Some of the most intricate works in the GAL are the lace shawls, of which there are hundreds to choose from. Here are some beauties that have caught my eye as I have browsed the Gift-A-Long designers' portfolios.

Flowerbed Stole by CraftArella is a large lace wrap for the more experienced knitter and an absolute stunner!

Arushi by Anjali M is a crescent shaped shawl with a solid body and lace edging, enhanced with beads. Very pretty!

Named for the double yarnovers that feature in the pattern stitch, Double Bubble lace shawl by Yellow Mleczyk is a crescent shaped shawl which is adjustable in size by working extra repeats of the body section before starting the lace edging.

The gorgeous colour of this Ipomoea shawl by Simone Kereit caught my eye. This Estonian lace stunner is one for the more experienced lace knitter who can work lace on both wrong side and right side rows as well as add beads.

My final shawl pick is this Henry Street Shawl by Nina Machlin Dayton. It's another beaded shawl with two size options, shawlette to wear as a scarf or the full size shawl version. Charted and written instructions are given.

With so many beautiful shawls to choose from, I don't know whether to gaze in astonishment at my computer screen a little longer or just to dive in and cast on right now!

One pattern that pretty much any knitter can use is one designed to use up all those odds and ends left over from other projects. The nature of leftover yarn is that it isn't consistent in terms of yardage - you might have half a ball of one colour and only a few yards of others, and it can be tricky finding a pattern that works for that without looking like, well, like you're using up the leftovers!

Here are some I have found among this year's GAL designers that will give a purpose to that orphan yarn.

First up is this cowl - Yarn Optimiser by Stitchnerd Designs. The pattern is written for any yarn weight, any gauge, the only restriction being that you need sufficient total yardage to be able to work the cowl. Examples on the pattern page are shown in an assortment of colour combinations, from muted greens and greys, pretty blues, to the rainbow version shown here.

If you prefer a scarf, how about this one, Cottesloe Days by Mitenae? Interestingly, this pattern gives you the option of a straight scarf, a cowl worked in the round, or with the addition of buttons to turn it into a convertible scarf which can be worn straight or looped. The pattern is for fingering weight, ideal for all those sock-yarn leftovers that seem to accumulate in the stash.

Finally, for those really short oddments with only a few yards each, how about Strips of Bits by Nicole Montgomery? This is a fringed scarf with lots of customisation options. It can be easily made longer or shorter, wider or narrower, and the stitch pattern can be played with to really make the scarf your own. There are even two flat construction options. Again, project pages show examples worked in toning shades of pink and purple, and blue and grey, and others in wild combinations of all the colours of the rainbow. Looks like a scarf project you can really have fun with.

A sweater that has really caught my own in this year's GAL bundles is this one, Khione, by Elizabeth Sullivan of Sweet Paprika Designs.

Written for 7 sizes from 30" to 56" bust, this DK-weight sweater has long sleeves and a pretty square neckline. The whole shape of the sweater is what appeals to me. I like fitted garments with scoop necklines and this is perfect for me. I even like the colour that the pattern sample is knitted in! All in all, one I look forward to adding to my wardrobe.

Not a sweater but while browsing the other patterns available in the Sweet Paprika Ravelry shop, I couldn't miss this cute sock pattern, Fish in the Sea.

I must admit I'm a huge fan of the duplicate stitch required to add the fish, but for special socks for a gift for a special person I might be persuaded because they are very sweet and really do make the design.

Today's GAL pattern pick is this fun scarflette, Leaves of Lothlorien, by Peggy Jean Kaylor. The pattern is written for DK yarn but with something that doesn't need to fit in the way that a sweater does I can see it working well in a lighter weight yarn for a more delicate scarf, or a heavier one for a more chunky effect. This pretty design looks like a very versatile one. Written as a scarflette, it could be used as shown in the pattern photo as a hat band, as home decor, as a belt. I can even visualise it stitched around the outside of a cushion as a frill.

I finished my first GAL project last night and cast on my second, and here is what I'm making. The Fiddleback cowl and hat set by Heather Storta are going to be my sister-in-law's Christmas present, and I'm using the oldest skein of Wollmeise Pure from my stash to make them. It's in the colourway Brombeere (blackberry in English) which is a gorgeous deep burgundy red-brown. I was a little daunted at first when I realised the pattern called for 2.25mm needles - making an adult size hat on sock needles wasn't what I had in mind - but it soon moves on to larger ones. Speaking of larger, though, the hat is only written for one size, and looking at the pattern gauge it's a generously sized hat. I've taken two pattern repeats' worth of stitches out and so far it's fitting me nicely. I have an average adult female size head.

There's more than enough yarn in the skein to make the matching cowl to go along with it, and I'm sure the rich yarn colour combined with the interesting cable design are going to result in a very elegant set of accessories.

