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The stitchalong

The stitchalong runs from 9pm ET November 25 to the end of December 31, 2022 ET

This is the centrepiece of the Fasten Off Yarnalong event - our stitchalong! To participate, you just have to start a project using a purchasable pattern from any of our participating designers.

Defining our terms:
"Purchasable pattern" means a pattern which you would normally have to buy something to obtain. So even if you didn't purchase it yourself - e.g. you earned it from testing, you won it via a giveaway, the pattern is in a book which you got as a gift, whatever - it still counts as a "purchasable pattern" as long as the usual way to obtain it is to make a purchase.

This year there are 109 participating designers, so there are tons of patterns to choose from!

The sale

Our discount period is now finished - but the shopping can still continue! You can use the search feature on the website to find designers and patterns that you love.

Finished projects

Finished projects are eligible for prizes! Complete our FO submission form opens in new window to enter.

To share your finished projects on social media, use the hashtag #FOYAL2022FO! If you're on Discord, you can post in our #yal-finished-projects channel.

If you have a problem with your project

Please reach out to the designer for pattern support. Please check the designer's profile on this website (which will be available once the event starts); if they have a specific communication method they use for pattern support, it'll be listed in their description.

Financial limitations

This is an event about supporting the businesses of independent designers. However, we also appreciate that not everyone can afford to spend, and we want you to join in! Here are some ideas:



Join the community

What would a big indie designer event be without the ability to talk about it? Fasten Off is a platform-agnostic event which isn't tied to any particular space. You can join in the fun, share projects, and connect with other participants however works best for you. Our main hashtag is #FastenOffYAL.

Note that for accessibility reasons opens in new window, the event is completely off-Ravelry.

Throughout all available platforms, please remember that this event is friendly and inclusive. Please follow the event code of conduct opens in new window; this covers:

We also invite you to share the event with your friends and followers - the more, the merrier! If you want to use imagery when you share, you can find the "official" logo graphic and a number of ready-made promotional images in the public directory on our Google Drive opens in new window. In previous years, some of our participants put together more fancy-schmancy imagery based on our logo, and if that happens again, they'll be shared in this space.

So, where can you participate?

Discord

Although the event is spread out over multiple platforms for inclusivity, if you're looking for as central a place as possible to find people, see announcements, and just generally participate, you'll want to head over to our Fasten Off YAL server on Discord opens in new window. Once the event begins, we'll have lots of discussion channels (both event-related and not), and it's also a great place to find announcements about the event and activities.

Important stuff to know:

Twitter

You can chat about the event and share projects and progress whenever you like on Twitter using the #FastenOffYAL opens in new window hashtag.

You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Twitter account opens in new window.

We've also compiled a list of all of the 2022 participating designers on Twitter opens in new window!

Instagram

You can chat about the event and share projects and progress whenever you like on Instagram using the #FastenOffYAL opens in new window hashtag.

You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Instagram account opens in new window.

Tumblr

Our presence on Tumblr is new, and we're not sure yet whether we'll be monitoring it for people's projects and random giveaways, but you can certainly chat about the event and share projects and progress whenever you like using the #FastenOffYAL opens in new window hashtag.

You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Tumblr blog opens in new window.

Mastodon

Like Tumblr, our presence on Mastodon is new, and we're only just beginning to get our feet wet over there. However, we are going to start monitoring Mastodon for random giveaways! So chat about the event and share projects and progress whenever you like using the #FastenOffYAL opens in new window hashtag.

You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Mastodon account opens in new window.



"Stitchspiration" prompts

If you're looking for inspiration to join in the community conversation, you can take advantage of our regular prompts! A new prompt will be available every few days, throughout the duration of the event. You can see what and when they all are our on our event schedule. We invite everyone to share your preparations, stitching, inspiration, and projects.

Use the #yal-stitchspiration channel for posting your replies to the prompts on our Discord server, and/or the #stitchspiration hashtag on social media. Posts on Discord, Instagram, and Twitter are eligible for random prize draws.



"Meet the designers" events

This year we'd like to connect our participating designers with our stitching audience even more, through scheduled interactive events where makers can find out more about the design talent behind all these great independent businesses. Keep an eye on our event schedule, and announcements on our social media channels, to find out when these will be! We're looking into organizing things like...

Ask Me Anythings (AMAs)

These will be run on a variety of social channels. For example, for a specific designer, for a half-hour on Twitter, people can use a designated hashtag to ask questions, and the designer will do their best to answer as many as they can. People can follow along with the questions and the answers using the hashtag.

Even if you miss the live AMA, you can catch up after the fact by checking out the session hashtag (for Instagram and Twitter) or the forum post (for Discord). Check out our event schedule - these are linked to in the description of each individual AMA.

Video panels

These will be video calls with one to four designers, using the Zoom platform. They'll last about an hour. Folks can tune in to watch designers talk about their creative process, inspirations, design business, etc. If you have questions or topics that you'd like our video panel designers to discuss, let us know!

We'll be recording these sessions, as long as all the participating designers and the host are okay with this. You can find the recordings on our YouTube channel opens in new window, or check out our event schedule - the recordings are linked to in the description of each individual video panel session.

We've also set up a #video-panels channel on our Discord server for anyone who wants to chat about the video panels.



New Year's Boonanza

This is the final event of the Fasten Off YAL! As we stitch our way to 2023, we host a New Year's Boonanza on our Discord server for everyone who participated in the yarnalong. There will be a channel just for chatting in the new year, and this year we're going to open it up as a video call as well!

Planning for this year's Boonanza is still in the works, but in previous years, the event gave you a chance to win pattern prizes, through random draws and games.



Volunteer

Fasten Off is a community event run entirely by volunteers. If you have the time and energy to help out, we'd greatly appreciate it! Both designers and participants are welcome and encouraged to help out. We need people to:

Please use our mailing list subscribe form opens in new window to sign up for volunteer updates!


Spotify playlist

Our Spotify playlist opens in new window is full of songs related to our Fasten Off event in fun ways. Songs about stitches, about ripping back and going faster and many more are represented. The playlist is best played on shuffle so you get a nice variation of songs and associations to our yarnie world. Listen to it while browsing the (discounted) patterns by our participating designers, when you stash-dive or while you knit or crochet a project during our stitchalong

If you have any suggestions, just reach out to Marieke/Solace in Stitches opens in new window.