Went on a walk to one of my lys’ today and came home with some yarn for the Westknits MKAL 2023. I’m pretty new to knitting and I know Westknits patterns can be pretty crazy but I’m keen to push myself and see how well I do on a more complex pattern. The middle two colours look fairly similar on camera but there’s a lot more difference in person.
This is the Kinship shawl by West Knits and Jazzy Knits for Pom Pom Quarterly. The yarn is 29 Bridges Studio's Non-superwash Sock in the colorways Tahoe, Aubergine, and Overt. The pattern is easy to follow and memorize. The yarn has a nice bounce to it.
I finished Clue 1 of the Twists & Turns MKAL by Stephen West using BzyPeach yarn! This thing is going to be HUGE, this is just the first clue and it's already this big???
Thinking about some of my old knits, and i think one of my favorites is my westknits mkal shawl from last year! She's in desperate need of depilling now, but I am still hopelessly in love with this knit
Kits are online! @westknits Eyelet Burst Shawl has endless yarn possibilities. See all the kits we put together or come in and create your own. #westknits #westknitsarethebestknits #shawlknitting #shawlknittersofinstagram #sockyarn #vbknits #shawlkits (at The Yarn Club) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqArSfULI1R/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
So I got about half way through part 1 of the Westknits MKAL… and decided to frog it.
There was a bit of a drama with the finished clue 1 evoking the look and feel of a swastika and honestly, even if I didn’t pick up on that (was trying to do the pattern blind), I’d rather make a small change now than continue the pattern and have someone potentially see it in the future and have that very justified knee-jerk reaction.
More importantly, I’ve only been knitting for like 10 months at this point and I felt like my attempt at the original pattern definitely had a bit of a skill issue lmao. It looked lovely but there were some holes where I messed up knitting some cast-on stitches when joining sections. I’m not trying to be too much of a perfectionist here but the yarn I got was really expensive and I’d rather not have that lingering regret whenever I look at the finished piece.
That said, I’m pretty proud of my first attempt and so I’m popping some progress photos I took under a cut so those who don’t want to see it can keep scrolling by
I’ve wound the yarn I used into a little self striping ball that I’ll probably use to make something small alongside the leftovers from the finished shawl. I’ll be casting on the new clue 1 a bit later today.
Honestly, August was a rush and a half. The weekends filled with One Act Play competitions and knitting at “Knit August Nights” and the days were filled with work and paperwork and all sorts of things. It was an insanely busy time.
Incomplete knits of August 2023
However, I did manage to work on a few things. August was spent with a lot of my fingers in the pie of Ribblr – seeing if this is a…
I finished Clue 2 of the Twists & Turns MKAL by Stephen West this morning! Not pictured: The indignant cat I shoved out of the way so I could use my bed to spread out the shawl so far 😂