Are you a yarn lover? A
HaldeCraft yarn lover? Are you on
Ravelry? If you answered yes to all three questions…. I have an -along for you.
This is loosely inspired by -alongs like the “Self Imposed Sock Club”, which is where The Yarn Harlot suggested sock knitters with “too much stash” – AS IF – choose one skein of yarn and one pattern, put it in a bag, do this twelve times, and you have a year’s worth of projects right there. And of course you love the yarn (you bought it!) and you love the pattern (you favorited it!) so it’s guaranteed to make you happy.
One of my personal goals for next year is LESS PRESSURE, and weirdly with as much as I love -alongs, they also stress me out when I join them. Nothing destroys my love for a project like an imposed deadline! So I want to do something that will for me, be fun. I also want to do something that everyone ELSE will think is fun, but put little or no pressure on them, will use up stash, will inspire us to get to patterns we’ve had our eye on, but will also allow us to come and go as we please.
SO THEN!
12 in ’14!
I’m proposing a year-long -along (along-along-rama-lama-ding-dong), wherein those who want to participate choose twelve one-skein projects and twelve skeins of yarn, match them up, bag them (for some reason I was thinking lunch bags, so it would be a blind choice every month, but in re-reading The Yarn Harlot’s post I see she did Ziplocs), and then once a month pull out a bag and Get To It.
Because I’m me, and I like options more than I like absolutes, and also because I like to give lots of prizes, I’ve thought up so many levels at which people can join this yearly -along that it’s almost staggering. THANK YOU, BRAIN.
THE OVERALL RULES:
- Twelve one-skein patterns should be used. You can use more than one skein if you wish (like with colorwork), but if one of the two skeins is a HaldeCraft yarn, 75% of that skein should be used.
- All patterns and weights of yarn are chosen by the participant.
- At least seven of those skeins should be HaldeCraft HandDyed or Handspun (or old Perhaps Today is a Good Day to Dye skeins).
- Patterns chosen should use at least 75% of the skein. If using two skeins (like with colorwork), and one of the skeins is a HaldeCraft yarn, 75% of that skein should be used in the project.
- Unless choosing the Red Shirt level, projects should be started no earlier than the first of the month and finished no later than the last day of the month.
- Level of participation should be chosen by January 1st, with the exception of the Red Shirt Bonus.
- Unless indicated, one “winner” (hey, we’re all winners!) will be chosen from each category from the people within that category who completed their goals, using the RNG, for prizes that I am still working out the details on but trust me they will be EPIC. OK, actually I know the prizes, I’m just trying to figure out the phrasing so that everyone understands that the winners are chosen from within the level of participation, not that everyone is a winner. I mean, we’re all winners! But not literally, because I only have so many prizes. Ugh. English.
LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION:
THE CAPTAIN: chooses all twelve skeins and patterns by January 1st and all are HaldeCraft yarns.
THE FIRST MATE: chooses all twelve skeins and patterns by January 1st and at least seven are HaldeCraft yarns.
THE PILOT: chooses at least seven skeins and patterns by January 1st and all are HaldeCraft yarns; the remaining five might be HaldeCraft or might be any other, depending on what they buy throughout the year.
THE ENGINEER: chooses at least seven skeins and patterns by January 1st out of any yarns, with the plan of at least seven skeins being HaldeCraft yarns by the end of the year.
THE SHIP’S DOCTOR: chooses the skein and pattern by the 25th of the month before, each month throughout the year (at least seven of which are HaldeCraft yarns).
THE RED SHIRT: chooses any number of skeins and patterns by January 1st even though they know they probably won’t finish, but really wants to play along so will give it The Old College Try. (Prizes only if number of projects chosen by January 1st are finished by December 31st.)
THE RED SHIRT (BONUS): chooses any number of skeins and patterns by January 1st even though they know they probably won’t finish, but really wants to play along, and surprises themselves by actually finishing all twelve skeins, thus elevating themselves from Red Shirt to Chief of Security.
THE STOWAWAY: doesn’t initially plan on joining but everyone is having so much fun that they pick it up at any point in the year and make at least two projects. (No prizes due to missing start date.)
THE SHIP’S COUNCILOR: doesn’t want to play but really wants to cheer everyone on and plans to participate in chat threads with comments of encouragement even though they’re not knitting/crocheting. (No prizes, but you do get the love and thanks of your fellow Ravellers.)
THE SMUGGLER: doesn’t initially plan on joining publicly but secretly chooses patterns and skeins (at least seven of which are HaldeCraft yarns) and at some point in the year uses charm and powerful persuasions to allow a majority of participating members to agree that they can in fact join publicly and be eligible for prizes.
PRIZES:
To be eligible for a prize, you must have chosen a Level of Participation by the date given in that Level, you must have completed the requirements of that Level, and you must have followed the overall rules.
Prizes will be drawn from eligible participants in each Level, using the Random Number Generator. There will be one winner per level (excluding the Levels which state there is no prize, and excluding any levels which do not have an eligible participant by the end of December 2014). In other words, if ten people go for The Captain, and ten people complete The Captain, you have a one in ten chance of winning that prize.
Prizes will be announced on January 1, 2015, in order to give everyone until the last possible minute on December 31st.
I am not eligble for a prize (that would just be silly. But I do plan on joining!).
