I am so excited to be participating in this year’s mystery knit-along (MKAL) by Westknits. In this post, I’ll share my five yarn colors for the Shawlography Shawl and my new knitting bag that I’ll be using for this project.
If you aren’t familiar, knitwear designer, Stephen West holds a mystery knit-along for a new shawl pattern each year. The pattern is released in parts each week, so the final design is a surprise until the very end. This year’s MKAL will be the Shawlography.
This will be my first year participating in this (or any) MKAL and I’m really looking forward to it. I was just starting to get comfortable with knitting when last year’s MKAL took place, but I remember seeing the floods of progress pictures on instagram. I wasn’t very interested in shawls at the time, but ever since knitting the Fantastitch, shawls are my favorite to knit.
Choosing Shawlography Colors
The Shawlography uses five colors of fingering weight yarn. It’s hard to try and plan the perfect colors when the shawl’s design is a mystery, but Stephen posted a video about what to look for in your color choices:
Since contrast is the most important part of choosing colors for Shawlography, I started looking at my stash for more solid/semi-solid colors. Basically everything I have is variegated and speckled, so I knew I’d need to buy new yarn for this project.
There are lots of kits available for Shawlography and examples listed in the intro pdf to the pattern, so I started there to get inspiration. Fantastitch and Vertices Unite are listed as examples for how the colors in Shawlography will work together. I’m not the best at picking colors, so my husband helped me to come up with a palette.
I loved this orchid palette because it has the pinks I love with a pop of yellow. I think this palette would fit into the High Contrast Color Family category from the intro pdf. It has high contrast between the lights darks and mid tones to balance it out.
La Bien Aimee Yarn
I love yarn from La Bien Aimee. I used it in my Fantastitch Shawl, my Favo Sweater, my Hiberknitting Cowl, my Treelight Shawl, and mixed into lots of other projects.
Once I had my palette in mind, I looked for colors in the Cashmerino base. I found the perfect matches to the inspiration photo:
- Yellow Brick Road
- Sansa
- Damask
- Bois de Rose
- Eric Northman
These colors are so pretty and I can’t wait to start casting on the Shawlography. I do have a couple of extra colors that I may incorporate into the shawl for fun if I want to add some texture. I’ll share my final palette in my Shawlography Knitting Experience post.
New Project Bag
I don’t travel with my knitting often, so I’ve never had a need for a dedicated project bag. I usually keep my WIPs in those large ziplock bags that yarn comes in sometimes, but I really wanted something special for the Shawlography. I started looking at etsy for a handmade project bag.
I found the cutest bag from Emalya; it’s the perfect size for a shawl project and it has interchangeable drawstring pouches if you want to swap out multiple projects.
I’m really happy with this bag so far. I’ve been using it for my Brioband Shawl until Shawlography is released; it fits all of my yarn and my notions case. It feels durable and I’m really impressed with the quality. I love having a dedicated bag to commemorate my first MKAL!
I can’t wait to get started with the Shawlography shawl and using this project bag more. Are you participating in the MKAL this year? Check out more of my knitting projects on Ravelry.
