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 
to enter.
To share your finished projects on social media, use the hashtag #FOYAL2022FO! If you're on Discord, you can post in our
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:
- If you already have for-pay patterns in your stash by participating designers, you can use those.
- Many designers offer patterns to beta testers. If you start a test project after the event starts, and the designer publishes the pattern before the event ends, your test project can be used for the yarnalong and will count for prizes. Our Discord server will even have a #test-calls channel that designers will use to post in to request test stitchers!
- Participate in our games and activities to win patterns as prizes.
- Our searchable pattern database allows you to sort pattern products by price; this can help you find an inexpensive project that might catch your eye.
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 , 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 ; this covers:
- Don't be a jerk. Please behave in good faith.
- In the spirit of inclusivity and making everyone feel welcome (a.k.a. "your right to swing your fist ends at my face"), the following is considered bad and can result in deletion, banning, etc.: racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and other similiar "isms". This includes support for politics/regimes which encourage and/or support this kind of nonsense. As well, polite, constructive criticism is great. Unrestrained bashing is bad.
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 . 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 . 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:
- Discord can be confusing to use for some people. Here are some resources for learning how to participate on our server:
- (video) How to use Discord in 2022: The Ultimate Beginner Walkthrough
- Discord's Beginner's Guide
- Once you're on our Discord server, we have a #using-discord channel in the 'Start here!' area; this channel is for:
- Great Discord tips and resources that we've discovered (we pin these posts so you can find them easily)
- Asking questions about Discord
- Posting test messages to try stuff out
- Anything else that will help people understand the platform better
- Help with Discord
- (video) How to use Discord in 2022: The Ultimate Beginner Walkthrough
- As with most online discussion venues, there are some behavioural expections. In addition to the event code of conduct (linked to above), you will also need to follow the Discord community guidelines
You can chat about the event and share projects and progress whenever you like on Twitter using the #FastenOffYAL hashtag.
You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Twitter account .
We've also compiled a list of all of the 2022 participating designers on Twitter !
You can chat about the event and share projects and progress whenever you like on Instagram using the #FastenOffYAL hashtag.
You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Instagram account .
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 hashtag.
You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Tumblr blog .
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 hashtag.
You can also follow the Fasten Off YAL Mastodon account .
"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 , 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:
- Moderate event discussion spaces and meet-the-designer events
- Run games
- Help with giveaways, including creating and scheduling the giveaway posts and picking winners
Please use our mailing list subscribe form to sign up for volunteer updates!
Spotify playlist
Our Spotify playlist 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 .