It’s nearly Christmas! Well, almost…

I am very excited to announce another knitalong. It’s “knitalong central” here at iMake HQ! At the moment I have long-term, informal KALs running for the Twiglet Mitts and Splendid Striped Cowl patterns on Ravelry. This KAL is slightly different…

The Merry KAL started at the beginning of the year and is being run by Knitting Sarah over on her blog, knittingsarah.com (as mentioned in the last episode of the iMake podcast). I am delighted to announce that Sarah and I have joined forces so I am now co-hosting this KAL. Sarah doesn’t have a Ravelry group, but I have, so this seemed like an ideal partnership.  This is a year-long KAL so it doesn’t matter that I am joining late. Hooray for crafty collaborations.

About the KAL…

The first thing you’ll need is a copy of Arne and Carlos’s book, 55 Christmas Balls to Knit. Here are Amazon links:

• Amazon UK: 55 Christmas Balls to Knit
• Amazon US: 55 Christmas Balls to Knit

You can also try your local yarn shop for the book – they may well have it in stock.

On the first of every month Sarah will announce the month’s ball(s). Months when there are more than one option, participants can choose or make both. The announcement will be made on Sarah’s blog, and also on the KAL thread in the iMake Ravelry group. I’ll put the announcements out on the iMake Facebook group, Twitter and Google+ pages too.

• Link to Ravelry thread: Merry Knitalong (KAL/chat)

Throughout the month Sarah and I will post progress photos to our respective blogs and also to the Ravelry thread and our various social media platforms. Participants are encouraged to do the same.

If you are on Twitter, please use the hashtag #MerryKAL for all your KAL antics and photos.

The last day of the month, everyone is encouraged to post photos of their finished balls. Then the whole process starts again!

As far as materials go, the only absolute is the book, since all the patterns are pulled from it. Beyond that, participants can use whatever yarn, needles, sparkles and bling that they like.

With regard to deadlines… I am notoriously bad a knitting to a deadline. If you are like me and would just like to take part informally and knit random Christmas balls at different times, that is totally fine too. I am conscious that iMakers are joining the KAL late anyway, so it’s totally flexible.  The KAL is about having a little bit of Christmas with you all year, so everything is totally flexible.

To get you in the mood for Christmas ball knitting, here are a few balls knitted by one of the KAL participants, Tony, from the Bonito Club blog (photos used with permission).

Here are a few from Sarah’s blog (used with permission).

So if you’d like to join us, hop over to the iMake Ravelry group thread and give us a wave! If you want to start now, then the February ball details are here: February Merry Knitalong.  Otherwise feel free to join in March!