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KAL Week 1: Cast On!

The KAL has officially begun!  Last night I cast on for my Tightrope Socks - they ended up being the perfect bar knitting while waiting for our set at Township.  We don't play a whole lot of shows these days, although this was our warm-up for next week's show at The Burlington.

Anywho, it's always a good idea to bring a project or two - preferably ones that can be worked on in the semi-dark while drinking beer, because there is a lot of time to kill from load-in to the start of the show. We even showed up an hour late due to a last-minute work meeting at Tyler's crappy job and I still managed to cast on and knit most of the cuff by the time the first act took the stage.

Shalloboi shows are usually odd affairs, mostly because we get booked on the strangest bills.  Quite often, two or three other bands featuring wildly divergent music styles are crammed on the same bill with us.  We've played with metal, hardcore, singer-songwriter, white-boy funk, experimental and straight up indie rock bands.  We're not really any of those things, although some combinations work better than others.  For example, last night we played with a very young singer-songwriter, a band that sounded like they wanted to be the next Coldplay, and a dude who sang kind of bluesy stuff like the White Stripes, only quieter and without a drummer.  Certainly not the strangest bill we've been on, nor was it the most aurally offensive, but I was pretty glad I had some knitting distraction. I think it would have been a much more cohesive show if the Coldplay band hadn't played - they were certainly the odd men out on the bill last night (and please know that right now I am doing my damndest not be snarky). 

So here's my progress from last night - as you can see, I not only cast on and blazed through that cuff (I'm not a fan of 1x1 rib, and yet it keeps showing up in my designs, wtf?),  I also made it through one and half pattern repeats!


I'm using The Wool Dispensary Useful Stimulant, a fantastic BFL/nylon blend with super-generous yardage (I had enough Circus Popcorn to make the original Tightrope socks, plus knit a pair of colorwork socks with yarn to spare!).  This is a test colorway, one of the benefits of being buddies with the dyer/owner of a yarn company, I suppose!  I'm also pleased to report that I knit for several hours last night sans wrist brace, thanks to the Knitter's Pride Cubics DPNs I'm using. 

If you'd like to KAL (even if you don't think you can finish during the month of April!), click here to join us in the Doodlebug Yarn Ravelry Group.  

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