The Pitfalls of a KAL

For those of you who don't knit and read my blog (thank you very much by the way), a KAL is a Knit-A-Long; when two or more knitters decide they want to make the same pattern and rely on each other for support, cheer-leading and a sense of camaraderie. Upon leaving for any trip my first thought is never clothing, it is 'What projects am I taking with me?' What will I be doing on this trip? How long am I going for? For example, on my three day road trip to Columbus, Ohio I brought 3 projects.


What do I bring along with me as I prepare to leave for Tahoe? Friends have rented a house so there inevitably will be sitting around, drinking, chatting, eating and lots of boating. So, something simple, and maybe something that's been on the needles a lot longer than it should. If I am away from all my other knitting then maybe I have the chance to finish something. Just maybe.


That's where the KAL comes in. A long time ago, March to be precise, my friends Molly, Hilary and I all decided to make the Jetty sweater. Molly started hers in Madelinetosh DK and I started mine in Malabrigo worsted and Hilary didn't start hers at all. She still hasn't. Molly finished hers in a timely fashion and I am still working on it. I have taken off for the armholes but that is where I stopped. Sigh. Maybe I can make some progress on it. It's coming on the actual plane with me along with 3 extra balls of yarn.  Yes I am going to Tahoe for 6 days. You do the math.


After Molly finished Jetty she wanted more KALs. Out of my aforementioned sack project I pulled a pair of fair isle knee high socks. I rarely finish socks. This could overturn the entire sack project! So, Molly said she's knit-along with me. I am through the 3rd repeat of the foot almost to the heel of the first sock and there I have stopped. I am sure she is done with at least one sock by now. At the same I also agreed to another KAL with Molly (do you see a trend here?), Dark & Stormy, a Baby Cocktails cardigan pattern. I love it, I love the yarn, I love knitting on it. I took off for the armholes and made it another 5 inches. There I have stopped.

Neither the sock nor the Dark & Stormy sweater are coming to Tahoe with me. Next on the list of KALs I joined was the Spectra scarf. It was an informal KAL started my someone I know on the knitting website Ravelry. The pattern was launched and I just had to start it. That is coming to Tahoe with me. After that my friend Stefanie suggested a KAL for the Uma and Ursula kits we bought from Scarlet Fleece. She's finished one monster and started the second. I've got the body done on one. 

I am not a slow knitter by any means. I just get distracted by other projects and other KALs  But I am more than happy to be a joiner. Which is something I never would have said in high school.


Speaking of joining you should join the other 25 backers and help The Wool Dispensary get to YarnCon. It's the hand dyed yarn company I started with Bree Miller. We are pretty awesome and with your help could only be more so. The project is on Kickstarter, our link can be found here. If you don't want to fund us find someone else to fund.