Join the Trick of the Light MKAL!

It's that time of the year again: get ready for my annual spring mystery shawl!

What the What? This year's mystery shawl is a play on bright and dark, light and shadow, contrasts and opposites. Trick of the Light is a three-color shawl knit in fingering-weight yarn. Add a little twinkle to your mystery shawl with beads! That’s right: this year’s shawl includes some beaded sections. If you’re not a fan of beaded shawls, you can of course leave them out. There’s plenty of mystery in the design without beads. When Does It Start? Trick of the Light MKAL starts on April 1, 2020. The pattern is released in five clues, with a new weekly clue coming out every Wednesday in April. The first three clues are very small and quick to knit but the clues get a little bigger towards the end.

• Clue 1: April 1 — approx. 10% of the shawl

• Clue 2: April 8 — 15%

• Clue 3: April 15 — 10%

• Clue 4: April 22 — 35%

• Clue 5: April 29 — 30%

What About Yarn? Like last year, this year’s mystery shawl is knit in three colors of fingering-weight yarn. But this year I wanted to be more conscious of what I buy and consume so I did a little stash diving. I pulled three lovely skeins of GarnStories Merino Singles (100% superwash merino, 366 m/100 g, 400 yd/3.53 oz) from stash in my beloved grellow color combination: After Dark (black), Chain (white with subtle speckles), and Pesto (yellow). To knit the shawl you need fingering-weight yarn in three colors:

• Color A: approx. 365 m / 400 yd

• Color B: approx. 345 m / 380 yd

• Color C: approx. 365 m / 400 yd

Choose colors with a good amount of contrast between them. I recommend picking one light and two dark colors, or vice versa. Color A can be pretty much anything: solid, semi-solid, tonal, speckled, gradient, or even variegated. Colors B and C are best in solid, semi-solid, tonal, or subtly speckled colors. Everyone is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and many small businesses may be on the brink of closing down. If you can, support your favorite indie dyer, order online from your local yarn store, or try a new-to-you-dyer whose yarns you've been eyeing for a while. If you or your family is hit financially by the crisis and want to save money for more important matters, do some stash diving like I did. I’m sure many of us have those what-was-I-thinking one-skein sock-yarn purchases. Now’s the time to pair them up! You’ll probably come up with some amazing color combos just by using stash yarn. Scrap busting anyone? You can also use scrap yarns, minis, or gradient sets — the possibilities are limitless. The pattern lends itself well to using smaller amounts of yarn. What else do I need? In addition to yarn you need 3.5 mm (US #4) circular needles (or size to obtain gauge), tools for doing a provisional cast-on, a locking stitch marker, and 166 size 8/0 seed beads. Your beads can all be the same color, two sets of different colors (45 and 121 each), or you can leave out the beads entirely. Prizes This year it seems prudent not to do physical prizes. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be any! Share photos of your shawl during the MKAL and you’ll be entered in a draw to win a free pattern from my Ravelry shop. There are three ways to enter:

• chat in the chatter thread in my Ravelry group

• post a photo of your finished shawl in the group

• or post a photo of your shawl on Instagram using the hashtags #trickofthelightmkal and #talviknits

Because the last two clues involve quite a bit of knitting, the prize winners will be drawn on May 15, 2020 so that you have plenty of time to finish your shawl after the final clue is out. How Do I Join? The pattern for Trick of the Light is now available in my Ravelry store. Make sure you’re logged into Ravelry when you purchase the pattern so that all clues are delivered automatically to your library. You’ll get a notification from Ravelry when a new clue is out!

If you're not yet on my mailing list, this is a good time to join. Get 15% off the pattern price when you join the list before the first clue drops on April 1. Join the talvi knits Ravelry group and start planning your colors! Share your photos on Instagram with the hashtags #trickofthelightmkal and #talviknits.

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