Taiga

This last December Shui Kuen Kozinski had her first Mystery KAL and I decided to participate.  KAL, stands for Knit ALong, meaning everyone is supposed to knit the provided clue every week and by the time all of the clues are released everyone participating will have the same completed object.  OH its great fun as everyone has different yarns, some use beads, and no one knows what they are knitting.  We just have to have faith in the artist. 

Well, that's how its supposed to be done anyway.  I can comfortably say this is not how I did it.  Nope, not by a long shot.  I received the same clues as everyone else and I did cast on at the same time as everyone else and I had good intentions of actually doing what I was supposed to do.  That is, to knit the clue every week like everyone else. 

Clue one was released and I excitedly casted on and actually knit the first clue as instructed.  That's when all hell broke loose.  One of the girls got sick and then the other one followed suit.  Of course Mother Nature has a sence of humor where sickness is concerned.  Directly after the release of clue 2,  She kindly allowed the sickness to be passed on to me.  Around this time, I stopped knitting on the shawl altogether.  During the release of clue 3, Ray got sick.  By the time week 4 rolled around the Grant family was all back to normal however I only managed to knit clue 1. 

Over the course of the next 2 months, I slowly knit through the clues.  Last night I gave the shawl a good soaking and firmly blocked it.  After 3 months of knitting I'm happy to be finally finished!

Mystery KAL

I'm excited to announce that Shui Kuen Kozinski is hosting a Mystery Knit Along.  We all know SK from her very popular designs for Elann.com as well as her self published designs.  She is best known for her lacy shawls and I'm very certain that we will be quite pleased with what the mystery has to offer.

For those not familiar with a Mystery KAL, it goes like this.  Its called a knit along because you are knitting each clue along with dozens of others.   First you sign up and receive a detailed list of everything you need to complete the item.  Yarn type and how much, needles, beads, stitch markers, how many clues you get.  Stuff like that.   Then each week a clue is given in the form of a pattern.  And each week you knit that clue.  When all of the clues have been received and knitted, you will have a finished object! 

The exciting part comes in with the forum hosting the KAL.  Discussions start about what we think the final shape will be.  What the stitches remind us of.  What to name the final piece.  Who pissed off whom because they didn't like their input.  Like I said its fun stuff.

SK states the following:

This pattern cost $3.00 now, it will be $7.00 later.

4 clues will be given on Jan 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd 2012.

Please use my mystery picture as the project picture till the end of KAL. Thank you!

The project will be a crescent shape lace shawl with shawl collar, which is knitted in one piece. The gentle scalloped lace part is knitted from the top down (less stitches to cast on), and later finished with short rows.

EXPERIENCE LEVEL
Intermediate
SIZE
Medium size Shawl is 14 inches deep, 36 inches wide at the top and 78 inches at the bottom, relaxed after blocking. Small and large size will be discussed.

MATERIALS
-600 to 800 yards of fingering weight yarn
-5.5mm (US 9), 4.5mm (US 7), and 4mm (US 6) 24 inch circular needles
-tapestry needle; 2 stitch markers
GAUGE
20 sts and 28 rows per 4in after blocking
(Gauge is not critical)

I've already signed up and paid my dues for the Mystery KAL.  For my $3, I received a 1 page .pdf file with what is needed to complete the shawl.  Next is the hard part.  Waiting. 

Who's in?