3 Things about Knit for Food Knit-athon

 

1) It's soon!   Saturday  FEBRUARY 12 2022 , organized by designer Laura Nelkin who has tons of info if you click on that logo above or here

 Knit for Food Knit-a-thon is a 12 hour knitting marathon on February 12th, 2022 to raise funds and awareness for food insecurity. The money we raise will be equally divided between Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels.

 Last year, when Laura tried this for the first time, the Knit-a-thon raised more than a quarter million dollars. How amazing is that? 

Baby Fern Lake in Berroco Remix

2) It's virtual yet communal. You join other knitters (or makers, you're not boxed in) for a 12 hour 10am-10pm creative marathon  while zooming with all sorts of entertainments/blab/presentations going on .   I mean, you can do this by yourself without being online at all, or join with friends, or you can pop in for part of the time...last year I was a presenter and had a blast.  You can participate by forming a team to fundraise or join an existing team ....check out the fundraising link for details. 

Fern Lake Blanket in Berroco Lanas

3) This calls for just the right project, does it not? Yup, you get a bonus cast-on rationalization. Here's my main suggestion for Knit-athon-ing :  Baby Fern Lake,  top picture above, it is a free pattern from that link.  I am cranking mine in Berroco Remix because I really like this yarn, it's machine wash /dry and I love the colors and its tweedy rustic-y look.  There's a fourth color too,  not shown- it's a sweet light pink. New girl arriving in March :-)

This project is ideal for screen watching or sitting around yapping or zoom knitting--a slip stitch pattern, 4 row repeat and flies by in that satisfying way as the colors switch  without having to think too hard or get too sloggy with it.

If a baby blanket isn't your jam right now, there's the original grownup version, Fern Lake Blanket,. TBH I fell in love with it when I photographed it like this for the pattern a while ago, it's waffle-y in the soft wool yarn. Can't go wrong with this one.

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Don't forget the 1st Saturday in February is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day! Grab your pint and spoon.  I'd hoped to have a big open house for the occasion this week however still plenty of covid around so....next year!

keynote pullover: drop dead easy knits

When choosing a sweater to test, 

I decided the Keynote was best.

The yoke's fun to knit,

It has a great fit.

(I never give mine a rest.)*

Back with another limerick lede spotlight on a pattern from  Drop Dead Easy Knits by Kirsten Kapur, Mary Lou Egan, and me.  This time, we are talking the Keynote Pullover by Mary Lou Egan.

Here's our model Josephine wearing it, in the book. This sweater is knit from the bottom up, with the decorative sections of Moire stitch taking place at the cuffs and at the yoke.  (Moire is a series of eyelets, very easy, with a fawncy sounding name...no cables or tricksy moves) . 

Mary Lou, who attends a lot of conferences for her day job, designed Keynote as  the kind of sweater you might knit on quietly while listening to presenters, making the body and sleeves, doing all the stockinette. Not too attention getting in the audience, no need to check charts or juggle multiple strands of yarn or anything like that. Then, join it  and do the yoke in your hotel room later, when you want to pay a bit more attention to the row counts. 

I loved it from the earliest swatches, and offered to test knit it in the same yarn Berroco gave us for the book: Fiora, in a silvery grey. Wow, do I love it. It's a cotton/viscose/alpaca blend that knits up well, has a nice drape and best of all--you can throw it in the washer and dryer and it comes out looking seriously good as new.

Don't let the lighting fool you, Mary Lou and I were wearing our matching silver grey  Keynotes last October at NY Sheep and Wool Festival. We were well aware how dorky that is--but it did show off how this sweater suits a good range of body type. She is tall and slim with broad shoulders, while I am short and rounder and have average/narrower shoulders. 

You can easily substitute any DK weight yarn, like Tosh DK if you wanted a woolly version,  or a very snuggly one of Malabrigo Dos Tierras (wool/alpaca) or Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light  or if you want something wool-free, awesome feeling and machine washable, there's Berroco Remix Light. And, though I personally have not jumped on this bandwagon, this sweater would be a good candidate to turn into a fade, using skeins of handdyed, speckled yarns, if you've been toying with the concept but not sure which project to adapt.

Meanwhile, you'll find me here there and everywhere in mine. Seriously--someone tell me to change my top!

 with Kristy Glass when I was on her podcast. Is she not adorable? You can really get a good view of my yoke if you follow the link to her YoutTube channel, while I bobble my head and blab. Also you can see, above, that mine fits a bit more tunic-style than the model's version. Since it is knit bottom up, you can determine the length to armpit pretty easily as you go.

And here's a silly group selfie at the end of a photo shoot, and I am once again in my Keynote, bottom right.I wear it working, a lot.

If you've got one knit or underway, share it on Ravelry with us!We love love love seeing what you make from the book and where you wear it.

*if you check on Mary Lou's blog Yarnerinas or Kirsten Kapur's blog, Through the Loops, you will see that we're working our way through the book, sharing thoughts and ideas about the patterns. We jokingly said we'd do them in limerick, and I am , characteristically, the one who is taking that joke too far.