Knitters, start your engines! (Erm, spin your ball winders?) Today's the day our Classic Raglan KAL gets underway. By now, I'm guessing that you've purchased your pattern, bought your yarn, gathered your needles and made a swatch. (Jane has some good advice about why you might want to consider swatching in the round, if you're not at that point yet.) So now it's time to cast on (I've come to prefer the long-tail cast-on – what do you use?) and start knitting. I'm loving how quickly this pattern comes together with its straightforward increases – I can't believe how much time using kfb (knit front and back) instead of paired m1r/m1l (make one right/left) increases saves me! I've got just a few rows left before it's time to cast on my front neck stitches and start knitting in the round. By this time next week, I'm hoping to be ready for waist-shaping. I hope that you'll check in in the comments section of this post and let me know how it's going. What colour did you choose? Have you started knitting? Have you encountered any questions/problem areas? If so, please dish in the comments and we'll all pitch in to try and help you figure it out. (And of course, the most important question of all: What are you watching/reading/listening to as you knit these days? I had to put down my knitting during this week's episode of NCIS: Los Angeles – hey, I didn't say it had to be high-brow! – it was super exciting, but the suspense makes my stitch tension go crazy!) Finally, a big hello to our awesome participants:

• Karen, who's knitting her sweater in Seafoam
• JoAnna, who's joining in from Washington, D.C.
• Lea, who's a talented spinner as well as a knitter
• Rheanna, one of our Test Kitchen superstars, who's knitting her sweater in Patons Natural Mix
• Rheanna's Mom, who chose Patons New Denim
• Kelly Daniels, who happened on the KAL and decided to join in
• Kelly of Celtic Cast On, who's currently knitting her second raglan (now there's an endorsement!)
• Chaline, who can't wait so maybe got a head start? ;^)
• Jenny, who's already knitting away
• Meagan, who's looking for a break from her Owls sweater
• Karyn, I hope you decided to join us!
• Nicole, who's super enthusiastic, which I love
• Ann, who's been waiting for the right time to cast on
• Tina, who's using reclaimed Cascade 220 (wait till you read her story about that, it's great!)
• Jane, the talented lady behind the sweater
• Skwishee, who hasn't knit something for herself in four years

...and of course, you're welcome to join in anytime. We'd love to have you!