NaBloPoMo...NaKniSweMo. .. Say What???

Seems like November is a month for trying to do something special.  Why, when just trying to get Thanksgiving on the table is a special enough effort for me, we need these other self imposed challenges, I don't know.  But, I've never been one to back away from a challenge so here goes....

November is NaBloPoMo -short for National Blog Posting Month.  The idea is to commit to writing a blog post every month.  Turns out that November is also National Knit A Sweater in a Month (NaKniSweMo), which is a derivative of the National Write a Novel in a Month (NaWrNovMo) challenge.  We owe this clever derivation to knitgrll, aka the fabulous and tireless Shannon Okey, who thought if people could write a 50,000 word novel in a month, then surely we could all knit a 50,000 stitch sweater in a month.  Shannon is even sponsoring a knit-along over on Ravelry with some really cool prizes.  Anyone can join in and play along.

Always looking for the multi-tasking angle, I'm going to try to blog every day about my process to design and knit a sweater, and publish the pattern by the end of the month.  I'll make the pattern available to anyone who either likes the Verdigris Knits facebook page or follows Verdigris Knits on Twitter this month (November 2011).

Here we go......

I've been thinking about a design for this yarn for a couple of months now.  The yarn that I'm going to use is Knit Picks Capra in the Moss colorway.

Capra is blend of merino wool and cashmere.  Lusciously soft.  OK, I already have a concession to make for the challenge.  Capra is bulky weight, so this sweater is not going to come close to 50,000 stitches. I'm hoping the designing, blogging, and pattern drafting will make up for the shortfall.

Back tomorrow with a rough sketch of the design.