Geogradient MKAL Kits by Stephen West

Welcome to the 14th Westknits Mystery Shawl Knit Along (MKAL)! We are going to have so much fun knitting an out of this world shawl design. This year’s shawl will be a geometric explosion of color using a gradient of four colors. Join Stephen West as he guides you through the mesmerizing stitches of this year’s mystery shawl with video tutorials throughout October. Get ready to blast off as we cast on Thursday, October 5!

KITS
Makers' Mercantile selected Madrona as the yarn for this year's kit. With 402 yards / 100 grams in each cake, it features a gorgeous halo and fabulous colors that make it the perfect yarn for this adventure. We created 5 (FIVE!) stellar color combinations. Choose your favorite and get ready for takeoff.

Solar Flare
1410
1413
1415
1404

Supernova
1411
1409
1412
1400

Starry Sky
1402
1403
1404
1401

Comet Tail
1407
1406
1405
1402

Misty Nebula
1419
1418
1404
1403

• 4 cakes Madrona by HiKoo in the selected colorway
• skacel by addi US 4 (3.50 mm) Rocket 40" long Rocket fixed circular needle
• Geogradient MKAL pattern by Stephen West
• Clear vinyl Makers' Mercantile tote bag

Schedule
Clue 1 - Thursday, October 5
Clue 2 - Thursday, October 12
Clue 3 - Thursday, October 19
Clue 4 - Thursday, October 26

Size
The overall shape and dimensions are part of the mystery! Geogradient Shawl will be a large shawl, similar in size to Starflake or Winter Lights Shawl. It won’t be quite as massive as some previous MKAL shawls that used 5 colors like Texture time or Slipstravaganza. There will be an option at the end of the MKAL to customize the size as well if you have extra yarn to make the shawl larger or if you want to stop a bit early for a smaller shawl. ;)

Notions (also needed but not included)
4 stitch markers, tapestry needle

Gauge
24 stitches & 48 rows = 4″ / 10cm in garter stitch before blocking
Try to get close to the recommended stitch gauge to ensure you don’t run out of yarn. A similar stitch gauge is more important than getting an exact row gauge.

Garter Stitch Swatch
If you would like to see how your colors interact, cast on 30 stitches and knit some colorful stripes, knitting on the right side and wrong side for garter stitch.

I recommend striping the colors by knitting 8 rows of each color, resulting in 4 garter ridges for each stripe like this…

Knit 8 rows with color A.
Knit 8 rows with color B.
Knit 8 rows with color C.
Knit 8 rows with color D.

Repeat those stripes again to see your A, B, C, D striping effect and check your stitch gauge.

Ravelry Group
Join the Ravelry MKAL 2023 group for discussion threads each week and to show off you beautiful MKAL progress!