Gifts a go-go!

Something happens to otherwise sane knitters once a year. Some time in late autumn or early winter, we get this peculiar urge. We start thinking: I could make that person a present. Knitters usually of a healthily selfish persuasion, such as yours truly, get a bit twitchy looking at patterns for cute kids’ knits or pretty scarves. Maybe a hat or two. We think of the people in our lives whose happiness (and possibly bankable gratitude) really means something to us, and we ponder. 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that where a trend exists, a promotion must follow, and doubly so if this trend is tied to a commonly celebrated holiday, like, oh, say, just for example’s sake… GIFTMAS.

And so there is the Ravelry Gift-A-Long. 

GAL is mass temporary insanity that falls on Ravellers every November. Thousands of us suddenly believe that we can find time to knit all kinds of things, and what we don’t finish in time we’ll definitely knit in January. It’s ridiculously fun. It starts with a week-long promotion in which participating designers offer 25% off selected patterns, and continues as a rollicking knit party till the end of December, with knit/crochet-alongs, prizes, chatter… This is my third year participating as a designer; my fourth as a willingly deluded knitter. You really don’t want to miss out.

How do you find the party? Come hang out in the GAL group. Look out for red ribbons and gold gift-tags on avatars, pattern photos etc, or check your favourite designers’ pages to see if they have a Gift-A-Long bundle. (Here’s mine.) The discount will run from 8pm tonight EST (so, 2am tomorrow for me!) till midnight EST on 30 November. 

There are hundreds of designers with literally thousands of patterns in the promotion, so Pinterest boards have been set up and divided by category to tempt you – I mean, help you choose! Another fun aspect of the Gift-A-Long is the social element. There are always a lot of designer interviews flitting around, so if you’re curious to know more about the people who make your patterns, watch the social media thread. (Or you could always ask a designer for an interview yourself!) You can find the interviews I’ve done in past years over here, and yes, there are more on the way. 

I’m not sure how active I’ll be this year, in either blogging or knitting. I’ve got quite a lot on already. But then again… I say that every year. And every year I end up in my own private GAL whirlwind.

Like I say. Mass temporary insanity. But in a good way.