What started out as a Larch Cardigan knitalong has morphed a bit into a free-for-all Amy Christoffers KAL. Larch has been around for a little while; I know Preita‘s knit one, and Sarah of knityorkcity finished hers a couple of months ago, along with 200 other people who have fabulous tastes in knitwear. Since this is an older pattern, and quite a few people have knit it, and another Sarah asked about opening it up to any Amy Christoffers pattern so she could play along and finish her Acer Cardigan, I thought “what the hell” and am opening it up to all patterns by the amazingly talented Amy.
To keep this as cohesive as possible while we’re all knitting our own things (or Larches), here are some general guidelines:
- Choose one Savory Knitting garment to knit. There’s lots to options. Thirty, actually. Surely there’s at least one in the thirty available patterns that calls to you.
- Choose your yarn! Stash dive if you have the stash that allows for sweater quantities of yarn, or if you’re not as picky about knitting from the stash, go crazy at some place like WEBS or Mr. Yarn or your preferred LYS/online yarn store. I will say that I picked up the 15 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light I need for Larch for a steal from WEBS, thanks to their discount program.
- Already have a Savory Knitting pattern in progress? WIPs do count, but if you can hold off until the official start day so you can play along with us in “real time,” that’d be awesome. If not, no worries, I always encourage people to finish projects. A few of my real life knitting friends would tell you I find “encourage” to be synonymous with “harass.” They’re probably right.
- Official cast-on date will be February 1, because by then I should have my red yarn and will be back from a mini-vacation and work to-do and will be able to read a pattern. Swatching prior to February 1 is not only allowed but encouraged, and wash and block your swatch. Yes, swatches can lie, but they’re a bit more honest than “winging it” and discovering your gauge will yield a sweater two sizes bigger or smaller.
- Official bind-off date will be March 31. That’s two months! You can do it!
- Leave a comment here to let me know if you’re planning on participating, and be sure to include a link to your blog if you have one. Also indicate which pattern(s) you’re considering, as there is strength in numbers and if multiple people are knitting the same sweater, you’ll have a mini support group. Alternatively, I’ve started a thread in the 2012: A Sweater Odyssey group on Ravelry, so you can post status updates there as well.
- Tag your projects in Ravelry with “savorykal“, and use that hashtag if you mention your knitting progress on Twitter.
- I’ll discuss my progress on my Larch as I go, but I’ll be posting or linking to updates on other projects if participants are cool with me talking about their projects. We won’t be as structured as a Sweatshop of Love Knitalong (and I will do one of those one day), but hopefully relatively frequent check-ins will keep everyone on track and at the end of two months, participants will have a brand new awesome sweater!
Am I missing anything? Does anyone have any questions? We’ve got almost a month to iron out details, and that’s plenty of time to play eeny-meeny when choosing a pattern and procuring yarn (and swatching).
edit: We’ve had some folks step up and donate a few prizes for people who complete their sweaters by the deadline, including an Amy Christoffers pattern (donated by Amy herself!), a skein of Roman Hills yarn, a handmade row counter from Velvet Hippo, and stitchmarkers from Madam Tootsie. Please let me know if you’d like to donate a prize!
This is very exciting! I’m going to look for some yarn at VK Live next weekend! Which pattern, though!?
There’s a bunch to choose from! Firelight, Pinoli, and White Pine are in my queue (the last two are in my library), but really, there’s no wrong answer here. 😀
Awww!
😀
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Love this KAL idea. I made an Acer cardigan in the fall and it is probably my favorite, best fitting sweater I’ve ever made. I think I’ll probably try White Pine next. Thanks for hosting the KAL!
Welcome! We’ve got a couple of other gals who are knitting or finishing an Acer. White Pine is also in my queue, I need to find the perfect yarn (and time, kind of short on time in general).
I love Savory Knitting’s patterns! I have so many in my queue the hardest part of this kal might be choosing which one to knit first! I don’t have a ton of time to knit these days so I am either going to do the Campus Jacket or Bailey. I have yarn for both 🙂 Thanks for hosting the kal!
Both the Campus Jacket and Bailey look like super comfy cardigans. If you really want to knitalong on a specific pattern, another gal in the Ravelry group is knitting Bailey, so if you went with that one you’d have a buddy!
