I have a bit of a confession to make: I am completely obsessed with KALs. You know, Knit-A-Longs. Honestly, it's kind of becoming a problem because when I'm knitting other people's designs, I'm not working on my own, but I can't stop...because KAL.
It all started one fateful day when I was cruising Ravelry, trying to figure it all out, and I stumbled into the Groups tab. I started searching for groups that looked interesting, and behold - there was a search parameter for KAL! It was on that day that I discovered two things that were going to change my knitting life: Knitters' Brewing Company and KALs.
See, up to that point I had been a very solitary, relatively cautious knitter. I didn't have anyone to help me if I got stuck or confused on a pattern, so I would give things a try or two, then move on to something I felt confident about. In illustration, let us briefly and painfully recall the literal years that I refused to purl, not because I was unable to, but rather because I felt it to be needlessly cumbersome.
But back to KALs.
See, Knitters' Brewing Company was running its first KAL - a pair of beaded socks, and I was newly re-enamored of sock knitting since I had recently learned a) not to twist every. single. stitch. forever. and b) not to fear tiny needles and tiny yarn. I signed up, struggled through those socks, and embarked on many happy years of knitting whatever Brewmistress Wendy sent on down the bar.
Through those KALs I learned uncountable new techniques, learned to look at and read my knitting in a whole new way, and learned the joy of knitting with thousands of your best online friends.
And here we sit, December 2015, and I am halfway through the Stephen West mKAL 5 (The Doodler), and I desperately want to go home and cast on the Scrap Yarn Sock Advent Calendar, and I cannot decide what color kit to order for the 8th Annual Knitters' Brewing Company Mystery Sock KAL (Gentle Wisdom), and and and and...
And none of this is helping me get more of my own work done, but I can't stop Knitting ALonging.
Do you have a favorite KAL? What kinds of projects do you like to do as KALs? If you haven't done a KAL yet, why not?
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