How do you sum up a knit-along in one blog post?

Here at Stolen Stitches HQ, we love knit-alongs and not just for the knitting. The participants usually don’t all know each other and we all have different levels of knitting experience. Some of us it’s our first garment and for others, they are here for the techniques and new skills they can learn but all of us finish up the KAL with a new online knitting buddy. Because this is one of the most important aspects of a KAL for us we also start with an Introduction Thread.

Introductions

Before the KAL starts we all get to know each other a little and this year the KAL participants can from all across the U.S., Canada, Sweeden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, U.K., Australia Israel, French Alps, and Greece. I’ll be honest, I’m probably missing a country or two in here too. We got right to choosing our yarn be it Nua or stash and we helped each other in choosing the right colour and getting down to swatching too. We met new puppies and kittens and we even got to know a little bit behind our home towns. Before we knew it, the first clue was on its way and the KAL was off!

 

Routines

There has been a routine here each morning from when the first clue launches and that is to turn the coffee machine on, load up the laptop, open Ravelry, make the coffee and then take some time to scroll through the KAL boards. It always starts with that week’s FO picture board to see who has been posting and then into the chatter to see who might need a hand. The Tutorial videos are always ready in advance so as soon as that clue hits we know the KAL team has references to turn too.

This year we tackled provisional cast ons, neck bands and yokes, we tackled pattern adjustments on the fly for body shape, lace increases and this was all in just week 1. Week 2 was about continuing that momentum and getting those sleeves on holders, knitting the body of the cardigan and working those buttonholes. This KAL also took place over WWKIP day and we had quite a few knitters working on their Spraoi and a big hello to elisaelisa and we hope you enjoyed the Phillies game!

Our Spraoi week three was all about those sleeves which we all thought would fly after the body lace but low and behold some of us ended up on sleeve island. It’s all good because that’s what a knitting buddy is for, to help you pick up those needles, share some funny stories. Some of us are still knitting to the deadline of July 8th to be in with a chance to win that squishy yarn prize but here is a little taste of the finished Spraoi cardigans on Ravelry so far:

 

 

Can we also give a special shout out to Opiatepix who managed to knit both a cardigan and a shrug version of Spraoi during the KAL!

Don’t worry if you are still knitting.  You have until the morning of July 8th to post your picture of your FO here. On the morning of the 8th July (Irish Time) Carol will draw a prize winner by raffle to win 10 skeins of Nua in a colour of your choice so you can knit another sweater for yourself!

Thank you all so much for joining us in the Spraoi KAL! There have been lightbulb moments, tears and laughter and we can’t wait to see all the finished cardigans in the wild.