Extra, Extra Read All About it--Swans Island KAL and a Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am so excited today I can hardly stand it! We are starting a new Knit-A-Long next week (on 1/25/2012) with Swans Island yarns! We started carrying Swans Island's beautiful yarns back in October of last year, and I have been wanting to host a KAL ever since I saw the Anna Cowl pattern. Delicate and lovely, yet practical and warm, this cowl has everything I look for in a knit-- simplicity, with a little something interesting. I just love it and I hope you all will join me!

Swan's Island in "Garnet"

Swans Island yarns is a small, all natural hand-dye company based in Swan's Island in Maine. All of their yarns are made of 100% Organic Merino Wool and dyed with natural dyes and processes. The colors are truly stunning. So stunning, in fact, that I have already had my color picked out for months, the beautiful berry-toned Garnet color. The rich almost-red shades are balanced out well with vibrant pinkish tones. The Anna Cowl pattern takes just two skeins of Swans Island Worsted, and I can hardly wait to cast on! I might even jump the gun a little bit and get started over the weekend so that I have something to show you in that first KAL post. If you want to learn more about Swans Island Yarns, check out their website here, or click here for a look at their other awesome designs.

Anna Cowl

For those of you who aren't familiar with Knit-A-Longs, here is an overview. Knit-A-Longs (or KALs) are project-based knitting circles. You can host them either in person with your local knitting groups or online with knitters all over the world--this one is the latter. Everyone knits the same pattern at the same time, so when issues arise, you have a whole group of knitters who can help you through it. For the Jimmy Beans hosted KALs, I have started a Ravelry Thread on our Jimmy Beans Wool group page and will be posting there regularly. I will also be checking it several times daily to support you all in any way I can. If you are on Ravelry and want to participate, or if you have questions, please feel free to contact me either on the thread or by message. My Ravelry name is "Marinade." If you are not on Ravelry and will just be following the blog, feel free to e-mail me directly with any inquiries: kristen@jimmybeanswool.com. There is no pressure to post anything or show off pictures of your knitted work (although we always love when you do). Basically, it's just a friendly community of knitters, who are all excited about knitting the same project together!

An added benefit of participating in the KAL is that the kit is on sale on our site this month as the Kit-of-the-Month (through mid-February) for 20% off! What a deal!

Now for the best part! The kind folks at Swans Island have donated a kit to give away to one lucky winner! Please leave a comment by 12 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, Friday 1/20 letting us know what your favorite Swans Island color is, and we'll choose a winner later that morning and announce it in Friday's blog post. We'll ship the kit as soon as we hear from the winner, so that he or she will receive it in time to participate in the KAL! Fun stuff! (Please only one comment per person, we will be choosing a winner at random.)

***Edit- 1/20/12*** Thank you so much for entering the Swans Island Anna Cowl Kit giveaway.  We've already chosen our winner.  Please see today's post for the announcement!  Thank you!

Well, thanks so much for checking in today! I hope to see and hear from you all during the KAL and best of luck to those participating in the giveaway! I'll be back next Wednesday with our first official Swans Island KAL post!

Happy knitting!

Kristen

PS. Jimmy Beans Wool is the official yarn, knitting and crochet supplier to U.S. Snowboarding and U.S. Freeskiing! To encourage people to be creative on and off the slopes, we have partnered with Red Heart® yarns to create “Stitch Mountain." Check out the free Stitch Mountain patterns at www.jimmybeanswool.com/StitchMountain and like our Facebook Fan Page!