A year has passed and Indie Design Gift-A-Long is here again. The sale period will end tonight, but KAL/CALs with lots of games and competitions and lots of prizes to win (patterns from GAL designers, yarn, kits, stitch markers, books etc) will run until December 31 midnight US EST. So if you haven’t yet,  come and join Indie Design Gift- A-Long group on Ravelry now, there is still plenty of time to knit or crochet some wonderful Christmas gifts for your friends and family.

Again, there are a lot of talented designers participating and a lot of beautiful patterns to knit or crochet. There are some patterns that really caught my eye and which I’m hoping to knit for this Christmas.

My first project during this GAL will be Wheatsheaf Cowl by Loraine Birchall (last year I knitted her Evergreen Hat for my daughter and she still loves it). I love the cables on this cowl. I had a perfect purple yarn at home, so I actually already finished knitting it. I just have to take pretty pictures of my cowl.

Wheatsheaf Cowl

Next I want to knit some socks. I’m not yet sure which ones to make first, but there are two on my list: Sela’s Socks by CraftArella and A River Life by Tisserin Coquet. I need to find some solid yarn for these.

Sela’s Socks

A River Life

I also found a beautiful tam – Snow over Leiden by Kirsten McTeer – that would look perfect with my own First Snow mittens.

Snow over Leiden

And I want to knit a shawl. I think Laetare by Ranée Mueller is just the one I need. It is simple, but elegant and I think I have the yarn for this.

Laetare

I also want to knit a Christmas stocking, because I never had one and I think Selbu Roses Christmas Stocking by Denise Balvanz looks just right.

Selbu Roses Christmas Stocking

See you in KAL/CALs!

The sale period of the Gift-A-Long will soon be over (it ends Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST) and I’m gonna show you what you are missing if you haven’t joined this event yet.

Gift-A-Long 2015 Sale Patterns – just look at this huge bundle of patterns, there are so many beautiful ones that it makes your head spin (well, at least that’s how I feel :) )!!! Or look at all these wonderful pictures on Pinterest!!!

I have found so many new talented and inspirational designers and fantastic designs and I would like to share some of these pearls.

Kate Bostwick is a designer from England. She designs everything from hats and cowls to sweaters and pillows. All her designs are so bright and colorful. I absolutely love her mittens – Mount Rundle Mittens and Kicking Horse Mittens (photo copyright Kate Bostwick). She blogs here.

Mount Rundle Mittens

Kicking Horse Mittens

Loraine Birchall is also from UK. She designs everything from hats to cardigans, she also has some knitted bangles in her collection. She loves colors and texture. I fell in love with her beautiful cabled hats Evergreen Hat and Wheatsheaf Hat (photo copyright Loraine Birchall). Her website is here.

Evergreen Hat

Wheatsheaf Hat

Marcela Chang is from Chile. She mostly designs shawls and hats, but also mitts and cardigans. Her designs have lovely lace patterns and beautiful colorwork. I totally adore her cardigan Fall in Love (photo copyright marcelachangdesigns) and her Southern Star hat is so pretty (photo copyright Marcela Chang). She blogs here.

Fall in Love

Southern Star

Meiju K-P is a designer from my neighbour country Finland. She mostly designs shawls and sweaters, but she also has some hats and mitts and knits for kids in her collection. Most of her designs have subtle patterns and colors, but they all look so pretty and interesting. It’s really difficult to choose my favourites, but the first ones that caught my eye were her Pier View shawl (photo copyright Tanu Kallio) with its shape and colors and Tavie cardigan with its gorgeous cables (photo copyright Meiju K-P/Tanu Kallio). Her blog is here.

Pier View

Tavie

Solène Le Roux is a young designer from France. Her collection of hats, cowls and socks is still quite small. Her designs have a lot of texture and they are youthful and hip. I really like her Treboul shawl and Padova Hat (photo copyright Solène Le Roux). Her blog is here.

Treboul

Padova Hat

Vikki Bird is from UK. She mostly designs beautiful blankets, but there are some cowls, hats and baby items in her collection as well. Her designs are really colorful and cheerful. Just look at these adorable blankets – Fluffy White Clouds (photo copyright VikkiBirdDesigns) or The Knitbots baby blanket (photo copyright Vikki Bird)! Her blog is here.

Fluffy White Clouds

The Knitbots baby blanket

Come and join GAL 2015 and support indie designers. See you in KAL/CALs!