Join my springtime KALs!

Wheeeeeee, it's the first day of spring and St David's Day, so this year I'm going to celebrate with the launch of my first ever KAL.

Jools Beret on the needles

Also it occurred to me that I haven't yet released any of the patterns on Ravelry from Sweet Shawlettes. So with my next book, Great Little Gifts to Knit, coming up soon in September, it seemed like a good time to host a shawlette KAL in the interim.

So here are my two new KALs for you to consider:

For the first of these I'd like some input please. With the changeable spring weather, I've chosen four designs which are perfect to ward off the cold when there's a nip in the air. Can you leave a comment saying which of these four designs you would prefer? I'll then host a KAL of the design that gets the most votes.

Evergreen

Frost

Green at Heart

Twine

However, Jools will be the first KAL to run.

I recently posted images of my latest project, the Jools Beret, on Facebook and my blog and got a whole slew of lovely comments. The design is worked on either four dpns or using the magic loop. The pattern is an easy stripe with two rows of the simplest fairisle in every eight row repeat. Many knitters are afraid to even contemplate fairisle, the mere word seems to terrify, but believe me, it's not rocket science. And anyway, if it's absolutely not your thing then you could just substitute a stripe over these two rows. The design is a great stashbuster, as it calls for no more than 23yds/21m of any of the 11 colours.

Rib and underside of beret

Top of beret

The Jools Beret (3 sizes) KAL will start on April1 and end on May 1 and the pattern will be released in three parts:

Part 1 Sizes, yarn, notions, gauge etc when you sign up
Part 2 The underside of the beret, including rib will be posted on the start date (April 1)
Part 3 The topside of the beret will be posted on April 15

The pattern will be free for the first week, and after that it will be discounted to $4 (usual price $6) until the KAL starts, after which it will revert to the full price.

Sweet Shawlettes

Silk Embrace

And now the prizes... a copy of Sweet Shawlettes will go to the best beret, and the runner up will receive 2 x 100g/225m) balls of Artesano Silk Embrace(alpaca/suri silk).

All you have to do is register and download the first part of the pattern, which is free before 8 March. Click here and scroll down to the bottom and you'll find the form - just follow the links to the download.

Join the Travelers with Jean Moss group on Ravelry for discussion, advice and comparing notes. Looking forward to this exciting new venture, knitting along with you and best of all, seeing your creations!