A knit-a-long is when many people get together, generally online and knit the same thing or knit different items within the same period of time or even knit similar things near the same period of time. Some knit-a-longs have a time period they are trying to cover, such as waiting for the last Harry Potter book to come out and everyone works on the same project. I suspect this summer there will be knit-a-longs for the Summer Olympics and the Tour de France, similar to past Olympics, where everyone who joins in knits the same project or just something that will challenge them during a specific time period. The appeal of a knit-a-long is that much like getting together with friends to knit you can ask questions when you run into trouble, by joining the group online. While working on your project you can post pictures of it to share with the other people also working on the project. It is a great way to keep working on a project if you like the peer pressure of competition, but not competition in the sports sense. For example, if you have a hard time finishing projects, joining a knit-a-long will sometimes keep you on track as you see other people continuing to knit, long after you would have set the project down.

Another good reason to join a knit-a-long is to try a new technique and have a knitting group to share questions and comments with. If you have never knit socks, joining a knit-a-long about socks is a good place to start. There will be other people knitting first socks and they will have many of the same questions you will probably have. The group discussion boards will give you many ideas and, for me, the comfort of knowing that everyone has their own way of doing things and there is not one correct way of doing anything in knitting beyond the basic knit and purl stitch.

There are also knit-a-longs that follow a knitters book throughout the year, such as The Knitter’s Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann. The group works on one project a month, the group is very flexible, some people skip months, some take more than one month to complete a project and some just chime in with tips.

Knit-a-longs are as varied as the people who knit. Knitting is often a solitary pursuit, but with knit-a-longs it is way to share the craft with other knitters. I would be happy to set up a knit-a-long on BellaOnline. Let me know through the knitting forum what type of knit-a-long you would be interested in following. Watch the forum for the details.