Schedule, Pre-squares, Yarn Folder

Schedule- We will be officially starting on November 8th. I was planning a square a week schedule, but want your feedback. I was thinking that would be good for most people, and if you are slower/faster you can feel free to work at your own pace.

REMEMBER: This is a stress free zone. If we need something to worry about we will stick to the unwashed dishes, dust bunnies, unpaid bills, world hunger, etc. Repeat after me the Square-A-Long motto:

“Square-A-Long is something I do for myself, to have fun, develop my craft, and meet other cool knitters. I will not feel guilty about it even if I get behind!”

I know that seeing each others beautiful work and reading theirencouraging comments will get us through the challenge times.Inspiration is the best form of motivation.

I know a lot of you have some yarn that you are itching to try out. So for those of you who want to I am providing two optional “pre-squares” that are not in the book. It gives you a chance to try out your yarn and needles and get comfortable with it. Especially for beginners it will help you get a good steady gauge and rhythm.

Pre-square #1 Garter Stitch – On size 6 needles cast on 39 stitches. Knit every row for a total of 78 rows.

Pre-square #2 Stockinette Stitch - On size 6 needles cast on 41 stitches. Knit one row, then purl one row for a total of 54 rows.

I have added a "Yarn Beautiful Yarn" folder to the photos area or our Yahoo Group. If you can take pictures of your yarn or steal a picture from a webpage feel free to post it in this folder. This way we can all have virtual yarn envy and admiration!

We are getting ready!

The Square-A-Longs are purchasing our books and yarns and getting ready to start on November 8th. We have a great group so far but there is room for more. If you are interested email me at cathyknitpearl2003@yahoo.com.

Square-A-Long Basics

Square-A-Long

Who: Beginners through Intermediate, although even Advanced knitters are welcome and may pick up or refresh skills.

What: A new knit-a-long, the Square-A-Long, based on the Barbara Walker ” Learn to Knit Afghan Book”. The book uses a collection of 63 squares to learn and practice techniques including knit-purl, mosaic, slip-stitch, twist-stitch, cables, inc-dec, lace, and special patterns.

When: Starting November 8th, 2004, although you can still join after, that is the beauty of squares!

Where: I will be updating our group on my blog at knittinglife.blogspot.com and also sending emails to the group.

Why: For beginners – a great way to learn lots of knitting skills, for all others, it will fill in the gaps and teach new skills you may have been too intimidated to try. And of course to have fun and meet other knitting fanatics!

I understand that some of you are having a hard time finding thebook, looks like Amazon is running out. So I found some more places you can order it:
http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/knitting/Learn_To_Knit_Afghan_Book.html
http://www.schoolhousepress.com/Books/General_Knowledge/general_knowledge.html
http://secure.elann.com/ProductDisp.asp?name=Learn+to+Knit+Afghan+Book&ProductType=1
http://www.sheepstreet.com/http://www.camillavalleyfarm.com/books/bookkprc.htm

Here is Barbara Walkers yarn advice for this project.
80 ounces of knitting worsted weight yarn in 4 colors as follows:

28 ounces of Color A, a light color
28 ounces of Color B, another light color
12 ounces of Color C, a dark color
12 ounces of Color D, another dark color
12 extra ounces of a 5th color, if desired, for borders

But depending on what you like and how much you want to invest $$$you can do lots of things. If you are on a tight budget you could:

1. Buy a low cost acrylic like Red Heart or Caron. If it says no dye lot you can buy some of each color to start, not the whole lot. Make sure it feels nice in your hands, some of the acrylics canbe very rough but some are nice and soft. (You can easily find this on line or at discount stores like Walmart.) Avoid anything other than basic worsted, no feathers or thick and thin or other novelty yarns, that will be very hard to work in some of the patterns.

2. Buy low cost kitchen cotton and use the squares as washcloths or dishcloths.

3. Use leftovers from other projects and make a multicolor afghan. Make sure you stick with the light and dark color recommendations or you will have problems seeing the patterns. You also need to make sure it is worsted weight or the squares will be very different sizes.

If you can afford it though, I would recommend getting some reasonably priced pure wool worsted like from your local yarn shop or an online resource. Brown Sheep, Patons, Plymouth, Rowan, etc.You can ask for advice from the shop owner, it is a good way to get to know them as well. Make sure you like the feel of it since you will be spending a lot of time with it. You will be putting quite a bit of work into the afghan and you can really make an heirloom that'll remind you of your knitting path.

Having said that, remember in this knit-a-long what you learn is more important than the product! I can tell you this from personal experience. I had been knitting on my own for quite some time when I finally attended a class where we made a series of afghan squares similar to these. It was fun working through them but I didn't realize how much it had benefited me until the next time I made a sweater on my own. My knitting, pattern reading, inc/dec, all sorts of things were so much better and so was the final product! So buy what you can afford and let the fun begin...…