Well that was fun!
Our April Boost Your Knitting KAL has officially come to an end, but what a month it was! Joji Locatelli’s sterling Sterlyn Shawl had knitters all fired up about fixing mistakes in lace – the finished results, I think you’ll agree, are stunning! So many shawls, with plenty of cameo appearances of spring flowers!
(Finished Sterlyn Shawls by noirem, maddywithay, geezlouise, noahsark5302, knittingjinny, and danielle2 – click through to their project pages and be amazed!)
As with all of the A-C Knitwear knitalongs though, any project that focused on April’s technique – fixing mistakes in lace – was more than welcome! BYK knitters completed a range of pretty wraps and shawlettes, worked on lace garments, or even lace socks – many of which also had a distinctively spring-y feel!
Maylin (blithespirit on Ravelry) knit a gorgeous laceweight cotton version of Joji Locatelli’s Odyssey Shawl
Mary (Ravelry name: JustMary) completed a lovely Hap for Harriet.
NicoleS’s dreamy tangerine-y lace socks!
Joy (KnittingJoy on Ravelry) knit a fabulous spring-y Silverleaf.
Watching so many beautiful lace projects come to life was pretty great, but what I really loved about this KAL was the really palpable growth in knitting confidence! Jen’s tutorial on fixing mistakes in lace emphasises just giving it a go, even though it looks a bit scary – and giving yourself permission to fail on your first attempt. So many knitters bravely dropped down stitches to fix an actual mistake or just try the technique out, and I think it’s fair to say most got their stitches happily and correctly laddered back up, adding this useful technique to their knitting toolkit.
Moira (Moirat on Ravelry) fixes a section of the stunning Cathedral Grove shawl she worked on for the KAL.
Anna (Annarga on Ravelry) reknits a repeat of her Sterlyn Shawl.
Anne (Ravelry name: Annogfranck) practices April’s technique on her Nymfi shawl.
And even for those who didn’t have occasion to engage in this particular form of knitting sorcery, there seemed to be a real boost in lace knitting confidence! Some people tackled their first ever lace projects; others wrestled longstanding WIPs to the finish line; and still others creatively reworked patterns that just weren’t working out for them! And quite a few knitters pleasantly surprised themselves by their ability to start and finish a large lace shawl in the month time frame!
A big high five to all the BYK knitters who tried something new last month! And if you’re still working on your lace project – or even have yet to begin – know you’re, ahem, not alone (my poor shawl has barely grown!). They’ll be plenty of us still beavering away, and though the official KAL has ended, the Ravelry thread will stay open indefinitely and will, I imagine, see quite a few more adventures in fixing mistakes in lace!
And of course, May’s knitalong is now in full swing – if you missed out on April’s fun, perhaps you’d like to join us as we master the tubular cast on (in the round!) this month? You can join Boost Your Knitting at anytime – you’ll receive all the patterns and tutorials released so far (three to date) and get a new pattern and supporting video and photo tutorials delivered to your Ravelry inbox each month through February 2020, as well as a 10% discount on purchases in the online shop through Sept 1, 2019 (excluding kits). The cost is £30.00 and includes a pre-order for the Boost Your Knitting print book (along with free worldwide shipping), which will be sent in September 2019.