i did my first KAL with my knitting group and the result as not come off my shoulders since it was finished at the park this past weekend:
Eggplant Zephyr (rav)
Pattern: Textured Shawl Recipe (rav)
Needles: 8 US / 5.0 mm circular
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight in Eggplant #512
this yarn is the best! it is so incredibly soft and the color is rich. highly recommended and i think i'll be doing other projects in this yarn (squirrel and oak mittens (rav)?)
the pattern is very simple and easily adaptable to be different sizes by adding or decreasing sections of texture or garter. several of us found that we needed to make one small modification though: the pattern calls for 7 stitches to be cast on and working in stockinette for two rows with markers placed after the first two stitches, around the middle stitch, and before the last two stitches. these markers then mark where you increase every right side row. but on the first increase row of the texture pattern we all ended up with one stitch too many on either side of the middle stitch. we solved this by K2tog just before the second increase and after the third increase. although i didn't try it, i imagine you could avoid this simply by casting on 9 instead of 7 to begin.
but i love it - just the right amount of warmth and so wearable!