That is the question I asked myself, last year, as I watched all the commotion, not only in the dedicated Indie Design-Gift-A-Long group on Ravelry but also in other groups. Why are you not taking part as a Designer? One of my group members asked, but I was snowed in with other work, and realized that I needed to find out more about the technicalities of it. This year I had no choice but to join since Merryn, aka greatminds on Ravelry, had sent me all the links to the GAL planning group and how-to pages, in addition to the deadlines. I am pleased to say that I am in! Not without the help of Merryn and also designer Hanna Maciejewska, aka hada131, who also told me that I had to join. So “What is Gift-A-Long? It’s a multi-designer promotion to help you kick your holiday gift-making into high gear! The Indie Design-Gift-A-Long is a 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by a rather extensive list of independent designers. From Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST – Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST tons of indie designers will be discounting between 5 – 20 of their patterns 25% for this event. Use coupon code: giftalong2015.” There are 2 300 electronic pattern prizes to be won as well as physical prizes, for taking part in the KAL/CAL and the Designer Hunt Game. Take a look at the interesting stats above.

So I had my husband make a collage of some of my discounted patterns, signed on in the dedicated time-space, made a bundle with the 18 discounted patterns I had chosen – thinking that I could add 2 more later, since there was a new release thread in the group but not realizing all the organizing that goes on behind by numerous volunteers – and set up the two different promotions (one set of individual codes for prizes and one for the coupon code for the whole period). You can see my Gift-A-Long bundle here: ravelry.com/designers/linda-marveng. It has been a steep learning curve, but now the fun has started with interview requests and links to my selected designs in the chat & planning thread in the group. Do not miss out, come and join us!