Joining the KAL

For the uninitiated, "KAL" stands for Knit-A-Long, which is a fun way of expressing the event where a designer shares a pattern with a group of knitters. Generally, the pattern and instructions are released in small portions at a time over a period of time, and the knitters work on each portion of the pattern as they receive it. The designer and the knitters usually correspond online, both for fun and to share questions and answers about how to work the pattern.

At the end of the process, everyone who sticks with the project has a new item to show off, and people from the group often share photos of their finished pieces. It is fascinating to see the creativity of the other group members in how their finished pieces can vary from person to person -- even when everyone was following the same pattern!

In similar fashion, "CAL" stands for Crochet-A-Long.

I have never tried participating in either a KAL or CAL before, but I just heard of "A very FOXY KAL" being offered by Tanya and Lisa, who hail from Australia, and I just headed over to their Ravelry group to join in. It looks like it will be a lot of fun, and the free fox hat pattern they are sharing is SO CUTE -- AND it's available in BOTH a knitted and crocheted version! I hope you will check it out and join in, too!