Hey guys! I hope you've had a wonderful week and are having fun chugging away on your pillow. I find this project so relaxing because it's just knitting rectangles. The perfect project for unwinding post baby bedtime for me. Some of you only received the smaller set of needles from our warehouse - I'm so sorry about this. This was our mistake and the larger sets shipped out last week. Hopefully you have them already!

This week I'm going to go over casting off in the Pixie Dust yarn, checking gauge in your Sister yarn and finally I'll show you how to knit the first few rows of the Sister portion of your pillow. After each video, I've highlighted the key points. This week, try to get through the Sister portion of your pillow with me. Next week we'll move on to blocking and seaming. Keep tagging us on social media with #knitcollageKAL too! I have loved seeing your yarn and projects and can't wait to see more.

Video 3: Casting off in Pixie Dust yarn

If you're casting off for the first time, here's a great video on how to do that.

The last little thing to do is to draw your remaining Pixie Dust yarn through the last stitch as shown above to cast off your last stitch. That last snippet of my video got cut off!

Things to keep in mind:

* Even though the written pattern says you should bind off on either row 2 or 4 of pattern, this is not totally essential. I just knit mine to 16" and cast off in the follow row of the pattern (for me row 4). It's more important that your knitted piece measure 16".

* If you run out of one color of your Pixie Dust yarn (as I do in the video) while your casting off, don't worry. Just continue casting off in the color you still have. It won't make a difference and you won't notice it!

* Cast off loosely to make sure your top edge doesn't pull in.

* After you're all done you may notice that you have a wonky rectangle (as I do below). We will block this into a square with straight edges next week, so don't fret. That is normal!

Video 4: Check gauge in Sister yarn

Things to keep in mind:

* A good number of stitches to cast on for your gauge swatch is 8. I recommend knitting 10 rows in the stitch of the pattern.

* Leave your stitches live ON your needle. After you've checked your gauge, unravel the swatch so that you can use it for tassels or pom poms later.

* If you are having trouble matching the suggest gauge, consider going up or down a needle size - as always contact me (amy@knitcollage.com) if you need help!

Video 5: Knitting the first 4 rows in Sister yarn

This should be a cinch for you after the Pixie Dust! I love how the moss stitch pattern pops more in this yarn. 

Last but not least, let's talk about prizes. I briefly touched on this last week. I think the prize should go to the person who looks to happiest/most triumphant/excited about their pillow. So the photo has to be a selfie, with either the finished pillow or the yarn/knitting in progress and tagged with #knitcollageKAL . It doesn't have to be silly but it totally could be. It could just be you all blissed out and cozy with it. I'll pick a winner at the end. AND the prize will be any 2 skeins of yarn of your choice!

Good luck and thank you so much for joining me on this knitalong!

xoxo ~ Amy

I'm so excited to kick off the Sanctuary Pillow Knitalong today! Below is a little intro to me and what you can expect in the project! Key take aways listed after the video.

 * You'll receive weekly email updates with an in-depth blog post and video to help you navigate the next steps of the pattern.

* Myself (amy@knitcollage.com) and Cheryl (cheryl@knitcollage.com) are here to help you and want your project to be a MASSIVE success! Please (no really guys, PLEASE!) get in touch if we can help with anything, even if it seems silly. We want you to smile every time you see the pillow you knit!

* Please share your work with the hashtag #knitcollageKAL ~ this is a great way for us to connect, 'meet' each other and best of all encourage eachother! I met some wonderful women the first time I hosted a KAL in October and can't wait to connect this time around.

* BONUS! There will be a prize at the end of the KAL, I'm not revealing anything else quite yet but stay tuned!

So there you have it! Thank you so much for joining me. Without further ado here are the first how-to videos. Good luck!

Video 1: Checking your gauge - don't skip this important step!

Hello lovelies! I hope you are enjoying this snowy wintery day. I would love your help to choose the next knitalong pattern. I had such a blast running the last one. Seeing all of your knit ponchos at the end was such an inspiration. It's made me realize that community knitting is so much better than going it solo. Can I get an AMEN to that?! I have 4 designs that I'm particularly interested in doing ~ details and photos below. Which would you most like to knit? I'm planning to kick off the KAL around March 1-ish and have it run throughout March. Like before, expect instructional videos and my help around the clock. Your feedback is much appreciated - leave me a comment below, on Instagram or email me at amy@knitcollage.com. It will be March, still chilly here but approaching spring, so let me know if weather is a consideration for you!

My top pic: the dash shawl ~ about 3-4 skeins of Sister & Pixie Dust yarn - it's a big, chunky shawl! Simple to knit but we would learn a few new stitches and techniques. A serious show stopper.

Option 2: The stripe story blanket - this is the pink and natural blanket shown on the very right in this photo. I adore. It's so soft and squishy. This stitch is a fancy slip stitch that would be fun to learn through a knitalong. This blanket uses a bunch of yarn however, so we're look at a 10 skein project here, however it looks like a million bucks! This blanket is knit in our Spun Cloud and Pixie Dust yarns.

Option 3: The keep me cozy cowl - knit with 3 skeins of either Gypsy Garden or Rolling Stone yarns. This is a great project for learning SHORT ROWS - ah they scare me still. A lighter cowl that also works beautifully with these embellished yarns.

Option 4: The Sanctuary Tassel Pillows - 3-4 skeins of Sister and Pixie Dust. There are 2 different size options here which is fun. Learning how to make a pillow- also fun! These make great gifts as well as accents for your own home.