WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT CROCHET-ALONGS?

Have you ever participated in a CAL (crochet along)? Neither have I. Oh, a bunch of readers will have participated in them. I can’t really determine how I feel about them. The Mystery CAL’s seem like they might be more interesting than a ‘regular’ CAL. I’m not quite sure what benefits there might be for a CAL.

This is the first motif in a Lion Brand CAL that I just received information about.

Aside from the fact that I don’t want to join motifs, I find this hexagon to be quite pretty. Don’t know where this CAL is headed – if it’ll be an afghan, scarf, or garment. I’d have to sign on every Thursday to find out.

Therein lies the rub. I won’t remember on Thursday. Will you? Yeah, I know I could maybe figure out how to use the calendar feature on my browser and have it remind me – but I’d probably have piles of other work to do on Thursday and would overlook the reminder.

My friend Ronnie has made several interesting things on CAL’s. The latest of her projects that I’ve seen turned out a unique, very smart cardi-wrap that I would like to make. But, it was a Mystery CAL, so since I didn’t know which way it was headed, I woudn’t consider joining.

So, what are the pros and cons of CAL’s. Let me here from YOU!

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From the front, the Simply Me Blouse from NORgardknitters looks like a plain, boxy, garter stitch sweater. The kind of thing you’d want to throw on every day, like the knit version of a sweatshirt.

But when you look at the back, you realize there’s more going on than meets the eye.

This sweater also has a giant pleat on the back, giving lots of volume and interest without making the knitting any harder.

Simply Me is worked from the top down, starting with the yoke being worked back and forth in rows. Extra stitches are cast on at the back to form the pleat (which is crocheted closed when the knitting is done) and the body is joined in the round under the underarms.

But if you know anything about knitting in the round, you know that to make garter stitch you have to knit and round and purl a round. To avoid that this pattern uses short rows so you can still knit every round and come out with garter stitch.

The sweater has a wide boatneck and a cropped, boxy shape with three-quarter sleeves. There’s no edging to interrupt the pretty waves of garter stitch.

The pattern comes in six sizes, to fit a bust from 31.5-33.5 inches, or 80-85 cm, up to 43 to 47 inches, or 110-120 cm. But there is a lot of positive ease worked into the pattern, so if you want less ease you can work it for a larger range of sizes. There are lots of projects on the project page on Ravelry, most of which show it in a solid color, but you can also see ideas for stripes or a fade. It calls for DK weight yarn.

You can find the Simply Me Blouse pattern on Ravelry, where it is available in English, Danish, French, German and Norwegian.

[Photo: NORgardknitters]

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