Happy new year! Today, we’re kicking off the next KAL in our Year of Sweater KAL series: Deep Winter.
I love KALs. Love love love them – for a bunch of reasons: I get a huge feeling of camaraderie from knitting the same thing with a bunch of other knitters; I get seriously inspired by other knitters’ choices, and seeing their creativity enhances my own; and I get a bunch of extra motivation from trying to finish by “the deadline” — whether or not it’s realistic to do so!
But sweater KALs… …well, they can definitely be challenging. Let’s face it! Getting a large group of knitters to
- all fall in love with the same pattern,
- in the same yarn (or even the same gauge!),
- such that they’ll all be happy with the results?
That’s one tall order. But sweaters are hugely fun projects, and they deserve KALs too!
Enter our Year Of Sweater KALs.
To participate, all you need to do is knit a sweater – any of my designs, or one you make up in CustomFit – and share your progress in our Ravelry thread or by using the hashtag #wintersweaterkal on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. I’m excited that this time, thanks to CustomFit’s new ability to make straight-sided sweaters, we’ll probably see a much bigger variety in the projects people are knitting.
At the end of the KAL, everyone shares their FOs (check out the FO thread from the Fall Festival KAL, and the KAL thread itself from our most recent gift sweater KAL), and we choose a winner to receive two free months of maker-plus CustomFit subscription and a personal consultation with me.
After the holidays, we’re ready for deep winter.
Of all the KALs, Deep Winter holds a special place in my heart. I absolutely love winter – I love the snow, I love the feeling of a warm house and fire compared to the cold outside, and there’s no better time to get lost in your yarn choices than when the temperatures take a dive.
So unsurprisingly, I have a few sweaters vying for my attention at the start of this KAL:
As you can see, my cabled cardigan is coming along nicely.
And when it’s done, I have two A-line sweaters that I’m excited to start, out of Jill Draper’s amazing Rockwell yarn and Indigodragonfly’s amazing Chameleon sock yarn. Both are for CustomFit’s inaugural A-line sweater collection, which will go live some time early this year.
That’s what’s on my needles right now, though I expect I’ll finish more than a few sweaters during these months – I’ve always found them to be the absolute best for knitting. Will you join us?
What will you be knitting?
Share your plans with us here, in the Ravelry thread, or in social media – and Lauren and I will share our progress with you, too!
Amy Herzog Designs