Yarnsgiving 2026

Yes yarnsgiving is just around the corner again. The year has flown by yet again.  I have to thank Lindsey for reminding me when I missed the original email. 

For those who don't know the Craft Yarn Council of America and Warm Up America promote the making and giving of yarn items during the season leading up to Christmas and the Christmas season.  There are sponsors who are very supportive of this endeavor.  I'll add them here.  They are fantastic, so please patronize their businesses.

BERROCO — https://berroco.com/

CASCADE YARNS — https://www.cascadeyarns.com/

CGOA — www.crochet.org

CLOVER NEEDLECRAFT, INC. — www.clover-usa.com

DMC GROUP — https://www.dmc.com/

GOSADI — https://gosadi.com/

KNITPRO — https://www.knitpro.eu/

LION BRAND YARN COMPANY — www.lionbrand.com

LOCAL CRAFTS — 

PRYM CONSUMER USA, INC — www.prym.com

RED HEART YARNS — www.redheart.com

ROWAN — 

SIRDAR — 

YARNSPIRATIONS — https://www.yarnspirations.com/

The teachers of the Craft Yarn Council were asked to design either a knit or crochet project or both if they can.  I'll be participating again this year.  It's a lot of fun.

Keep your eyes open to see what I am doing.  My patterns go live October 1st the same as everyone else's.  You can find previous years patterns available here. 

It's Been a Long Time

2026

Highlights so far 

Bingo card for the year filled out.  January.  Discarded March.  It had a cape,a coat, 3 dresses, 2 tablecloth repairs, 12 each hat cowl mittens slippers and blankets, 4 sweaters and a lot of other things.  It was totally insane.  Reason for discard...............

I signed up for the first level of the Master hand knitter's program.  I had signed up for this in 2019 before we were in the whole buy a house and move and take care of those who can't for themselves. 

So far I have the preliminary swatch done and 2 of the rib/garter swatch.  I will say the program has changed since I signed up before. The report is not to be an academic paper but more so a book report type.  The references have been streamlined to mainly articles from the national guild's magazine, Cast On. 

I have also swatched for a class for beaded chain necklaces and a class for cup cozies. Both of them were taught at the gallery on market Street in a local town.  I have also swatched for a scarf class coming this fall at the same place. 

I've done a boatload of swatches for display boards for both knitting and crocheting.  They are used for public interest. 

The knit guild, the crochet guild and the lace group Ii belong to participated in the 4th of July celebrations.  And we participated in the community night for the county fair. These generated interest. 

I taught about Dorset buttons (history and the how to of the various types) at the knit guild and the lace group.  Some of the people really ran with the idea.  They created beautiful things.

I'm swatching for and teaching about rug braiding.  The project is a trivet.  I'm suggesting that people use an old sheet.  They are readily available and washable.  My issue like many is tension in the lacing of the braid.

I've learned about Romanian Point Lace.  I have done my cord 3 times, each time improving.  The project was a flower.  I did the center in the wagon wheel pattern we were told to do.  I did the leaves in the leaf pattern we were taught.  Then I did the petals in each pattern in the hand outs.  It is a bit over sized.  It is definitely colorful.

I'm participating in the yarnsgiving event again.  October 1 is the soft launch.  October 11 is the full on launch.  Check back  here for the patterns I give.  Check here for all the offerings.

I'm in an arrangement with the local grange hall to run a craft night.  The local crochet guild secretary and I teach all kinds of things.  We have run with crochet and knitting first.  Now we are teaching macrame.  I haven't done this since middle school.  Each of the people who come bring with them a whole host of talents.  One woman has been showing us a wide variety of old crafts that she learned from her grandmother.  This is fun.  The one that really wow'd us was the long pompom animals.  I'll post a picture with the instructions in the future.

Afghans

 Afghans are desirable for nearly every situation.  Cold?  Here's a blanket.  Need a cushion for comfort?  Sit on a folded blanket.  Need something for an impromptu picnic?  Here's a throw.  Need some shade in the bright light? An afghan, no matter how lacy, if YOU can find a way to prop it up, will offer you some shade.

