By popular demand, it’s time for another Read Along Knit Along! Last fall, we knit the Other People’s Houses Shawl and read the teen fiction debut novel from Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, The Smell of Other People’s Houses. The fantastic discussion on Ravelry, live chat with the award winning author herself(!), and beautiful finished patterns made the first RALKAL a roaring success.
This time around, we’re going to be knitting a brand new sock pattern, which will be revealed and available on Ravelry next Wednesday, March 1. (But there’s a sneak peek at the bottom of this post if you’re curious!) We’ll be reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Annie Shaffer and Ann Barrows, which was chosen from among the fantastic suggestions in the Ravelry Group book selection thread. It’s a fun read that clocks in at under 300 pages, and paired with (see what I did there?) a socks project, this RALKAL should be a fun little way to celebrate spring.
RALKAL 2.0 Details
- RALKAL 2.0 will run Saturday 3/4 through Saturday 4/1. That will give you 4 weekends to work on your socks & read the book.
- The hashtags are #RALKAL & #rickandrollsocks.
- Here’s the main RALKAL 2.0 Ravelry discussion board.
- There will be a few specific sub-threads going on too:
- a pattern discussion & question thread.
- a couple threads to chat about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, with special care taken to avoid spoilers (because that’s the worst).
- There will be a few specific sub-threads going on too:
- As usual, there will be a couple of tutorial videos demonstrating harder or unusual elements of the pattern we’re knitting.
- For supplies, you’ll need 100g of sock yarn that you can get 6 stitches & 8 rows over 1 inch for gauge. A great opportunity to stash dive! ;)
Prizes!
Knit alongs are a little more fun when you’ve got a carrot to help motivate you to make the deadline, aren’t they? I’ve got a gorgeous yarn I can’t wait to show you for part of the prize package, and there’s also a copy of Barbara Walker’s first Treasury of Knitting Patterns (my absolute favorite stitch dictionary) up for grabs. You’ll be able to enter the giveaway for casting on, using the Instagram hashtags, participating on Ravelry, and of course, finishing the book and at least one sock. Since second sock syndrome is real, you can enter once for each sock you finish, even if you knit them two-at-a-time style. :)
A sneaky peek at the socks we’ll be knitting!
MariposaKnits
February 23, 2017 at 3:59 pmI’ve never heard of a RALKAL, such a cool idea!! I’ve also been wanting to try knitting socks for a while now, maybe this is my motivation… As a first time sock knitter, do you think this pattern would be do-able, and I would be able to keep up?
Heidi
February 23, 2017 at 8:16 pmYes! I’ve got a bunch of tutorials that should help & there will be tons of support on Ravelry too!