It's Make-A-Long time!

When the tribe comes alive...

Long standing viewers of my YouTube channel will know that September signals the time of the West Knits Mystery-Knit-A-Long… its like Knitters Christmas!

For those of you new to the make-a-long, for the month of October we all cast on the same shawl project by designer Stephen West. We get told the colour suggestions and yarn requirements, and the name of the new design - that’s it! We go in blind, cast-on together and see where the project takes us. Week by week the pattern reveals itself until week 4 when we get to see the finished design.

This year’s shawl excitement has been released and we’re going to be casting on Geogradient - my mind is already racing with shawl shapes and the techniques we could end up using.

You can find out more about this year’s MKAL and the yarn requirements on Stephen’s website.

This will be my 5th year taking part and some of the previous shawls are my most worn knitted items. There’s something lovely about wrapping up in a big shawl for a warming cuddle, with a project that you know you made yourself.

Shawlography from 2021. Yarn by Lola Bean Yarn Co

I mention the MKAL in today’s blog, partly because its good timing for 1st September being MKAL launch month, but also because the community aspect of the make-a-long is something that I really love.

In a previous post I talked about finding your tribe, how crafting can bring people together. A make-a-long is the perfect opportunity to meet like minded people all working on the same project together. During last year’s MKAL I found myself in a world of trouble on one of the sections. We were working in garter stitch but due to the change in direction on the shawl we were purling rows, instead of knitting them.

My tension when I purl is clearly very different to my tension when I knit and the two sections side by side were visibly different.

DISASTER!

See exhibit A and B below. Exhibit A is the left side and looks nice and neat. Exhibit B is very loose and even for non-knitters you can see the difference.

Exhibit A and B

I sent the photo to a knitting friend who replied “wow, that is a lot different!” But thanks to the community of knitters on Ravelry and through my collaboration with Irina from Fiber Chats there were folks who were ahead of me in the pattern and had already had a similar issue, but had also found a way of reverse engineering the pattern so that both sides could be knit - no purls!

This support and free advice kept me on track. The tribe of West Knitters came to the rescue and helped me get my shawl back on track.

Twists & Turns from 2022. Yarn by La Bien Aimée

The age of the Internet has opened up a world of connections. This millennial is old enough to remember a time where the internet didn’t exist at home, but is grateful enough to the advancement of modern technology that enables me to connect with like minded crafters the world over.

Not everyone is luckily enough to have a local yarn shop that they can pop into for help. But I’ve found the crafting community is there to catch you when you’re in need of help, and cheer you on when you finish a project (and always encourage you to start something new!)

Slipstravaganza from 2021. Yarn by The Urban Purl

Irina and I will once again be collaborating and bringing our #Knit365 and #FiberChat communities together during this year’s MKAL. Make sure you’re following us both on Instagram and subscribed to our YouTube channels so you don’t miss out on the fun and excitement.

Are you joining in this year’s MKAL? Tell me about your crafting tribe!

I’d love you to join my growing community here on Substack. It’s free to join and I’m grateful for you being here.

Until next time. Happy Crafting.