The Official Feedback Thread!

[Mist8012]

I have truly enjoyed my time here on this CAL. This was my first CAL through Bernat and I'll definitely be back next year! I have saved the KAL as well and am anxiously waiting to do this one on my own. There have been a lot of nice wonderful people here. Some have been really going through some hardships and persevered through them and kept going. I admire that. I don't think I would have that kind of strength in me. I want to thank Bernat and the moderators for all there time and effort they've put into this CAL.

I really enjoyed the Mystery and anxiously waiting for Wednesday's to arrive. But, now? Today is Wednesday and it's sad I have no more clues to look forward to.

Until next year!

Kelly

[tjwjlove]

I was very Pleased with the Cal. This was my 1st ever. I am so glad I gave it a try. Now I can't wait for the next one. I was excited each week for the clues and couldn't wait to start on them. I loved all the replies that everyone was giving, letting us communicate with each other, made me feel I belonged and made alot of new friends. Thanks Bernat. You are on the top of my list for Yarn, Patterns and Having a great time.

[dcrozier]

This is my second CAL and I have loved every minute (well, except for the frogging) of the experience! Thanks to Bernat and all of your employees who have made this such a great experience. Since I usually make lists for everything, here is my CAL list:

Things I really liked:
***The format of the forum
***The excitement of the weekly clues
***Sharing and comparing with others
***All the helpful and encouraging people and their comments
***Learning new crochet techniques that have taken me out of my comfort zone

Things that disappointed me:
***Thinking there were more clues than there were

Suggestions I would like to make to Bernat:
***Maybe you could make the color swatches larger on your website (they seemed bigger when I chose for the 2010 CAL). It is difficult to see how colors will look together with sections of yarn pieces instead of blocks of color.
***Run a big project CAL/KAl twice a year!!!!!!!!!!! I am ready!!!!

[donnajea]

This was my first CAL and I loved it! I actually made 3 (all finished) afghans. This was wonderful for me (helped with the quitting smoking issue) and would defiantly do again. I agree with others I didn't know about the suggested colors until the end, so maybe make it more accessible to find.

Thank you Bernat for such a wonderful experience! I can't wait for the next one!

[Tiffanna]

This is my second CAL and I have loved every minute (well, except for the frogging) of the experience! Thanks to Bernat and all of your employees who have made this such a great experience. Since I usually make lists for everything, here is my CAL list:

Things I really liked:
***The format of the forum
***The excitement of the weekly clues
***Sharing and comparing with others
***All the helpful and encouraging people and their comments
***Learning new crochet techniques that have taken me out of my comfort zone

Things that disappointed me:
***Thinking there were more clues than there were

Suggestions I would like to make to Bernat:
***Maybe you could make the color swatches larger on your website (they seemed bigger when I chose for the 2010 CAL). It is difficult to see how colors will look together with sections of yarn pieces instead of blocks of color.
***Run a big project CAL/KAl twice a year!!!!!!!!!!! I am ready!!!!

Doing a second one this year would be so awesome!!!

[lialab]

I really enjoyed it and I had a great time. Never thought I would chat so much (and this was one of the great time I had) I also thought that I was an experience knitter/crocheter (I realize, I am still learning). Last year Cal was in september, knitting/crocheting in fall is nice too.
Anyway, keep them coming, I am sure we all will be back

1.- It was fun to wait for clues every wednesday morning
2.- The idea of making Cal/Kal was a great one
3.- The forum was well divided one for Cal and one for Kal another great idea
4.- The nominations post being all in one place for Cal/Kal well... not so great!! I found it hard to put every afghan in one place (as for clues, they could have been in their own thread) I know you are going to tell me that I can nominate more than one in every category, but I would like to see all Cal in one place and the Kal in other, that way it could have been easier to see what others are nominating, (my own two cents)
5.- I really enjoy seing the progress of all the afghans (good source of inspiration)

Thank you all

[ambivalent]

This is my second CAL and I have loved every minute (well, except for the frogging) of the experience! Thanks to Bernat and all of your employees who have made this such a great experience. Since I usually make lists for everything, here is my CAL list:

Things I really liked:
***The format of the forum
***The excitement of the weekly clues
***Sharing and comparing with others
***All the helpful and encouraging people and their comments
***Learning new crochet techniques that have taken me out of my comfort zone

Things that disappointed me:
***Thinking there were more clues than there were

Suggestions I would like to make to Bernat:
***Maybe you could make the color swatches larger on your website (they seemed bigger when I chose for the 2010 CAL). It is difficult to see how colors will look together with sections of yarn pieces instead of blocks of color.
***Run a big project CAL/KAl twice a year!!!!!!!!!!! I am ready!!!!

