Monday, January 18, 2010

Being square

I’m not sure where or how I first heard about it (probably my craft geekyness) but I’ve been a member of Ravelry for maybe a year now. Ravelry is an online community for knitters, crocheters, and spinners. It’s awesome.

Mostly I like to use it as a place to find patterns and keep a list of what I would like to make in the future. Plus I can keep track of everything I’ve made in the past. But the site also has a large number of groups and forums.

Having completed my holiday knitting I went on ravelry to decide what to do next. They have groups called “alongs” where the idea is that a pattern is posted and everyone goes off on their own and makes it. If you need help you can always ask, and once you finish you can share it with everyone. I quite enjoy the idea but have never given it a try….until now.

First I found the “Knit a Block a Month KAL” (KAL=knit along). The idea is to knit up 12 different 12 inch squares, one for each month, which are then sewn together to make an afgan. The patterns are progressive and designed for the beginning knitter who will learn something new each month. I am not a beginner and some of the patterns are really really easy. But some of them have color work which will be new for me.

Often times, as with the Holiday crafting, projects will quickly loose their luster when I’m working on them. And so I thought the block a month idea would be an excellent idea. I went hunting for more….

Quite happily, although somewhat cautiously, I found a Crochet a Block a Month group. Same deal, different yarn craft. Years and years ago I taught myself to crochet. But I never did much with it. And only just a few months ago did I again pick up a crochet hook to make a cute amigurumi penguin. This group will hopefully help me to get into crocheting!

It’s very excited and I’ve made quite a bit of progress which I shall save for another post.

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