Finally, Finished

Back in February, I finished knitting on my Mystery MusiKAL shawl (Westknits mystery shawl from 2025).  At that point I had eleventy billion ends to weave in, so I said I'd show it to you when the ends were woven in and it was blocked.

It's done.  Every single end has been woven in and it has been steam blocked.

I love it!  It's huge and dramatic and crazy and it was so much fun to knit.  Not as much fun to weave in the ends.  But now it's finished.

The colors are Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Oro and Teal Feather, Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Cassis and Lupine, and Madelinetosh Twist Light in Weathered Frame.  The design called for four colors, but after the first clue I decided to add the Weathered Frame (the dark taupe) and I'm glad I did.  

I haven't decided if I am going to do this fall's Westknits mystery shawl yet.  I do enjoy them, but they also tend to take over my knitting and there are some other things I'd like to work on too.  I guess we'll see!

Just in case you weren't sure what eleventy billion ends looked like... 

I'm Binding Off!!!!!

Yes, I'm binding off on my Mystery MusiKAL Shawl!  It has been a long road, but the end is in sight.  Sort of.  There are at least eleventy million ends to weave in when I finish with the actual knitting, but I'm getting there!  (I chose to work only one section of the brioche edging, but I made it wider than the pattern called for.  I decided the shawl was plenty big enough and I was starting to make stupid mistakes, so it was time to call it done.)

Thawing Out

I've gotten back to work on my Mystery MusiKAL shawl and this was the perfect project for this past weekend.  Once I figured out where I was, the actual knitting isn't difficult, but I have to pay attention just enough to keep me focused.  This was a nice way to keep my brain from thinking about the storm outside.  You can see the new section above the diamonds.  This new part looks woven.  I'm about halfway through it by the number of rows, but since it's worked using short rows, each row is a little shorter than the one before.  I hope to be done with it in a couple of days and then I just have the final border to go!

We ended up getting between 3-4 inches of sleet from the storm.  There's a layer of actual snow in there somewhere too, but it's become one with the sleet at this point.  Overnight it becomes extremely hard and slick, but we're supposed to get above freezing today, so hopefully it will start going away.  There are a few tire tracks in it through the neighborhood, but most people seem to be staying home.  The schools are still closed around here.  

Obi had a blast in the storm.  He wanted to lay in it and play in it all day.  He doesn't have any cold weather gear, so I had to bring him back inside before he was ready, but he doesn't understand things like frostbite.  If the warmer daytime temperatures don't melt the backyard, he'll probably eat it! 

A Mystery

For the second year in a row, I did Stephen West's fall Mystery KAL.  For the second year in a row, I didn't finish during the KAL.  This is the Mystery MusiKAL Shawl from fall of 2025.  I've got two more sections to go and I have to take some time to figure out where I am before I can actually start knitting.  The KAL called for four colors of yarn, but I decided to use five.  Also, I'm pretty sure that the way I used my colors has nothing to do with the A, B, C, D he uses in the pattern to tell you which color to use where.  His designs seem to work well even if you change things up though.  (One person did the whole thing in one color - it's stunning.)

I've used (in no particular order) Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Oro (gold), Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Teal Feather (blue green), Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Cassis (pink), Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Lupine (blue violet), and Madelinetosh Twist Light in Weathered Frame (brown).  I initally wasn't going to use the Weathered Frame, but I liked the way it seemed to ground the brighter colors, so I decided to go for it.  As you can see around the edges of the shawl, I haven't been a good knitter and woven in the ends as I go, so at some point I'm going to have some major weaving in to do.  Fortunately Netflix just got all the James Bond movies, so at least I'll be entertained while I'm doing all of that!

Have a great weekend and stay warm!  

Linearity Shawl

I've been working on the Linearity Shawl this spring.  It was a Mystery Knit Along so I haven't been talking about it or showing pictures, but the final clue was released a couple weeks ago.  As the name indicates, this was all about lines: vertical, horizontal, textural, and colorful.  

I knit it in Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Sabiduria, Whole Grain, and Natural.  Since there were no complex lace or stitches, it was a great TV watching project.  The finished wrap straddles the large scarf/stole sizing (I didn't actually measure it, and I just steam blocked it), which will be easy to wear either way.  I also think it could easily be a unisex accessory!