My next pattern pick is Cowl of the Sirens by Tanja Luescher. As soon as I saw this pattern, which was released on Ravelry only very recently, I was drawn to the very open lace stitch pattern. I've got quite into cowls lately, as they keep your neck warm but don't keep coming unwrapped like a scarf might. I prefer the shorter length ones, so I'm considering making this using a 125 yard partial ball of yarn I have in my stash. The original pattern calls for around double that, so I could quite possibly get a shorter length cowl out of all I have.

Tanja has a number of other cowl patterns in her Ravelry store, including this one, Crossing Paths cowl, which also has a pattern for a matching hat if you like sets. 

I think matching accessory sets make great gifts, and if there are patterns available for more than one thing to go together it takes all the brain work out of it for me and I can just sit back and let the knitting do itself. Well, almost!

It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with my design portfolio that I like to knit socks. As I mentioned in a blog post earlier in the week, one of the best things about the GAL is the chance to kick back and knit someone else's patterns for a change, and if you're also a sock knitter you ought to check out Jo Torr's Ravelry store. Whether you prefer your socks textured like On Cloud  9 and Belgravia Revisited, or colourwork like Short Circuit or Socks are For Life, Not Just for Christmas, there's a good choice of sock patterns in there.

I decided to ask Jo about her designing, and her socks in particular. Here's what she had to say:

Me:  How long have you been knitting? How did you start designing? 

Jo :It seems like I’ve been knitting forever! My grandmother taught me when I was about 8 years old, and I was never told that anything was too hard for me. The first ever jumper I made was when I was about 15 and I copied it from a magazine in the school library but had to translate it from French first! 
Like many people I’ve always tweaked patterns, but I suppose I really started on the designing path when I struggled to find a pattern for toe-up socks with the traditional heel flap, which is what I like to knit.

Me: You clearly like to design socks - where do you get your design inspiration from?

Jo: I’m a mathematician at heart, so the majority of my designs are based around geometrical patterns. I get a lot of inspiration from looking at architecture, which has always been a love of mine. I have a great admiration for people who make beautiful designs inspired by nature.

Me: Which is your favourite of your designs, and why?

Jo: That’s a hard choice, but I’d have to say Jagged Edge, I think it’s a nicely balanced design, and a number of different patterns to keep your interest all the way to the end. The pair I kept for myself are a lovely golden yellow which always makes me smile, and I really like the (optional) picot cuff.​

Me: Is there a particular yarn you love for socks? If so, what do you like about it?

Jo: If I’m knitting for myself, I love to find a wild yarn and hope for pooling, some of the Indie dyers in Germany especially do some amazing work. For designs though, I think it’s important for customers to be able to see all the detail of the design, so more often than not I’ll use Regia. It has a fantastic range of colours, is an affordable choice and very hard wearing.

Me: Any future designs you can tell any spoilers or sneak peeks about?

Jo: I have a cowl design that I’m very pleased with, that will be ready for release in early December – it’s got lots of texture but no purl stitches, I know so many people hate purling. For the new year, I already have a couple of colourwork sock designs planned, and some intricate cables.

Thanks, Jo, for answering my questions. I look forward to seeing your new designs, and have a great time in the GAL. I'm off to wind yarn now for On Cloud 9! I love a textured sock!

My next pattern pick from my to-be-cast-on-right-now list is this beautiful cowl, Fathom Five Shipwreck Cowl, by Raven Knits Design. The cowl is inspired by the Fathom Five National Marine Park in Ontario, Canada, where the designer is based. From the Ravelry pattern page, Raven Knits Design says "This cowl pattern is inspired by the rippling shoreline waves and silently swirling currents that will rise in a moment’s furious storm to waylay unsuspecting ship’s captains and drive their vessels into the unforgiving rocky islands north of Tobermory." 
​The Old Shale pattern is one I like very much, I've used it in designs myself, and it looks lovely in this pretty, feminine cowl.
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The pattern calls for light fingering weight yarn, and I plan to use this rich purple Wollmeise yarn.

The yarn is Wollmeise Lace Garn, which is more of a heavy fingering weight, despite its name, and the colourway is Lavendel.
This cowl will be for me, and I hope it will make a perfect extra layer at the top of lower-necked sweaters in place of a scarf.

If you like this design, there is a matching beret pattern, Fathom Five Grotto Hat, also available from Raven Knits Designs.

So the Gift-A-Long has begun! It started at 1am this morning UK time and even I'm not dedicated enough to be up at that hour of the night (!) so my first GAL cast-on will be waiting until a more civilised time. However, I know exactly what my first cast-on is going to be and that is Badlands hat by Kathryn Folkerth. 

