Still knitting

Its Monday so its time to blog about things made alongside other people in Natalie's network.

One of Ravelry's many strengths is the inspiration of seeing what other people have knitted.

And there are KALs (knitalongs) where everyone starts a pattern at the same time. And you can share problems and pleasures.

And then there are Mystery KALs where a designer releases the stages in a design over several weeks - or even months.

I have taken part in two of these -

• a mystery blanket, which I started in 2009 but have yet to finish. I like the design and the colour, but once you know where it is going the excitement wears off.
  And I subsequently realised that had I done this a year earlier or a year later, with more pictorial squares, I would not have liked the result nearly as much.
  
• a shawl which used lovely yarn and had interesting stitches, but I had to adapt as I didn't like the pictures of Robins picked out in beads.
  And when it was completed it was the wrong shape and size for me. So I gave it to Natalie as it showed her lovely yarn so well.

I should have learned from this that mystery knits are very risky.

Stephen West produces some spectacular scarves. So when he offered a mystery KAL I signed up.

And chose some of Natalie's Clan for the scarf.

However when the first clue came last week and I realised it was to be intarsia I decided it was not for me - I wanted something less fiddly after the wall hanging with 4 strands at a time.

So I looked at his other patterns and decided to knit Daybreak, a shawl with just two colours, knitted one at a time. I started it on Thursday and it has gone very quickly; by next Monday I hope it will be finished and blocked.