Bienvenue!

Bonjour et bienvenue!

Hello and welcome to the 2008 Tour de France KAL! We hope you will join us for our second knit along adventure following every minute of the world's greatest cycling race!

Please note: SIGNUPS ARE NOW CLOSED!

We have a few new surprises up our sleeves for this year's KAL to keep things interesting, but don't worry - we're keeping all the best bits from last year too! Along with knitter-friendly race commentary, updates on the peloton's knitting progress, and some juicy tidbits on France and French culture, this year the KAL will involve a series of challenges (let's call them intermediate sprints), especially designed to bring out the creative knitter/cyclist/French afficionado in you!

Not a cyclist or a cycling fan? No problem. You only need to be a knitter or crocheter to join us. Every level of knitter and cyclist can participate. Here’s how it works:

1. Choose a knitting or crochet project that is in some way related to France, French culture, cycling, or the Tour de France. This can be really broad and is open to creative interpretation, however, your project must in some way relate to one of the themes of the KAL.

2. Based on the four different jerseys that are competed for at the Tour, choose the category you will contend:

• Yellow jersey – also known as the General Classification (GC). You are choosing a project of average skill for yourself, and do not necessarily plan to finish it before the end of the Tour, but will enjoy the camaraderie of the peloton! If you are not sure what category you belong in, choose this one.

• Green Jersey – also known as a Sprinter. You are choosing a project of average skill for yourself BUT you plan to speed knit and finish it before the end of the Tour. This category is all about the race against the clock.

• Polka Dot Jersey – also known as King of the Mountains. You are choosing a project that is a challenge for you. You do not have to finish it before the end of the Tour. This category is all about learning something new, perhaps a new technique like entrelac or lace knitting, or maybe you’ve got a UFO that’s been hiding under the bed for way too long and you need a challenge to finish it!

• White Jersey – also known as Youngest Rider. You are a new knitter, and/or a new cyclist, and/or just new to the Tour de France. You are choosing a project that is of average skill for you. You do not have to finish it before the end of the Tour. Baffled by big men in bike pants? If you want to find out why millions of spectators flock to the Tour every year, then this is the category for you.

3. To sign up: email your Chef de signup, Meg - daysfull AT iprimus DOT com DOT au. Please provide the following information:

• Your name
• Your chosen jersey category
• Your blog address (if applicable)
• Your ravelry ID (if applicable)

Please take note:

• You do not have to tell us what project you are choosing at this stage - but it is absolutely essential that you tell us which jersey category you will be participating in when you initially sign up.
• If you do not have a blog or Ravelry ID - that's fine! But please tell us this when you are signing up.
• Signups will be accepted by email only. Comments to this post will not be sufficient to sign up.
• There are a limited number (108) of places available for participants. We know this may leave some people out of the KAL. We apologise in advance for any disappointment this may cause, but we have had to limit the number of participants in order to preserve our sanity as hosts. If you miss out on signing up, please feel free to take part by commenting on the blog, visiting the blogs of the participants and cheering them on, and joining the Ravelry Tour de France Knit Along group!
  

4. Once you have successfully signed up, you will be randomly assigned to one of eleven teams contesting this year's Tour de France KAL. You will receive a confirmation email to let you know which team you will be a member of, and introducing you to your Chef d'Equipe (Team Leader).

Please feel free to take the appropriate button from the sidebar for your jersey (save it to your server please!) and add it to your blog if you have one. We’ll add your name and a link to your blog in the sidebar under the jersey category you're contending.

Signups will end when all of the participants slots are filled OR at 10:25am local time (UTC/GMT +2 hours) on Saturday 5th July, when the Tour itself officially gets started - whichever comes first!

The Tour de France begins on Saturday, July 5th in Brest and ends on Sunday, July 27, in Paris. About 200 riders will tackle 3,500 kilometers of road. Join us to find out why the Tour de France is often described as the world’s greatest sporting challenge!

à la prochaine fois!
Debby & Meg

Some fine print you should be aware of: Please note that we will pass on your name, email address, blog address, and Ravelry ID to your Team Leader. The Team Leaders will regularly report on each team's progress on this blog. This may involve reproducing photographs from your blog/photo sharing account on the TDFKAL blog. Signing up for the TDFKAL constitutes an acceptance of these terms.