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Would you like to kickstart your autumn knitting season with an injection of inspiration?
Perhaps you’d like to connect with a welcoming community of knitters?
Or maybe you’ve lost your mojo and you’re feeling bored with your knitting?
If any of this sounds familiar, join me for the Kinfolk Shawl Mystery Knit-A-Long (MKAL), which starts on Thursday 22nd September!

INSPIRATION
Walking along a beach or a forest trail, it’s always tempting to collect little treasures from nature. Be it shells, berries, or pinecones, when you look closely at your cache, you notice that each piece in your collection is similar but different. Each periwinkle shell might be alike in shape, but there’s variation in pattern, in size, in colour: the shells are akin to one another.
The Kinfolk shawl has been designed in two halves that are akin to each other, and when finished, you’ll find it’s the perfect thing to wrap around a member of your kinfolk, especially when they’re in need of an extra woolly hug on a chilly autumn evening.

With five pattern clues (or sections), released over five weeks, you’ll connect with an online community of knitters to help you create a stylish shawl, as well as picking up some knitting tips and motivational tricks to use in future creative projects, along the way.

You’ll also get exclusive access to:

• a knit-a-long community on Facebook

• five weekly virtual Thursday Knit Nights, hosted by Maddie on zoom

• detailed video tutorials

• a specially designed Knit-Motivate “grab sheet” to help you mark your MKAL progress stay motivated throughout

All of this will help you bring some inspiration and excitement into your knitting, whilst you create a fabulous new shawl.

How does a MKAL work?
A mystery shawl pattern is one where you don’t know what the finished project will looks like. There might be a few clues but mostly it’s a surprise – the pattern doesn’t contain any photographs. Have a look at some of Maddie’s previous designs to get an idea of her style here.
When lots of people are knitting the same pattern at the same time, a lovely community builds up, which we’ll do over social media using the searchable hashtag #KinfolkShawl and in a dedicated Facebook group

The pattern will be released in five weekly clues or sections (automatically emailed to you as a download link), every Thursday morning in September/October, as follows:
Clue One: 22nd September
Clue Two: 29th September
Clue Three: 6th October
Clue Four: 13th October
Clue Five: 20th October

If you purchase the pattern before 22nd September, you’ll download an information sheet to help you get ready for the MKAL - with details on choosing yarn, how to swatch to check your colour choice and gauge, information about only working half of the shawl during the KAL, and all the community links you’ll need to take part in the Kinfolk MKAL.

Worried about the pace of the MKAL?
The vast majority of this particular MKAL will be worked in two halves and we’ll be knitting on each half each week. So, if you’re worried about not keeping up, you could choose to knit one half of the shawl during the KAL and knit the other half afterwards. This means that you’ll still experience the lovely “surprise” of each clue as it’s published, without having the mystery spoiled by seeing other knitter’s projects.
Worked in this way, each clue will knit-up slightly less than 25g of 4ply/fingering-weight yarn each week (if you work both sides simultaneously then you’ll be knitting-up slightly less than 50g each week).
Plus Maddie’s exclusive Knit-Motivate grab sheet will help you break down each clue into manageable chunks.

What kind of techniques are involved in the shawl? Will they be hard?
As a part-time primary school teacher, Maddie has designed the shawl to grow alongside the skills of the knitter, so it starts gently with each clue building on the techniques from the previous clue. There will be LOTS of help on hand from Maddie in the Facebook group and on social media, plus you’ll have access to weekly virtual MKAL Knit Nights and exclusive video tutorials to help you.

YARN
Alice of Whistlebare and Maddie have put together four suggested yarn kits especially for the Kinfolk Shawl, which you can find here
Original sample used:
Cheviot Marsh 4 ply (350 m / 380 yds per 100g skein; 100% Cheviot & Romney Marsh lambswool)
1 x 100g skein in Moorland Mist (yarn A)
1 x 100g skein in Dawn’s Promise (yarn B)

Yeavering Bell 4 ply Mini-skein (70 m / 76 yds per 20g mini-skein; 80% Whistlebare’s own mohair, 20% Whistlebare’s own Wensleydale)
1 x 20g mini-skein in Hearth of Gefrin (CC1)
1 x 20g mini-skein in Solstice (CC2)
1 x 20g mini-skein in Joyful (CC3)

The shawl has been designed to use two main shades of 4ply/fingering-weight yarns: both in a solid colour – ideally one light (yarn A) and one darker (yarn B).
These two main colours are worked alongside three contrast colours of of 4ply/fingering-weight yarns in mini-skein amounts. The contrast colours mostly play against yarn B in the shawl, so they should contrast well with B.
Kinfolk could also work with one yarn used in place of CC1-3, and/or with a highly variegated/speckled yarn as B.
Further details about choosing yarn are included in the pattern’s information sheet.

Kits available from Whistlebare

GAUGE
16 sts x 40 rows = 10 cm / 4” measured over garter stitch stripes in B/CC1-3 before blocking
14 sts x 34 rows = 10 cm / 4” measured over garter stitch stripes in B/CC1-3 after blocking
Full swatching details are included in the pattern’s information sheet.

NEEDLES & NOTIONS
4.5 mm / US 7 needles circular 80 cm / 32” (circular needles are needed for the number of sts)
EITHER an extra 4.5 mm circular needle OR a spare circular needle of a smaller size to place sts on hold between clues
5.00 mm / US 8 straight needles or DPNs or short circular needle
2 lockable stitch markers or safety pins
18 stitch markers or small yarn loops
50 cm waste yarn and tapestry needle

The pattern has been professionally tech edited and test knitted.

EXTRA PATTERN UPDATES
30th SEPT: Clue One, Second Side (page 4), Rows 62 & 64 now read as follows: Sl1, k2, k3, p3; rep from to last 3 sts, k3.
This will ensure that the patterning for the Second Side will line-up between Clue One and Clue Two.
13th OCT: Clue Two, Second Side (page 6), Row 24 now reads: Sl1, k2, p6, k3, p3, sm x 8, k3.