Okay, I think we’re all squared away over here and ready to really kick off the Q1 of Yarnathon 2015! If you haven’t seen already, we’ve got new mascots, new knit-a-longs, and a whole new Booster Club this year, along with a helpful (we hope!) addition to your account page that lets you submit your projects and track your Yarnathon progress. And don’t forget to check out your team thread on Ravelry!

We know the Booster Club is a big change and can be pretty overwhelming at first. We hope the Booster Club page explains everything well, but there are so many badges! So many possible prizes! We recommend starting simple – just knit, and chat with your teammates on Ravelry about what you’re knitting, and one of our helpful elves will be letting you know you just earned a badge before you know it. Most of the badges are for things most of us will probably do throughout the year anyway – they’re just for fun, and to give you some extra prize options aside from yardage and store credit (though you can earn those too).

The only real change we’ve made to knit-a-longs this year (and crochet counts too! It just doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well.) is that you’ll be able to participate in any knit-a-long all year long, rather than being restricted to a particular one each quarter. We’ve also added more options to the knit-a-longs in the hopes that everyone can find at least a few that suit your skill levels and crafting plans.

Since there are so many more knit-a-longs, we’ll focus on three each quarter as a shop, but please craft away in the others as you see fit! The first three knit-a-longs will be:

KAL #1: Colorwork! You chose the patterns for this one in the Ravelry group last year – your options are: Fightin’ Words, fingerless mitts with attitude; Roosimine Socks, which use a weaving method to create the colorwork; Stitch Block Cowl, a two-color worsted weight cowl that uses some neat tricks to accomplish the colorwork look; Color Infusion, a reversible three-color fingering weight cowl; or the Pixelated Pullover, a top-down gradient-style sweater for the truly adventurous. Prize: 250 yards for mitts or socks, 500 yards for the cowls, 1000 yards for our intrepid Pixelated Pullover. Moderated by the effervescent Emily Nan, who will fearlessly lead you down the path she herself has never been down before.

KAL #2: Headgear.  Hats, headbands, ear muffs, SNOODS! If it goes on your head, it works here. Check the Ravelry thread for some staff favorites. Minimum yardage: 50 yards. Prize: 250 yards. Moderated by Emily L, who believes one can really never have too many hats.

KAL #3: Shawls. Big or small, we love them all. Stockinette or miles of lace, stripes or solids or variegated pretties, there are so many variations on the shawl and we look forward to seeing yours. Minimum yardage for this one is 250 yards. Prize: 500 yards for shawls using 250-650 yards, 1000 yards for shawls using more than 650 yards. Moderated by our resident high priestess of shawls, Janine.

General Guidelines for ALL knit-and-crochet-a-longs:
*Projects should be completed entirely from yarn originating from Eat.Sleep.Knit. Exceptions are small embellishments like embroidered faces.
*While any knit-a-long can be completed at any time during the year, all projects should be started and completed during 2015.
*Each project can only earn a prize for one knit-a-long, i.e. you’ll need at least one project per knit-a-long you participate in.
*For knit-a-longs with specific yardage requirements or levels, you can combine multiple projects to meet the yardage requirements. For pattern-specific knit-a-longs, if you knit two patterns we’ll credit you for the one with the most yardage.
*Each Yarnathoner is only eligible for one prize per knit-a-long, so if you want to knit two things from the same knit-a-long you’ll just receive the one yardage credit (but have two fun projects to show for it!).
*You can submit your completed projects on our website via your (new!) Yarnathon dashboard. We’ll be reviewing submissions as they arrive, but please allow 1-2 weeks to receive your credits!

And, I think that’s just about it! Oh, trivia! Trivia started back up this week – you can find your first question here.