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.

October 2023 Watch&Make: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) + Westknit MKAL shawl (sort of - see hidden text)

So. I didn't remember all the rapey stuff. I also entirely misremembered the importance of Salma Hayek's character. I had that whole story in my head about a vampire queen and stuff that apparently doesn't exist. A rather disappointing rewatch, I have to say. Not sure I'm gonna keep it on the spooky season watchlist. Also now I want that South America-based vampire queen story. Like, the final shot of the movie hints at something that would have been so much better. I feel robbed.

No pic of the shawl as, halfway through the movie, I got really bored with the macho-psycho-vampire-shooting thing and checked my email only to discover the whole debacle of the MKAL first clue. I love the original design (it's a celtic knot, and that's coming from someone who sees sanskrit everywhere), but I don't feel like I'm allowed to be part of the MKAL if I keep doing it. I can't find any alternate design that I like as much and I've spent hours scouring Ravelry and Facebook. I am now aimless and full of doubt. I want to throw a moopsie at nazis. I'm going to go to bed and drown my sorrow in Star Trek smut. Pon-farr storylines never disappoint.

Geogradient Shawl is complete! I slowed down a lot at the end, but I accidentally added two extra rows between dip rows on clue 4. Looks like it blocked out alright and I honestly don’t mind how it looks so I’ve decided to keep it. I’ll add fringe once it’s dry and call it complete!

Anyway, more thoughts about this project under the cut

SO!

The pattern is.. not my favourite from Westknits, but definitely not a bad one. The pattern itself was decently written but there was a discrepancy between clues 1 and 2 regarding which colours to use. I’m not too upset about that because of the shitshow that was clue 1 but I do hope it gets updated eventually. Subsequent clues were updated, but I mostly went by the pattern and didn’t check the ravelry group all that much so I ended up using less colour C and D in the design as a result. Another part of the pattern that irked me somewhat was the right handed language used. This is pretty standard for knitting patterns but idk I was hoping a big designer like Stephen West would at least be able to use more neutral language so as to not confuse me lol. The original clue 1 was especially confusing as I had to construct it in the opposite direction.

The first two clues were a bit boring tbh. Westknits MKAL patterns always seem to be full of wacky stitches and cool colour play but this one felt like a slog until I got to clue 3. Again, I blame the part 1 shitshow for this and I do understand that it’d be a huge pain to have to rewrite an entire part of your pattern in a few hours. I adore the Granny Square alternative clue 1 and honestly wish I had seen it before deciding what to do with mine but oh well lol. Overall, pattern is ok. I already have a triangular shawl so I was hoping the would be a different shape, so clue 4 was a pleasant surprise!

Now when I got up to the horizontal floats and dip stitches, I was a bit wary because while they look pretty, I feel like this shawl is going to catch on eeeeeveeything. I don’t know how much I’ll wear it, it might be a special occasion kinda shawl.

The yarn I used was too thin. The result was nice and airy with a good drape, but it does make the floats and dips a little less impactful than I’ve seen on other finished geogradients. I didn’t buy a kit from my lys but my lys was selling kits of this yarn. Otherwise the yarn is lovely and soft. I have about 150g leftover (not including the scraps I plan to turn into fringe) so I’ll have to think of something to do with them. I don’t think they’re going to play ball with my other fingering weight scraps. It was also a bitch to frog and would get fuzzy at the drop of a hat thanks to the alpaca content.

Overall I enjoyed this project though. Would I do another MKAL? Probably not. At least not for a while. I think I’d rather wait for the design to be released first. But who knows? I am a slave to my FOMO and there was a lot of that in my geogradient shawl.

Would I make this pattern again? Honestly? Yeah. I think I’d do it with a thicker fingering weight yarn and probably with a proper merino (or merino/nylon at the very least) I’d also do the granny square variant clue 1 and probably the optional mohair part in clue 2 as well. I was a little peeved that optional mohair wasn’t listed in the initial materials but apparently that a weird unwritten rule of an MKAL- Stephen is just happy to drop this info mid project and assumes that every knitter has an extensive stash of yarn they can pull from. Especially mohair, which isn’t something that’s regularly produced in Australia (except for one farm in QLD) so it’s all imported and all expensive.

