I hope you will consider joining the Esperance Cowl knit-along. If you cannot commit to a project in fingering or sport weight yarn, purchase the pattern (or email me if you aren’t on Ravelry), I will give you the proper number of stitches to cast on for the size you want to make in the yarn weight of your choice. I will also tell you how many embellishments you need to work the new numbers. You will have to do a swatch so I have a gauge number. The pattern is available here.
Below are the reasons I came up with for why joining a knit-along might make sense from my perspective. You may have other reasons, like wanting to try out my patterns, or to find out what I’m like, or just what my mom calls evil curiosity. Whatever reason is fine with me. Although I’m not leading the knit-along, I will be participating. I have found I am not great at being the leader because I have too many things going on and can’t always be there as much as I should, but I am a born teacher, so I’ll be knitting along and helping everyone along. Know that I will be reading every post and email, and checking out all the photos. I eventually get my photos up on Ravelry (and that is going better since I got an iPhone), but if you want to follow me on Instagram you can see what I post (about five days a week) which often have an amusing comment. There should be a lot of Esperance Cowl photos as I work with you on the knit-along.
Completion. Commitment. Community.
Completion: I’m completely into getting stuff done right now. I have so many projects needing a little finishing, which I didn’t plan for (that begins March 16!), that I have determined that I can no longer start projects without a plan and an intention to finish. It is working well, although I have to admit, fewer projects are being launched. I have started my Esperance Cowl for the knit-along, so I can post encouraging pictures, provide counsel, and give guidance. With a knit-along, there is an end date and I will be giving weekly prizes of encouragement! So if completion is your goal, that is a great way to keep moving through the boring parts.
Commitment: It is all to easy to want to knit something, and to even plan to do it, but a whole other thing to commit to doing it. I find that making a commitment is the difference; I am often too easy on myself, so a commitment to other knitters is a good way to make sure that you launch that project, and focus on it until completion. The benefit of commitment? Start. Stick with it. Finish! We’re scheduling five weeks for this knit-along. You may not need that much time, but I think I will. I am working the equivalent of 504 stitches per round and when I timed it, they take about 48 minutes each. Have you ever noticed that no amount of wishful thinking makes the knitting go faster? You have to show up and do it. Even when it isn’t as much fun as it was at the beginning.
Community: I am a solitary knitter. Well, Mitch is on the other end of the couch most of the time (operating the remote control) but I don’t knit with other people. I can’t talk and do any kind of substantive knitting at the same time. I can knit almost anywhere, but I can’t really converse while knitting, so a knit-along allows me to experience some community while not having to talk while knitting. Plus, it is fun to get to know other knitters through a knitting project. I am easily bored when knitting so I usually watch TV or listen to a book–a form of multi-tasking that my brain can handle.
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