Things have been crazy busy! I have been knitting up a storm on projects that had to be sent off to others and will be coming out on their own schedules (which I have no influence upon). Then, this past weekend, I attended the Wine & Wool knitting retreat and taught a couple of classes which I have been preparing. Finally I have been working on the behind the scenes planning for this year’s Gift-a-long which started up this past Thursday.
What is this Gift-a-long thing you may ask? Well, it is a group effort by a bunch (and by a bunch I mean almost 300) of independent knit and crochet designers to have a bit of fun with our fellow crafters. It is being run in a forum on Ravlery which you can find by clicking on this link. Each designer has selected a range of patterns from their catalog to offer for 25% off for the sale portion of the -a long. These patterns went on sale on Thursday the 13th and will be on sale until this Friday the 21st.
These are the patterns I picked
But the -a long doesn’t stop with the sale. There are threads that are a hoppin’ with chat and inspiration. You check into the thread that reflects what you are knitting (or threads – you can knit all kinds of stuff) and let the mods know what you want to knit. When you finish it you post a picture in the FO thread and you are officially entered to win one of the dozens of physical prizes or thousands of digital pattern downloads.
Prizes are also being awarded randomly based on participation and in fun games. To recap, we have a sale on thousands of patterns, physical and electronic prizes and encouragement to get some of your holiday gift knitting done (for others or for yourself – we aren’t picky). It really is a win, win for everybody involved. Please come in and join us. I am part of the moderating team for the Scarves, Cowls and Neck Thingies thread – so if something like that is on your list then I would love to see you jump in. I spy in the other threads to cheer on anyone knitting my patterns – so make sure to magic link me if you post something.
There is Water at the Bottom of the Ocean
A final note – you might have noticed that There is Water at the Bottom of the Ocean is in my collage. A happy coincidence occurred that the pattern rights opened up at the same time as the exclusivity expired – so it is now available for purchase. I cannot wait to see people knitting it up! Expect to see another blog post on it soon because it has been almost impossible for me to keep mum about it!
Tumped Duck 
Your designs continue to amaze me, they are so beautiful. And, the fact that you were at a WINE and Wool Knitting Retreat makes me think I have been a good influence on you, my TNNA wine tasting pal. 🙂
Ah yes! Would you believe I took a bottle of the very same wine we discovered to the retreat with me?
And thank you so much for your kind words. 🙂