mystery – New England's Narrow Road

I’m blogging about my journey as I attempt to complete a MKAL (mystery knit along) challenge. Well, for me it’s a challenge. I have spoiler images on this page, if you are beginning this KAL!

In the Through the Loops forum at Ravelry we are sharing progress, problems, questions, and ideas while knitting an asymmetrical shawl from clues doled out over the course of about six weeks by the designer. I’ve been behind from the beginning, but only by a few days. This requires a LOT of knitting. Far more knitting than I have ever done in such a short amount of time, and in a pattern far more difficult than I have ever attempted.

It takes discipline and concentration and I am having fun!

Although the shawl requires 2 skeins of yarn, a number of knitters were worried about running out of yarn. Some ran out, and I am one of them. As I began Clue #3 which would have had 3 rows of color A (my yellow color), I knew there wasn’t enough.

mystery shawl knit-along clue three — Starting Clue 3 and realizing the yellow yarn is gone!

I decided to ask in the forum if anyone had simply changed to Color B, or if that would mean running out of that color eventually.

The designer, Kirsten Kapur, suggested I could use a contrast color from my stash, which could also be added in later in the pattern. I liked this idea, so I wouldn’t have to stop knitting and fall further behind. Many people have already moved on to Clue Four at this point. I guess I will also add this new color in somewhere else. It’s my backup if Color B begins to get short.

The trouble was, my stash of yarn is pretty small. And I needed fingering weight in a color that would go with light blue and cumin yellow! Probably a pretty green or another shade of blue would have been the best choice, but I didn’t have either of those. So to finish up my Clue #3 rows I substituted a rust color for the yellow.

Now my shawl will contain three colors, but only little of the third color. I hope in the long run it will all look okay.

shawl knitting clue 3 — Added Color C, which is rust to finish up Clue #3

I have now begun Clue #4, but it’s a toughie, so I’ll wait until morning, when my mind is fresh and full of coffee, to do more knitting.

By the way, some people are actually knitting 2 of these shawls at once! And many knitters get the clue finished within a day! Then there are those who have only just decided to start, or are behind like me. At least I don’t feel like I am the worst knitter in the group.

Miss bags rust color ball of yarn — “Canyon Wren” is a rust color yarn and is now my Color C for this project.

I finished the first “clue” which is basically the beginning of the shawl pattern in the MKAL. I’m working with the yellow yarn, which show a different coloring all my photos. The second photo down is closest to the real color.

knitting a shawl — Assymetrical triangle shawl MKAL

I am proud of my self for getting through Clue 1 and finishing.

Now I have begun Clue 2 and it’s a different story.

My inexperience is beginning to show and slow me down. I’ve already made a bunch of mistakes, and asked a question in the forum. I’ll continue to knit, but I have a feeling my Clue 2 is not going to be so pretty.

I still consider this to be good experience for me. The only way to gain knitting experience is to knit! Stepping out of my comfort zone is needed to gain expertise. We learn from our mistakes.

The designer (Kirsten Kapur) of this shawl knit-along made it clear this was intended for experienced knitters. I can only blame myself if I am unable to finish. It has been fun, and I will continue until it’s obvious that my shawl will turn out a mess. Or, maybe I will be surprised and it won’t look so bad.

Clue #2 Started

After some trouble with the cdd (center double decrease) stitch, I began to move along on clue #2. Many fast knitters finished right away, but it will probably take me another week at least to get this part done. I have made bunches of mistakes, but I managed to get past them and move on.

The photo below is very close to the actual color of the yarn. It’s called “cumin” and is a Miss Babs yarn made of Merino wool and Tussah silk. In my head, I call the color “baby potty”, but I do like it. I have 2 more sections (40 rows each) before I finish this clue.

In the meantime, I continue to finish up the Spindrift Shawl. That one is turning out nicely. I’m adding the lavender picot bind off.

Nearly There For Clue #3

I’m part way through the last repeat for Clue #3. This has been a long one, but after one complete run through, the knitting got easier.

Two things have helped me greatly while doing Clue 2:

Add stitch markers at each 10 stitch repeat.
And mark off the 10 count repeat on my pattern print out. I simply added a little dot at the place where the next 10 stitches began. By doing these two things the pattern is broken up enough for me to catch a mistake sooner.

mystery knitting shawl knit along — Beginning my 3rd repeat on Clue #2

Thanks to the little freebies Miss Babs includes (cute stitch markers) I had them to use to mark my stitches.

And speaking of Miss Babs (one of my favorite yarn places to shop online), some of the knitters who have gone on to work Clue #3, which is available now, have been worried about running out of Color A yarn. Yesterday I read in the forum that the Miss Babs company has offered to send 20 extra yards of yarn to those who run out. In addition, if you need more yarn than that, they will give 20% off the purchase of an entire skein!

Miss Babs has beautiful yarn, gives away cool freebies with a purchase, and now is offering this! So many reasons to buy from them. I won’t know for a few days if I will run out of yarn, and hopefully not. My plan was to simply use another color, but I may ask for that 20 yards. I’d better get knitting.

I did run out of my Cumin yarn… see what happened next.