The hat is designed for fingering weight yarn and, even though the pattern picture shows it made up in a solid coloured yarn, the stitch pattern is brilliant for multicolours. The reason I know this is that I was lucky enough to be allowed to test knit the co-ordinating Badlands mitts pattern, which is also available in Kathryn's Ravelry store. The hat and mitts form part of a pattern collection, Handmade for the Holidays, along with boot toppers, a cowl and mittens.
Here is a sneak peek of the mitts, and the yarn they were made from which will be used to create a matching hat, so you can see just how well-suited the design is for those multicoloured sock yarns that can be so hard to work with.

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This is Kathryn's first time participating as a designer in the GAL so I asked her some questions about what she's looking forward to most, and about her designs too.

Me: How and when did you start designing?

Kathryn: I kind of fell into designing. I wanted to make a specific blanket for my son but couldn’t find a pattern for anything close to what I was picturing in my head. I ended up putting it together myself and in the process discovered that I really like the process of designing so I’ve kept at it.

Me: Which is your favourite design, and why?

Kathryn: It’s usually whatever I happen to be working on at the moment.

Me: What was the inspiration for your Badlands hat and mitts?

Kathryn: The inspiration for the hat and mitts was the yarn (The Fibre Company Cumbria Fingering in Cumbria). I originally purchased it together with a lovely grey thinking that I’d use it for colorwork, but the more I looked at it in the hank the more I fell in love with it by itself. I wanted to really showcase it’s beauty while using every bit of it possible. I came up with a subtly textured hat and mitts to use everything left over.

Me: This is your first time participating in the Gift A Long - what are you looking forward to most?

Kathryn:  I’m really looking forward to knitting other people’s patterns. There are several eligible patterns that have been in my queue since they came out (Starshower, Beacon Hill, And She Was, Fireside Pullover) that I’m ecstatic to finally get a crack at. I’ll definitely get the Starshower in and probably draw lots for which sweater I go with.

Me: Are there any upcoming design plans you can share?

Kathryn: I have a few kids’ patterns in testing right now. They’re all in my project pages if anyone wants to peruse.

Me: Thanks for answering my questions, and for letting me test your mitt pattern. I'm really looking forward to creating the matching hat! Have a great GAL!

With only hours left now until the GAL kicks off (as it were) I thought it was time we covered some housekeeping. To help you to get the most out of the GAL, try these hints and tips.

1. Do - wait until 8pm US-EST before trying to use the discount coupon code. That's 1am on Wednesday 23rd November if you're in the UK, and 2am in continental Europe, 5pm on Tuesday evening for US Pacific time, and not until lunchtime on Wednesday for the Aussies and Kiwis. The code giftalong2016 won't work until then! The sale finishes at 11.59pm US-EST on November 30th so you've got plenty of time to buy your patterns, and then come back for some more while the sale is still on (and even buy some more afterward, but obviously the code won't work after the sale is over).

2. Don't - be alarmed that you have to check out multiple times if you're buying patterns from more than one designer. Even though all the patterns go into one shopping cart, you'll need to check out each individual designer's patterns seperately as you're buying from each designer directly. And we all thank you for doing that. Just make sure to enter the discount code giftalong2016 (every time if you're buying discounted patterns).

3. Do - set up your project pages, tag your projects with the appropriate tags and dive into the appropriate KAL/CAL thread for your project type. The KAL/CAL threads will open up when the GAL begins, one for each project category from hats/head things, down to feet/foot things. If you're unsure exactly where to place your project, just ask, and please post each one only in one KAL/CAL thread.

4. Don't  - be put off by the volume of chat in the KAL/CAL threads! If you thought the Pre-GAL Chat was busy, just wait until the event starts. You'll find you step away from the computer for a while to go to work, to sleep, to attend to personal hygiene (and please do do that!), and when you get back there are 800 unread posts in your absence. It's perfectly OK to pass over everything you've missed and just jump straight back in with where the thread has moved on to. We all do it and you'll soon catch up again.

5. Do - feel free to chat, post as much as you like, and join in the games. Some of the games are fastest-finger-first types or trivia question spot-prizes and the more you post the more chance you have of winning a digital prize. Good luck!

6. Don't  - forget the rules! OK, so this is going to be the only stern teacher-face one. Only patterns from participating designers can play along in the GAL, and if it's a free pattern you can put it in the appropriate KAL/CAL thread but it won't be eligible for a prize from the FO thread.

7. And finally, DO - enjoy yourself!! This is meant to be fun, so dive in, participate as much as you feel comfortable with, hopefully make some new friends, grab some pattern bargains, find some new-to-you favourite designers and end the GAL with some beautiful FOs (and some equally beautiful WIPs!)

Have a wonderful Gift-A-Long!!