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Welcome to the third post in the Summer Series! Today I’m talking about knit alongs. I find them such a spur to my own creativity, and love hosting them, taking part in them, and just generally following them on Ravelry. I’ve got some suggestions for KALs that you might want to join. Also, to follow on from yesterday’s interview, I have a book review of the gorgeous new book from Emily Quinton, Maker Spaces
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Show Sponsors
Today’s show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their absolutely gorgeous Acadia yarn.
Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace. The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments.
I’ve knit with Acadia before (most notably for my two-colour Whispering Island Shawl sample) and I really love it. You can purchase Acadia at our other sponsor’s shop, Meadow Yarn:
Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It’s a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more.
Show links:
Skein Studio Shawl KAL/CAL
Dates: June 1st until August 1st
Not a lot of time left in this one but you might already have something on the needles that will qualify. The rules are that you can knit any shawl pattern, as long as you are using hand-dyed yarn. I’m actually knitting a Candlelit Shawl right now with some Skein hand-dyed yarn, but I began it before the cast on date! I’ll probably still join in the chatter thread.
Knitting Pipeline Cavepoint KAL
Dates: July 3rd until August 31st
You have to cast on and off within the time frame, so I won’t qualify for this one, but I highly recommend it! I cast on in June and I’m flying through this shawl. I love this pattern, am really enjoying the knit. Super relaxing knitting and very addictive.
Knit Girllls Stash Dash
Dates: 12:01am on May 22nd until 11:59pm August 14th.
This is in its 4th year and it’s become quite a huge event on Ravelry! It covers the crafts of knitting, spinning, crochet, tatting and weaving, and it’s all about using up stash and finishing works in progress. It comes in three levels, measured by yardage: you can choose from the 3k 5k or 10k levels
2 Knit Lit Chicks Cardi/Tank/Tee KAL
Dates: May 1st until August 1st
This is another one finishing up soon but again you might already have a WIP that could be finished within the time frame. Given our recent discussion about summer knitting and all those great tee patterns, this one is very timely!
Kettle Yarn Boardwalk Collection KAL
Dates: August 2st until September 6th
If you read my recent blog post for the Boardwalk Collection Blog Tour, you’ll know that the collection is full of inspiring new patterns, all using Kettle Yarn Co’s new yarn Islington DK. The KAL hasn’t started yet, so you have lots of time to choose your favourite!
Yarniacs Colours of Fall KAL
Dates: June 21st (Summer Solstice) until September 23rd (Autumnal Equinox)
I follow along with this KAL every year, even though I haven’t managed to enter it yet. Loving colour the way I do, it really speaks to me. The KAL is one that really get the creativity flowing. The rules are very simple: knit a fall look using one or more of the colour from the Pantone Fashion Colour Report for Fall 2015. Incidentally, I think that several of the Islington DK colourways would be ideal for this! For example:
Book Review:
Maker Spaces by Emily Quinton
I met Emily through taking one of her Makelight Workshops, really great photography workshops in London.
Emily has very kindly given me a copy of Maker Spaces for a giveaway! You have two weeks to enter this contest. All you have to do is go over to the post on my blog with Emily’s interview and leave a comment about your favourite space to work.
Events:
I’m looking forward to September 5th, when I’ll be taking part in the Great London Yarn Crawl. I’ll be sharing a stand at their pop up marketplace Indie Designer Spotlight with some other wonderful designers, so I hope to see you there.
Exciting news: on Friday the 9th of October I will be hosting a Curious Handmade Workshop with Emily Quinton from Makelight Studios and my friend Vicki Hillman, a very talented fashion stylist. (I interviewed her on the podcast back in May!)
As always, thank you so much for listening and for being a part of the Curious Handmade community. Happy knitting!
