One of the things I love most about the Indie GAL (Gift-A-Long) is the chance to discover and/or promote other designers’ work. Over the course of the GAL I’ll be publishing gift-knitting related interviews with designers whose work I admire.
Marnie MacLean publishes impeccable, gorgeous, thoughtful patterns. Check out her Ravelry page here.
Steph: What’s your favorite part of the GAL?
Marnie: I love that the GAL introduces knitters and crocheters to designers and patterns they may not have seen before. And for people with more limited crafting budgets, it’s a nice chance to stock up on patterns at a reduced price.
Have you participated before this year?
Yes, I participated the first year and then took a few years off. I’m impressed with how much work the organizers put into this every year and am glad to be a part of it again.
I’m glad you’re back! Are you participating as a knitter? if yes, what are you planning on knitting? if no, what would you, had you the time?
I haven’t knitted or crocheted someone else’s pattern in a long time but if I were going to, I’d want to throw some love over to the crochet designers Elena Fedotova (ravliki), Elena Madsen (haekleri) and Tatsiana Kupryianchyk (lillabjorncrochet) have some particularly fun designs in the GAL. I also really love Tania Richter’s (AetherFang) knitted colorwork piece.
Oh, I totally agree. I don’t crochet much, but some of those crochet designers definitely caught my eye, and I’ll be checking out the others that I missed! Which of your patterns do you think make the best gifts?
For knitters or crocheters I think shawls are a great gift if your recipient would wear them. There’s no need to worry about sizing and with lace shawls, you get a lot more surface area with less yardage so they go faster than you might think. Of my shawls, Helios is probably my favorite knit design and Aasha is my favorite of the crochet shawls.
Those are both so beautiful. Thank you so much Marnie!
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Photos © Marnie MacLean
Don’t forget to check out the Indie Design Gift-A-Long group on Ravelry to join in the fun!