Fun
Knitters, Start Your Engines: Refreshalong Begins Now
Beloved Knitters of the World:
Today we begin a whole new group activity, one that can be enjoyed in the splendor of our own homes.
It’s a knitalong to get us through the weeks ahead.
We are going to knit the heck out of Carol Feller’s four designs featured in the crispy new MDK Field Guide No. 14: Refresh, and we encourage you to join us.
Your Options
There are four ways to go, and we are planning to do all of them before we’re done. The links to Ravelry give you all the juicy details.
Arcade Cap
Low commitment required! Just a skein or two and dream will get you topped off. Make a few dozen, and your holiday knitting is done.
Challenge level: Attainable fun for a new knitter, a breeze for a seasoned hat maker. Consideration: reverse stockinette in the round means it’s time to fall in love with purling all over again.
Trellis Top
This is not a tabard, despite the whispering we’re hearing (and also the whispering we’re doing). At most, it’s tabard-esque. Reminiscent of the best parts of a tabard. This sleeve-free layer is utterly modern, loaded with Carol Feller’s signature clever bits. Come for the right and left twists, stay for the i-cord buttonholes.
Challenge level: if you can knit and purl, you’ve got this. After the Trellis Top, your applied i-cord chops will be first-rate.
Twining Wrap
This triangle of textures is a great first project for cables if you’re the curious type and want to end up with a swath of comforting beauty that will be a lasting souvenir of That Time in 2020.
Challenge level: You’ll spend time with the charts as you begin. But after a repeat or two, you’ll have a groove going. Exhilarating!
Transom Cardigan
Carol Feller at her absolute best. The saddle shoulder has us super curious. And the chevrons and diagonal patterns make this design an unexpected classic.
Challenge level: You might want to have made a cardigan before this one. But who are we to say? We knitted an intarsia squirrel on our first cardigan—nobody told us that intarsia squirrels were tricky. (Note from Kay: Point taken, but it was a reindeer.)
How to Join In
It’s easy.
Pick a pattern. If you are looking for interesting, achievable skills in knitting, these four patterns are brilliant fun. Carol Feller’s pattern writing is the crème de la crème—prepare to become of fan of her nuanced details.
Figure out your yarn. That’s Nua Sport in the photos above, which we carry in the MDK Shop right here. But as ever it’s totally great to use your own yarn. Our knitalongs are open to all. The mix makes everything more fun.
Schedule. Today’s the official start, but some of us have already embarked on our Refreshalong journey. As Julia Child says, we’re all alone in the kitchen, and nobody sees what we do.
Help Is Here
Carol Feller has made handy, short videos to walk us through the construction and techniques of these patterns. Find them here:
Trellis Top: picking up stitches and i-cord and i-cord corners and buttonholes.
And Also Here
A rollicking conversation in the Lounge is central to any MDK knitalong. For ease of communication, we’ve set up a topic for general knitalong chitchat, and separate topics for the four projects.
Show your work. One of the best things about a knitalong is seeing everybody else’s projects. Let us see how it’s going, either in the Lounge or on Instagram. Hashtags will be #RefreshalongMDK and #MDKFieldGuideNo14.
Conclusion. We’ll wind up Refreshalong at the end of August. The longest knitalong we’ve run! But we love all four of the designs in Field Guide No. 14, and it’s looking like it’s going to be a long summer, unlike any we have ever experienced. So let’s plan for a lot of sharing and caring and sitting and knitting—we’re going to get through this!
Love,
Ann and Kay
As usual Julia Child wins the day! I’m in for a Trellis sometime soon.
Using Refreshalong to make a Christmas gift. Trellis Top in Mosquito Coast. Can’t wait to start.
I’m in for the Trellis Top. Julia made me start already. This Nua is really beautiful to knit with.
I’m in for Trellis too! My Nua in Cafe Flamengo (an exciting color stretch for me!) arrived yesterday. I’ve never participated in a KAL, so this extended Refreshalong is right up my alley! I guess I really need to concentrate on my swatch based on Kay’s post from yesterday!
My Nua sport is on it’s way! Can’t wait to get started.
I started early too—a Trellis Top in Felted Tweed out of the stash. My first KAL here, and my first sweater in YEARS!
May need to start my Arcade cap this Monday. I have a pottery Zoom conference this weekend. Looks so fun but attainable for my beginner self.
I thought that I subscribed to get the newer guides. Is there a way to check?
Gonna make the leap into the transom cardigan… Just as soon as my order arrives!
I would work the Arcade Cap inside out to avoid so much purling. It also makes the reverse stockinette stitches look tidier. When you get to the decreases flip the hat to the public side and purl the crown. Don’t forget to work one w&t or one German-short-row double stitch to avoid a hole when you reverse direction.
‘Stay for the I-cord buttonholes’… yes!
I am excited to knit the Twining Wrap. Hope to begin soon.