Now what if you have a child or grandchild who is obsessed with blankets?  Blankets for forts.  Blankets for cuddling.  Blankets for hiding under.   What if you don't have a young person in your life who loves to play with blankets?  They are always a great thing for a gift.  They are a great thing to donate to charities like homeless shelters, animal shelters, NICUs, PICUs, you name it.  A cuddly afghan can keep you warm in the face of many different hardships and losses.

Fleece fabric can be the fastest way to make a blanket.  Crochet or knit are among the slower ways to make a blanket. Let's look at a few stitch patterns that can speed up the knit and crochet.  I won't go into the debate about microplastics vs. ease of cleaning and use and costs.

Crochet. A large granny square can be fairly quick to work up. Lace can be quick but it isn't very warm.  Very tall stitches like double trebles and triple trebles can be even faster to work up but like lace might not be very warm.  A double crochet chevron can be fairly quick. 

Decide what you want to do.  Do you want to learn new stitches while working on the blanket?  Ok.  You can do it in horizontal sections.  Or you can do it in square swatches that later need stitched together.  A wise idea for this type would be to keep the colors limited and repeat them.

Do you want some stitching that you can do without thinking too hard?  Use the same stitch and possibly more colors.  Our mothers and grandmothers might have had the right idea with the chevron afghan on the back of the sofa in 1 main color and 2 to 4 accent colors in the center.  

Most afghans are done with worsted weight yarns but current thoughts are to use the blanket yarn which is a size 7 yarn.  This is soft and squishy but the jury is still out for how long it holds up under regular use and laundering.  If this yarn is like the chenille sweaters from the 90's it won't last long at all.

Happy Yarnsgiving!!

Here's my contribution of a turkey napkin ring.  He's quick to work.  Experienced crocheters should be able to do one in an hour.

Thanksgiving napkin ring.  I used a boye hook size H and Caron simply soft yarn.  It's a fun little thing to crochet.

Thanksgiving napkin ring 

Designer:  Wendy Stumpf 

Boye crochet hook size H

Caron Simply Soft yarn 

            Autumn maize 

            Autumn red

            Pumpkin 

            Chocolate 

            Red

Gauge:  not important 

Stitches:  dc - double crochet 

                  Sc - single crochet 

                  Fsc - foundation single crochet 

                  Fhdc - foundation half double crochet 

                  Ch - chain 

                   Sl st - slip stitch 

                   Sk - skip

                   St(s) - stitch(es)

Body 

     Using chocolate yarn, ch 5.  Join in the first ch to form a ring.

     Ch 3 (counts as a dc now and throughout), 15 dc in the ring. Join with sl st in the top of the ch 3.

     Ch 3, dc in same place, 2 dc in each st around.  Join in the top of the ch 3.  Fasten off.

Tail feathers and head

     Using autumn maize, join in any st.  * Ch 2, sl st in the st to the right.  Fsc 4 sts, fhdc 2 sts.  3 dc and hdc in the fhdc, hdc in the next st, sc in the next 4 sts.  Sl st in the st to the left of the join.  Fasten off.

      Using pumpkin, join in the st to the left.  Repeat from *.  

      Using autumn red, join in the st to the left.  Repeat from *.  

      Using pumpkin, join in the st to the left.  Repeat from *.

      Using autumn maize, join in the 5th st from the pumpkin tail feather.  Repeat from *.

Legs

     Using autumn maize, join in the 8th st from the neck.  * Ch 6, (ch 3, sl st in the 2nd st from the hook and the next st)  repeat 3x, sl st back to the body and in the next st. Repeat from *. Fasten off.

Weave ends.

Use the picture for placement of facial features.  With chocolate, place a French knot on the head.  With red, embroidery the wattle.  With pumpkin, add the bill.

Ring

     With chocolate, ch 20 sts.  In the 4th ch from the hook and in each st, dc.

     Ch 3, turn and dc in each st across and in the top of the ch 3.

Sew the end of the ring to the wrong side of the turkey on the left hand side.  Sew the other end of the ring to the wrong side of the turkey on the right hand side.

  

     

Swatching: The HOW

 There are two schools of thought about how to swatch.

