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Giftapalooza 2019: Smart-Ass Holiday Cheer for all

*SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!*

Every year apparently I write a few paragraphs of heart-warming crap. Then I get carried away and things get inevitably blown out of proportion and I end up spending $20 per week on Kleenex. Thanks.

See? We live in a cynical world, filled these days with a lot of hate and anger, leaving us feeling defeated and disheartened. 

Yet in the midst of all of this, there are knitters. You knitters who make things with your hands. Who craft beauty and hope into every stitch. You knitters who send words of comfort, who share joys and who go out of your way to make others feel welcome. You knitters who band together in support of each other, in many cases traveling thousands of miles to reach each other.

It is this friendship that we celebrate through Giftapalooza. Not only the friendships we have now, but the community built by fostering new ones.

Giftapalooza is all about community. It's about thinking about not only who is in our community now, but who needs to be here. It's about reaching out to them, and introducing them around the circle so that they know they are needed, they are wanted and they are accepted, just as they are. 

This year, think about how you can reach out to other knitters and introduce them into our community of amazing humans. Who needs a friend? A community? We welcome them. Who is having a rough time? Needs a lift? Let us help.

This is the spirit of Giftapalooza. The spirit of reaching out to other humans and making connections. Join us.

What is Giftapalooza? 

Giftapalooza is our annual tradition of sharing the knitterly love.

Give a gift. Get a gift.

Sign up for the gift you wish to receive, throw your name in the hat and let us do the rest. You’ll be matched with 2 “partners” (one you will “send” to and one who will “send” to you), and in December, the season of stress and insanity, you’ll receive your chosen gift from your partner. Exactly the gift you want. But with a small element of surprise.

See? It’s not buying more yarn for YOU. It’s someone else buying it as a GIFT TO you. And in return, you are “sending” a gift to yet another person.

Order as much of each base as you like, choosing to have all skeins (in one base) in the same colour, or in different colours. What you order, is what your exchange partner will send you.

In Giftapalooza tradition, all colourways will be one-of-a-kind, non-repeatable colours. You will have some control over colour choices, but leave the rest to us and the dyepot magic.

What yarns???
Chameleon Sock (63% extrafine merino/20% cashmere/17% silk)
Merino Sport (100% sw merino)
Wingenhooven DK (60% sw merino/20% yak/20% mulberry silk)
NUT-FREE (for people with wool fibre allergies): Linen Silk Lace (65% linen/35% silk)

And Kits!
Love Note by tincanknits
Modern Fibre Cuff by Modern Fibre

Giftapalooza is not about the yarn.
That’s right. We said it.

Never has been…never will be.

Giftapalooza is about the amazing community of people we have gathered around us, and sharing your friendship with others.

So this is what we do --
After sign-ups have closed, if you opt in, we’ll be pairing you with two other Giftapaloozers to encourage one of our favourite things about Indigodragonfly fans: community.

If you wish, send your downstream partner a holiday greeting of some kind. This can be as simple as a 2 sentence note, a photograph or favourite recipe. It can be as complicated as getting your toddler to put to paper his/her interpretation of the latest Star Wars epic or a portrait of your latest WIP. (No one is expected to spend money on this part…something simple from the heart, reaching out to another knitter at a stressful time of year is what we hope happens)

And a different person will be sending goodies to you. Spreading the love upstream and downstream, and connecting you with 2 other knitters. Please do take the time to do this small piece. I have it on very good authority that the 4 or 5 words you send off to your partner will carry them and support them for a very long time.

Surprise packages — give to a friend or a stranger…
(AKA “make Kim cry constantly for a month”)

Finally, the tradition we’ve come to love the most. We will also be taking nominations for “sooper sekrit anonymous surprise packages” to be sent to people who deserve a little extra something this year.

Know someone who could use a little extra love this year? Nominate them by emailing us at orders@indigodragonfly.ca, subject line: Giftapalooza Nominee and tell us about them (why we should pick them, full name, mailing address, and favourite colour (s)). We will let you know if your nominee has been chosen. (Please note, Indigodragonfly staff and volunteers are not eligible for nominations. If there is a sheep beside their name in our Ravelry forum, they are disqualified. For very good reasons. If someone received a gift package in the past 3 years, they are also not eligible)

Want to spread even more love by sending a package to someone specific? We will have a listing for sending gift packages as well. Choose the recipient or tell us to send to someone on our nomination list.

Sign ups start: November 4 at 9 am Eastern
Sign ups end: November 30 at 11 pm Eastern (or when all spaces are filled)

Partner assignments and package shipments start in early December.

Sign up here: https://indigodragonfly.ca/collections/giftapalooza