Agreed on almost all counts - except - OMG. You must be a crazy awesome crocheter... two in one year! ACK! I definitely could not pull that off. I also like the anticipation of waiting for the next one.
And... "new crochet techniques" this one was rather lacking in those. The clusters were nice, as was the "star" clue, but otherwise, nothing new for me - and I consider myself to be a beginner - easy intermediate skill level!

HOWEVER, BIG AGREE on larger swatches! That would make a HUGE difference!
YAY FOR LISTS!

[scoot915]

The good:
It is exciting to wait for a clue each week.

The support in the forums from the Bernat team and the participants was awesome. I honestly do not think this can be improved in any way.

Liked the week when we guessed what the final layout would be.

Enjoy looking at all the other afghans.

Like working on a project that is not something I planned. I may not like the final outcome but it is a fun process.

The Waverley for Bernat was a nice yarn to work with and I like the colors available.

The bad:
I did the KAL so I can’t speak for the CAL… While I get that the focus this time was on COLOR, I was disappointed in the knitting techniques used. For me, it was kind of boring to knit. I know there are different skill levels participating and it is impossible to please everyone but the last KAL was much more interesting to knit.

I wish there was a way to have a thread (or something) with the pictures of the final afghans posted along with the name of who made it all on one or two pages.
( for example ….when you are shopping online for a yarn and click on the yarn and the different shades come up. ) It would make it easier to choose nominations with all the choices right in front of my face.


The ugly:
My final afghan! While I don’t particularly like it very much I did enjoy the process of making it in a KAL way and will most likely participate in future KAL’s.

[karenaz4]

I enjoyed the CAL very much. My mother and I did it together and we had a lot of fun discussing it from the beginning (what colors to use) to the end (what border to use). I enjoyed getting the ideas from the other participants and the mystery was the best part. I love mysteries so this was right up my alley.

Having the clues come on Wednesday morning was not so nice for me and some others because we work outside the home. I think it would be nice if the clue could be posted either Saturday morning or an evening. However, I am retiring in 2 weeks so it won't be an issue for me next year as I plan on particpating in next year's CAL.

The other issue is not Bernat's problem and I don't know if they have any control over it. The availability of the yarn was a big issue for us in Southwest Florida. First, some of the stores we get yarn from did not carry the Waverly Yarn. Then the ones that did carry it did not have many colors and not enough of one color to purchase 5 skeins. So choosing colors was limited to what they had and how much of each color they had. This was very disappointing. We had to order the yarn and then the colors were not exactly what we expected. I always like to see the yarn before buying and I was trying to match the colors in a rug which was hard to do using a computer monitor.

I really love the Waverly yarn and I purchased three other colors to make an afghan for my living room (using a different pattern). I like the motifs and plan on using them to make some pillows.

[lkwcross]

My first time doing a KAL!
Probably my last time. Not really because of the KAL itself, but I don't need anymore afghans (or my family and friends)
What I liked:
I liked the weekly anticipation of the next clue.
I enjoyed reading the forum.
What I didn't like:
Having to figure out the gauge for each week's square. Did someone really make this afghan before we did - to test it?
Having clue 3 given on February 29, 2012 and the corrected clue 3 on March 20, 2012. Clue 3 was frustrating and I figured a way to do it on my own. But then to get a corrected clue 3 WEEKS later was maddening.
It seemed to me that no one made this afghan as a test, before the KAL started to correct any errors. When I started the KAL, I figured that an afghan had been made and the "Official Finished Images" page would show each of the squares and the borders would be posted the day of the clue or at least the day after.