2026 Keeping it Simple MAL

Welcome to our 2026 Keeping It Simple MAL! This MAL will run from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2026.

As the name suggests, I want to keep this as simple as possible for everyone while still providing a useful structure for our making throughout the year. If you have questions about anything, please ask below, and I’ll be happy to clarify the guidelines as needed.

The general chatter thread for the year can be found in the Ravelry group, which is also where you can post your WIPs and FOs. You can also participate by posting to Instagram using the hashtag #FDWKIS2026

PARTICIPATING

To participate, you get to choose what your goals are for the year and how you want to approach them. This aspect of the MAL is very loose on purpose so that you can focus on what best suits your interests and time.

While we’re mainly focused on the fiber arts here — knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving, stitching, etc. — you are most welcome to plan and share about any other making goals you have for the year!

If you would like to create a planning/goal list for yourself (which is totally optional!), I’ve created a thread for that purpose here: Planning Thread (No Chatter) (Rav link)

Please also feel free to participate by posting about your projects and your finished objects on Instagram. The hashtag for the MAL will be: #FDWKIS2026. You are welcome to post both here AND on Instagram. Whatever works best for you! (And yes, I know, I’m always frustrated by IG, but I don’t want to eliminate it completely since there are some who are only able to participate there.)

QUARTERLY CHALLENGES (Optional!)

New this year will be four quarterly challenges that you can choose to participate in if you’d like. This is meant to be a little extra source of fun and motivation, but by no means should it be restrictive. There will be a specific thread for each of the quarterly challenges where you’ll post your FOs, and an additional prize winner will be picked from those threads each quarter. With the exception of Q1, projects need to be started and finished within the challenge quarter to be eligible for prizes.

The challenge topics will be as follows:

Q1 (Jan 1 – Mar 31) – Whipping Your WIPs — Pull out your WIPs and get them finished. Projects for this challenge need to have been started before Jan. 1, 2026. Meeting this challenge can also mean frogging WIPs that you know you won’t finish. Be sure to take a before and after picture of the project and then the recovered yarn.

If you are one of those rare individuals who do not have any WIPs, your challenge is to whip your stash into order! That can be your yarn stash, your crafting supplies, your patterns. Whatever of your crafting world is in disarray, get it organized! Take before/after pictures for submitting this challenge, or if that isn’t feasible, post a description of what you did — i.e. went through your Rav queue and deleted projects you’ll never make. The same stash organization project can only be submitted once in this quarter. (So if you re-org your yarn stash in Jan, then decide in Mar you’d rather have it a different way, it will only count once for the challenge.)

Anyone is welcome to both parts of this challenge, regardless of whether or not you have WIPs to work on.

Q2 (Apr 1 – June 30) – Something New — Try projects that use new-to-you techniques, or a whole new craft that you’ve not tried before.

Q3 (July 1 – Sept 30) – Gifts — Let’s get a jump on end-of-the-year gift making! This can also include holiday decor items.

Q4 – (Oct 1 – Dec 31) – Little Things — It’s a busy time of year, so let’s keep our makes small. Projects between 25 and 100 grams count here. You can group several small items (of the same type) to get within that range.

FIBERNYMPH DYE WORKS YARN/FIBER COMPONENT (Optional!)

The Fibernymph Dye Works yarn/fiber component is back in the MAL again this year! This is completely optional and will work as follows:

If any of your projects are made using FDW yarn or fiber, you’ll be able to post your finished objects in the FDW Entries thread (Rav link) in the Ravelry group, which makes you eligible for an extra prize draw each quarter.

For projects make with a variety of yarns/fiber other than FDW, at least one quarter of the grams of your FO must be FDW yarn/fiber to be eligible for posting in this thread. (Ex. A shawl that weighs 240 grams must be made with at least 60 grams of FDW yarn.)

Only new projects as of 2026 will qualify to be included in the FDW Entries thread; FDW WIPs from years prior to 2026 are not eligible for this thread but they are most welcome to be posted in the main Chatter/FO thread.

If you spin FDW fiber that qualifies for the FDW FO thread and then later knit/crochet/weave with that same yarn, you are permitted to submit both the spun yarn FO and the knit/crochet/woven FO in the thread as separate FOs as long as they were both fully completed in 2026.

In addition to quarterly drawings, if you use at least 800 grams of FDW yarn/fiber during 2026, you’ll also earn a free skein of yarn/braid of fiber in an exclusive colorway at the end of the year! The FDW Entries thread will be available as of January 1.

PRIZES

Prizes for this MAL will be drawn on a quarterly basis: April, July, October, and January 2026. There will be four prize winners each quarter: one each from the Chatter/FO thread, the FDW Entries thread, one from the quarterly challenge thread, and one Instagram winner.

Because Instagram continues to be problematic with regard to seeing projects from specific time periods, any post using the #FDWKIS2026 hashtag through 2026 will be eligible for prize drawings throughout the entire year, however, the same post can only win once in the year.

A bit of a change on prizes this year — while I will continue to offer physical FDW yarn/fiber prizes that US-based winners can choose from, international winners will be offered either a FDW gift certificate or a downloadable pattern prize. International shipping costs have become bonkers, and I’d rather be able to continue to offer meaningful prizes rather than spending almost the same amount as the prize value in shipping, not even speaking of other fees associated with international deliveries. I deliberated on this for quite a while, and this seems to be the best way to handle the issue for me at this time.

And again, if you’re taking part in the Fibernymph Dye Works yarn/fiber component of the MAL, if you use at least 800 grams of FDW yarn/fiber during 2026, you’ll also earn a free skein of yarn/braid of fiber in an exclusive colorway at the end of the year!

If you have any questions about these guidelines or need clarification, feel free to leave a comment here, or you can email me at [email protected]. (Also, I did a fair bit of copy/paste from last year’s thread, so if I missed any “2025” references that don’t make sense, please let me know so that I can change them to 2026! LOL)