School 1  Chain or cast on 4 inches of stitches.  Crochet or knit using the stitch pattern in the gauge of the pattern.  Work four inches of length.  Bind off or Fasten off.  Do you get the same number of stitches and rows as the pattern says you should?  No?  Change the size of the tool.  Too many stitches for the four inches? Increase the size of the tool.  Too few stitches for the four inches?  Decrease the size of the tool.

School 2 Chain or cast on at least 6 inches of stitches.  Using the stitch pattern listed in the gauge section of the pattern, work 6 inches or more of length.  Bind off or fasten off.  Now measure the center 4 inches in both directions.  Use pins to show where the center 4 inches are.  Too many? Too few?  Increase or decrease the size of the tool and try again.

Wash and block your swatch and remeasure the gauge.  Has the gauge changed?  Re swatch. 

OR

Make multiple swatches and on the first row make a different stitch for the number of the tool size.  So if you are using a 4 mm hook, do four stitches different on r 1.  If you are using a US 7 needle purl 7 stitches.  Or write on the swatch with a sharpie or embroider with a different color.

Now the analysis.

School 1 works very much to the skills of the experienced.  Edge stitches are notorious for being oversized in the beginner stitching.  Or for being missing altogether.  This form of swatch is looking for very even sttiches to form very even rows so that you get an accurate gauge.

School 2 works for every one but is a good friend to the beginner stitcher.  In this form of swatching, you measure the center four inches in each direction.  This is where the most even stitching is located. The edges can be wonky.  The chain edge or the  bind off edge can be tight and it won't affect gauge.  That is not to say you can keep it for the project you are swatching for, but it won't affect the stitch count.

So which way should you swatch?  Depends.  The larger swatch will work for everyone one of every skill level.  But before you hold your swatch to being accurate after stitching, wash and block the swatches.  Washing might not be completely necessary but saturation is.  Spraying and steaming will be helpful for blocking once the object is done but that isn't how you are going to clean it.  How will full saturation affect the yarn?  Does the ball band say it's machine washable?  How does full saturation and agitation affect the yarn?  Is it hang dry?  Lay fliat and dry?  Machine dry?  How do these affect the yarn and the swatch?  Be careful that you don't toss your non superwash wool into the washer and dryer.  They will felt and shrink.  

Swatching: the why

A few years ago, I shared trunkfuls of ideas for what you can use swatches for, or granny squares/motif squares.  Sweaters, blankets, and pillows, oh my.  Some projects look great with a broad spectrum of colors.  Others will be better with the components being all the same color or range of colors or the same pattern.

But let's examine why we might want to swatch.  I'll go over how to swatch later.

We would want to swatch if fit mattered.  It would be nice if something you are making for a gift would fit the recipient, wouldn't it? So, swatching to be sure your stitching is the same as the pattern is important.  You might need to work many swatches with different sizes and different types of material of hook or needle to get the gauge.

We would want to swatch to see how our yarn choice reacts to the blocking process.  Blocking is part of the cleaning process.  Soak the swatch in a rinse-free wool wash.  Drain and start by patting it into shape. OR better still, treat the swatch the way you will be treating the finished garment or item.   Has it grown? Which way did it grow?  Did it shrink?  Which way?  Now you have to go back to trying a different size tool or a different material.  Will it work with all patterns?  

Personally, and I advise this to many, I think a very patterned yarn hides the beautiful stitchwork I have done.  Is the yarn highly textured?  Is it really fuzzy?  This can hide my beautiful stitchwork also.

New and Exciting Things Are Happening

 Next year, I will be participating in more historical events for knit history and crochet history.  Most of these events require period costuming so I will be working on that. 

Next year, I will be a project leader for the local 4-H.  I will teach knitting to the children and teens who want to learn.  More information is needed for me.  But for now, I think I have completed all the training, clearances, and forms.

Next year, the knitting guild and the crochet guild I belong to will be teaching knitting and crocheting to the Kimmerlings Grange.  We will be worked into their schedule of events.

But the newest news is that we have a wedding coming up in our family.  My younger son is getting married next month.  And then to our surprise, a grand nephew has gotten engaged.