Boost Your Knitting April Knitalong: The Halfway Point
It’s a bit hard to believe, but April is halfway over, and our monthly Boost Your Knitting KAL is well underway in our Ravelry group, with new lace projects springing up everyday and a few coming out of winter hibernation! It’s been amazing to see not just what everyone’s creating, but also the gusto with which many have embraced the fixing mistakes brief — with knitters fearlessly unraveling problem lace sections and even bravely dropping down mistake-free bits of knitting to practise the technique!
Photo © Jesse Wild
This month’s featured Boost Your Knitting pattern is the Sterlyn Shawl, a stunning lace design by Joji Locatelli. Nearly 75 projects have already popped up on Ravelry. Many knitters have chosen to use the called-for Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply, a luxurious blend of merino and silk:
Melissa’s (Melissa92 on Ravelry) has been quick — she reports that she’s been kept up late into the evening with false promises of “just one more row” for her version of the Sterlyn Shawl.
Melanie (mjdeboeck on Ravelry) is also using the original colours of Joji’s design, but has decided to add her own twist to her Sterlyn Shawl by playing with the eyelet spacing — what a fun idea!
Others have gone for the bright jewel tones of the Jen’s choice colourway option.
Deborah (Ravelry username: knit7purl7too) has made a lovely start in Fyberspates Scrumptious, shade: Magenta.
The three colours of Sterlyn have also given a lot of scope for some brilliant stash diving! Fiona (fifiquilter) on Ravelry has already managed to finish her Sterlyn in a stunning mix of yarns:
See the details of Fiona’s version on her Ravelry project page.
And, using Jen’s video tutorial as a guide, knitters have been gaining the confidence in bossing their knitting … unraveling to fix mistakes in their lace, or just to get the feel for the technique!
Vanessa (Ravelry username: Candyliongirl) unravels her Sterlyn Shawl (knit in some of her own handdyed yarn!) to fix a mistake.
Sarah (CeruleanSarah on Ravelry) practices unravelling and reknitting on her swatch. She’s knitting a modified Sterlyn Shawl in one colour and DK weight yarn — it might even have a bit of a surprise message in it!
After knitting a beautiful Ishbel for the April knitalong, Kay (Rav username: kaystar) turned her attention to fixing a mistake in the lace panel of her lovely cardigan.
As always, our aim is for the Boost Your Knitting knitalongs to be as inclusive as possible — there’s no requirement to knit the month’s featured pattern! There’s tons of lace inspiration in the thread. From Ravelry user Cheimon’s Birds of a Feather Shawl:
Congrats on your first successful lace project Cheimon!
To Anne (amaknitter on Ravelry’s) just finished Uncia:
Congratulations on finishing this stunning long term project, Anne!
Along with so many other projects … check out the BoostYourKnitting tag on Ravelry for oodles of lace inspiration!
And it’s never too late to join in the fun! The knitalong will continue for the rest of the month — to take part (and be in with a chance of winning a prize), you only need to share a photo of your in-progress lace project in the Ravelry thread — there’s no pressure to finish this month! And while the knitalong will officially end at the end of April, the thread will stay open indefinitely, and there are always plenty of us still knitting along! You can join Boost Your Knitting and receive a new technique, pattern, and photo tutorial in your inbox each month through February 2020, as well as all the previous months’ patterns and tutorials. You’ll also get a print book (shipped worldwide for free) in September 2019. And you can find loads of beautiful shades of Scrumptious 4ply in the online shop — you’ll need just one each of three colours to make your own Sterlyn Shawl. Finally, we still have Boost Your Knitting Spring Kits in stock, which will give you all the yarn you need for the Sterlyn Shawl, the Bramen Cowl, and May’s project, with two colourway options! With so many beautiful projects already underway, I can’t wait to see what the second half of the month will bring!