KALs – Knitting

Or Knit-A-Longs

I’ve taken part in a few of these, they’re fun. The problem I have is time. With working and farming I don’t have a scheduled amount of time to knit (funny how hobbies are like that!).

But, I want to do another one.

This time, rather than surfing the internet to find just the right KAL for my hockey project, I want to hear from you. If left to my own devices, I’d choose something like Rowan’s Helsinki, which is a “hat scarf” with armholes. It’s gorgeous. There is a picture here: https://colorfulstitches.com/store/DisplayProduct.php?sku=Helsinki

And Rowan’s Cocoon yarn, chosen for this project, has names like Tundra, Shale, Mountain, and Polar. Who wouldn’t want to knit with that? The problem here is that for my lifestyle this yarn isn’t really practical, only because it would need to be durable, and “farmy” rather than soft and elegant. So I’ll head over to www.yarndex.com to see what I can find there. Or, I could visit my stash where I have a lot of Lopi. But what I have enough of is dark brown. Yuk. Actually that is really pretty yarn, just not for this project.

And here are knitting.craftgossip.com we are all about matching our yarns with our lifestyles. Yeah right!

Ok, I have a long, long, snowy cold winter coming up. I need to get all of my ducks in one puddle. And all of my patterns and yarns matched up. No one has ever had too many WIP’s so that’s not really an issue is it?

So, what do you think? A hat scarf knit-a-long? Something else? How about a stash-a-long?

I’m waiting…..

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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