout the event, which are always an absolute blast. But really, my favourite part is everybody coming together and sharing what they make – either for loved ones or themselves.
So how do I join?
Just head on over to the Ravelry group and dive in. We are a very chatty bunch, and it can seem overwhelming at first, but just pop in and out as you want. There is a fantastic thread written by one of the mods here with how to participate.
I have some plans already myself with what I’ll be casting on.
Which of your patterns will be included?
I have 20 patterns this year included in the initial sale, and you can see for yourself right here which ones will be 25% off from November 26 – December 2.
I also do a series of blog posts every year that will begin this week, showcasing some of my favourite patterns in each of the categories by other designers. This event is such an awesome way to discover somebody new, and I always spend a good few (maybe several) hours combing through everybody’s bundles to highlight some of my favourite designs. I’ll be posting all of these this year under the gal2019 tag.
If you’d like to see some of my highlights from previous years you can check them out here: 2016, 2017, and 2018.
I hope to see you there!