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KALs

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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….. 

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Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]