I’m in! Windsor Cardigan, and/or Galvanized Cardigan.
Oh man, I have obsessed over the Galvanized Cardigan since I saw it. I really need to knit that one, one of these days. And the Windsor Cardi! Darn that Amy and all her amazing patterns. 😀
Oh I’m so tempted! I still haven’t managed to knit a sweater for myself yet! And it’s been almost six years of knitting! Time to woman up I think. Let me go look through the Savory Knitting patterns and then I’ll be back. I’m a tentative yes for this KAL! Woo-hoo!!
Amy’s got a lot of patterns to choose from! Hopefully one of them would catch your fancy. And yes, selfish sweater knitting will always be encouraged at this blog. 🙂
I’m tempted! I have yarn ordered for a Larch but I don’t know if it will arrive in time for the contest!
You can cast on after February 1, just not before that, so you should totally participate if you have the time!
I just bought the Larch pattern and would love to KAL. Is this a blog only KAL or is there a Ravelry group?
Nope, there’s a thread going in the Sweater Odyssey group on Ravelry! Feel free to join in the conversation there as well. Yay more Larches!
I’m joining in! I’ve loved larch from afar for forever. This is the kick I need to do it! I picked up the berocco ultra alpaca light from webs too! I chose do the lavendar color. Can’t wait to receive it!
Oooh a lavender Larch sounds so amazing! Welcome to the fun!
I’m IN. I am like NiseyKnits, haven’t yet made a sweater for myself yet. I’ve started 3 times, but the project has always derailed, and it’s one of my vows for 2012, to make at least two. If I can make socks of any kind, and lace shawls, and sweaters for others, WTH can’t I make one for ME??? Also planning on blogging this year, but haven’t. You may help me do both! I have 3 of Amy’s sweaters on my wish list, will be back to officially say which one. Will also join the Sweater Odyssey group on Rav… maybe I need to make sure I choose one that others are knitting… for the company.
Yay! Good for you for taking up “selfish” knitting. 😀 Amy has lots of patterns to choose from, and a good number of them are represented in the sweaters that knitters in the group have chosen, so you should have a lot of options to choose from. 😀
[…] other news, we have a good group of ladies coming together for the Savory Knitting Knit-a-long! If you’re interested, check out that post for details or join in the conversation on […]
I am in! I have been wanting to knit my first sweater for a solid year now and finally have the time. I think I’m going to do the Bailey Cardigan. I have enough Berroco Vintage DK to make it, but I’m not sure it’s the best yarn since the pattern notes suggest to use a yarn with a lot of drape. Think it will do?
Yay for joining in!
I don’t know how well Vintage drapes, to be honest. My suggestion for determining if it’s the best yarn would be to knit and wash a swatch and see how drapey it is at the end of that process. If you like the fabric after it’s washed and dried, it would probably be fine!
I’m in, too. I’m making a White Pine because I already bought Ultra Alpaca for it–just haven’t started it yet.
I love White Pine! I can’t wait to see how yours turns out. 😀
isn’t it a beautiful design? I bought the same color that Amy made because it reminds me of my honeymoon (we went hiking in Utah). I’m so excited to start. I love Savory Knitting patterns!
Aww, that’s a lovely story! The honey color that Amy used for the original is absolutely gorgeous, I almost chose it myself but decided I needed to branch out (and then changed my mind and returned the beautiful blue color I’d bought because I really want a red cardigan).
I hope this isn’t too belated, but I’d like to join!! I actually started White Pine last night (and I have all of the yarn/pattern for Larch, too-ha!) I was stalking Amy Christoffers on the interwebs, and I stumbled across this knitalong. I’d love to join! My blog is http://joyatee.blogspot.com. My ravelry username is Joyatee. Thanks!
Not belated at all! Welcome to the group! I can’t wait to see how your White Pine turns out. 😀
[…] I’ve started my very first sweater! I joined a knit-along, with the goal to cast-off by the end of March. I decided on the Bailey Cardigan, because it seems […]
I’ll play! I just found this KAL, and I started a Bailey earlier today, so I think it’ll be fun to play along!
Woohoo! 😀