A mystery no more! The shawl that I am wearing was knit as part of a mystery KAL hosted by Christelle Nihoul, one of my new favorite designers. It was an extremely well organized KAL that ran over the course of 4 weeks and the teaser clue at the start was that the design was inspired by her trip to Iceland and the dramatic cloud formations in the northern skies.
I was immediately intrigued with a cloudscape design as I spend so much time outdoors with Simcha under the canopy of clouds and skies. I thought what a great idea it would be to take the clouds and sky with me indoors or wherever Simcha or I should happen to be.
I'm really taken with these mystery KALs. There is of course the risk that you won't like the final design but if you are familiar with the designer it's more likely than not that you will both have fun and love the shawl you make. One of the best parts of a mystery KAL is discovering the design unfold as a group and sharing pictures and getting immediate feedback on any questions from the designer. There is also the motivation to keep up with the clues being released and I like that because I tend to have a number of projects on the needles at the same time and that can result in UFOs simply because you loose interest over time.
Generally a mystery KAL project will be a straight forward knit but it may have some challenging elements. If you are a newer knitter this is a good opportunity to learn a new technique as the designer will provide links to helpful tutorials and the group as a whole is a wonderful resource for learning. This particular shawl had a lot of stockinette but it did incorporate short rows to create the "clouds" and a lace border which kept the project interesting to knit and created a very artistic piece of knitting.
Particulars: Northern Skies Mystery KAL by Christelle Nihoul (blogs as Christal Little Kitchen); 2 skeins Cephalopod Yarns (Skinny Bugga) and 1 skein Hedgehog Fibers Kidsilk Lace; US 6 and 8 needles. This is a very easy and well written pattern that creates a stunning piece of art. Finished (blocked) dimensions: 80" x 17."
A Favorite Cloudscape ~
This view is from my neighborhood in Topanga looking east toward Los Angeles as the sun rises. It was taken late last summer and for some reason reminds me of Lana Del Rey's song Summertime Sadness.
