Starting a Sweater (Patreon)

I've recently been sucked into the joy of the KAL.  (For the six of you who follow me and don't knit - this is another of the fantastic knitting acronyms like SABLE (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy) or PHD (Project Half Done) or UFO (UnFinished Object). This one means Knit -a-long and although I've never been much of a joiner I am super excited about it as a concept all of a sudden.  

Perhaps it's the isolation of the last few years, or perhaps it's that my friend Debbi's ideas are so good that they're more contagious than the measles,  but I just love the idea of knitting things in a group right now and as a result I've been sucked (it wasn't hard, I believe I jumped up and down and clapped my hands while shrieking "KNITALONG KNITALONG!") into knitting Calliope with her, and a few other folks from the retreat. 

This little video is about some of the decisions that I make at the beginning of a project and what I think about, and I thought it would be a helpful thing for you to hear about.  I also show you a great little lifted purl increase which is my go-to. If an increase can be fun, then this one is a blast. 

Pattern: Calliope from Espace Tricot (Great shop, great yarn - the pattern is originally knit with yarn from here, and it's a fab option.)

Yarn: from The Artful Ewe. (Heidi's online shopping isn't great but if you phone her and rock it old school or drop her an email everything is perfect.) I'm using 2 skeins of Egyptian Fingering (Baby alpaca, silk, and linen) and 2 skeins of Kid Silk Lace. It's about 900m of yarn when you hold both together, and that will let me make the third size if I do 3/4 length sleeves which I love.