The Captain: a $100 gift certificate to HaldeCraft good for anything in the shop
The First Mate: a $100 gift certificate to HaldeCraft good for anything in the shop
The Pilot: a $100 gift certificate to HaldeCraft good for anything in the shop
The Engineer: a $50 gift certificate to HaldeCraft good for anything in the shop
The Ship’s Doctor: a HaldeCraft yarn bowl in the style of the winner’s choice (from the styles I offer)
The Red Shirt: If number of projects chosen by January 1st are actually completed by December 31st, the prize is a skein of yarn (base choices are Andre, Lynn, Marion, Moon, Octavia, Tepper, Tiptree, or Windling) in any of the currently available colorways. If number of projects chosen by January 1st are NOT completed by December 31st, there is no prize. But we also won’t meet the fate of most other Red Shirts.
The Red Shirt (bonus): if twelve skeins/twelve projects are finished by the end of the year, you not only surprise yourself with the prize of a promotion (Chief of Security! And you get a last name! This is only funny if you’ve seen Galaxy Quest!) but you also get a prize — a skein of yarn (choices are Andre, Lynn, Marion, Moon, Octavia, Tepper, Tiptree, or Windling) in any of the currently available colorways
and a beer cozy that I will buy you from Knit at the Bar (providing she is still making them, and if she’s not, I’ll hear about it before she stops, and buy a handful so that you can choose from my preciously preciously hoarded geeky beer cozies).
The Stowaway: No prizes, but at least we won’t put you out the airlock.
The Ship’s Councilor: No prizes, but the love and affection from everyone you said nice things to all year. Also you can hold my hand while I cry if I don’t finish my own -along. WIN, RIGHT?!
The Smuggler: This is a tricky one, because officially joining depends on your charisma — if you get to November and then start asking to join, but you don’t really wow us with a Good Reason? I mean, like, you’ll need to photoshop Aretha’s Hat onto Chewbacca, or something. You’ll have to REALLY WORK to be officially sanctioned. So…
if you choose this potentially treacherous route, and
if you can convince the majority of the participants to let you in late, and
if you finish all the requirements… well, then, your prize is three bars of HaldeSoap in the fragrance of your choice (from currently available fragrances) because in the following of all of the rules on this one you’ve probably worked up quite the sweat.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE:
For levels of participation where only seven have to be chosen by Jan 1, can the other five be chosen at any time or is there a due date?
- They can be chosen at any time. For example, someone joins yarn club that runs May-July; those three skeins could be chosen upon arrival to fold into your twelve total. I wanted to give a little leeway for shopping sprees and the finding of That One Awesome Skein.
Can something really small be used as a project, like a pair of baby booties?
- Only if those booties use 75% or more of your skein of yarn, in which case they would probably fit a baby yeti, or you make enough baby booties of the same pattern to use more than 75% of the skein. Like if you’re making for a baby octopus (and in that case I totally want pictures, of either your yeti or your octopus… or your octopus yeti … octopeti? Yetipus?). This is really on the honor system. If you choose 12 mini-skeins and do 12 hexipuffs, while technically you are following the rules as I’ve laid them out, your other participating friends are really going to give you the stink-eye.
What if I pull a skein and pattern set but change my mind about the pattern?
- Everyone participating gets one “Transporter Pattern Card” that you can use ONE TIME ONLY, to change patterns.
What if I pull a skein and pattern set but change my mind about the yarn?
- Everyone participating gets one “Transporter Yarn Card” that you can use ONE TIME ONLY, to change yarns. HOWEVER. You may exchange yarn but only for same brand/weight; for example, if your yarn is HaldeCraft HandDyed Tepper you have to choose another color in Tepper.
I get if I own the pattern I can stuff a copy of it in the bag, but what if it’s in a book that I don’t have? Or in a book and I don’t have a copier?
- Write the name of the pattern down and stuff it in the bag with the skein.
If I join something like Nerd Wars, that has also sometimes has one-skein or small projects, can I fold those projects into this -along?
- As long as it takes 75% of the skein, and you either haven’t already chosen your patterns or haven’t already used your “Transporter Pattern Card” so that you can switch out, go for it, you multi-tasker, you!
What if I want to make something that doesn’t use 75% of the skein, but also want to make something somewhat matching/complimentary that together, both those things would? Like, a baby jacket and a hat? Or an adult-sized hat/glove set?
-
Here is how to incorporate patterns on your project page. (You can read more about it under ”
issues”.) This is how I will accept multiple patterns used for one overall project, as in a baby jacket/hat set, matching adult hat/scarf, scarf/gloves, enough Korknisse to use up 75% of a skein of yarn, etc.
My project used 75g of yarn and so I don’t understand why I’m being told that my project doesn’t count.
- Did you use one of my jumbo skeins, like Zelazny, Emma, or Delany? Or one of my new skeins like Lois or Carolyn? Because the rules say that 75
PERCENT of the skein must be used, the rules don’t say anything about
weight. Zelazny weighs 150 g; Lois and Carolyn are both 115 g; Emma and Delany are both 226 g. 75% of the skein must be used in the project, as stated above, so the weight of your project may vary depending on what 75% of what the skein you use, is.
—–
Interested in learning more? If you have two days, you can read
the chat thread about the -along here on Ravelry which seems to be growing by the minute.
Here is the official sign-up/declaration thread.
BULLET POINTS FOR THE TL;DR CROWD:
- Pick twelve one-skein projects.
- Start and finish one project per month.
- At least seven of those twelve skeins must be my yarns.
- At least 75% of each skein must be used in the project.
- I’m offering more than $400 in prizes.
- Pick your level of participation.
- Read the rules.