Follow Your Arrow Mystery Knit-along

I just finished a mystery knit-along (MKAL) from Ysolda Teague called Follow Your Arrow! A mystery knit-along is a KAL where you don't know what the pattern is and the pattern is usually released in sections so its a surprise as you knit it. A MKAL can be scary to commit to, so its good to know you like a designer before you sign up. Ysolda Teague is one of my favorite designers and this was her first MKAL so I knew it would be a win. The project was a shawl that used about 680 yards of lace to fingering weight yarn and that's all I knew going into it. Ysolda did her MKAL with a new twist - it was also a choose your own adventure MKAL! Each of the 5 clues would have 2 options for a total of 32 different shawls that could be created. WHAA?!

The nature of this MKAL was a little stressful for me. Each week I had to choose which pattern to follow without knowing what the finished result would be! I really had to let go of my control and attachment and just go with the flow. It ended up great. In the beginning I chose to follow the more geometric options and I love the unique shape that this produced.

I knit my Follow Your Arrow out of Meadow lace yarn by the Fibre Company. I've been itching to knit a shawl in this pale aqua color Pennyroyal since we first got this yarn in last summer so picking out the yarn was the easiest part of this KAL. Meadow is a light-fingering weight yarn that is a luscious blend of merino, llama, silk and linen. The yarn has a beautiful hand and drape and was dreamy to knit with. I knit the options ABBAA so my shawl only used about 620 yards of yarn.

My favorite perk that came with participating in Ysolda's MKAL was seeing what everyone's project was shaping up like each week as the clues were released. The number of possibilities of this shawl pattern made this so fun! You can go to Ravelry and check out tons of finished shawls here.

I can't even believe that Ysolda was able to write a pattern with so many options that worked out so well - she really is a knitting genius! I would totally recommend this pattern and yarn to anyone looking for a really fun knitting adventure!