It’s a pity, because the mohair dares I saw looked gorgeous.

Anyway, I’ll add the fringe once it’s dry and probably won’t touch it again for 6 months. That’s another lesson learned: all the trendy patterns on ravelry are seasonal for the northern hemisphere so it’s not worth keeping up with them.

Westknits MKAL progress!

Almost done with clue 2, then I have a Framework Bralette pattern to go back to and finish, hopefully before clue e comes out. I’m also starting to accumulate a lot of gradient cakes so I wanna try a crochet shawl soon too.

October Watch&Make 2023: Beetlejuice (1988) + Westknits MKAL Geogradient shawl

Beetlejuice is the cozy blanket of spooky season movies to me. I love the aesthetic. I wanna be Delia when I grow up (I'm older than Catherine O'Hara was when she made the movie but who cares?). Accoring to IMDB, they are making a sequel for next year? I don't know how I feel about that, but we'll give it a try anyway.

Knitting, knitting, knitting...

October Watch&Make 2023: The Lost Boys (1987) + Westknits MKAL Geogradient shawl

It was so much cuter than I was expecting! Those two comic book kids part-timing as vampire hunters were adorably irresponsible. I really liked the twist too. I'm so used to vampires wanting young virginal women to join them in eternity, it's nice to see something a bit different. I'm really glad I finally watched it. 1987 was a pretty good year for audiovisual entertainment, wasn't it?

That's the first time I make something that is constructed in so many different directions, and it's a lot of fun. Look at this funky little knitted thing! I love those intermediate stages, I'm glad I'm saving pics to look back on later.

October Make&Watch 2023: Sleepy Hollow (1999) + Westknit MKAL Geogradient shawl

Another classic of the season. Miranda Richardson never disappoints. The older I get, the less patience I have for desaturated movies (what's wrong with colors, people?), but this one gets a pass because I love the vibe. But also I really want to watch the Rob Zombie Munster movie now. I'm also thinking about finishing the Sleepy Hollow show from a few years back. I heard it went down in flames and I'm kinda curious.

Section 5 done, 3 sections to go! We're doing fine.

October Watch&Make 2023: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (2016) + Westknit MKAL Geogradient shawl

Tbh, I'm not sure why this movie exists, but also, why not, I guess? It's definitely not as terrible as I was led to believe by the Internet. It is the exact same story as the original, after all, with a few cosmetic changes. But it also makes it pretty redundant story-wise, because it is, again, the exact same story, down the exact same dialogues. I wish it had taken a bit more liberties, tried something new, I don't know. Offer another point of vie. All in all, I wouldn't be heartbroken if I lost access to it but I will probably watch it again next spooky season if I have time.

Starting section 5 out of 8 for the MKAL. I think I should still be able to finish clue 1 before clue 2 is out. That purple section kinda looks like a kanji to me, but also I know nothing about kanji so, yeah.

October 2023 Watch&Make: The Worst Witch (1986) + Westknit MKAL shawl (picture below the cut)

I've seen that movie so many times when I was a youth of Mildred's age. Truly a classic for me. I'm not gonna pretend it's good - it might be the lowest budget movie I've ever seen. The end is pretty anticlimactic. But also it has this song, which makes no sense but is the most 80s disaster thing you can witness. It's great. You should watch it.

I'm enjoying the MKAL so far. Clue 1 is fairly simple knitting, which is fine by me. Interesting textures and lace patterns are nice, but so are designs based on beautiful colors in a simple arrangement. I definitely didn't knit all of this during the Worst Witch, there's like, nearly an entire season of Sabrina the Teenage Witch in there as well. My color palette rocks and this picture is not giving it justice.

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.

October 2023 Watch&Make: The Addams Family (1991) + Westknit MKAL shawl

What can I say? I love this movie. The auction scene cracks me up every time.

The shawl is coming along nicely. I'd post a progress pic but tumblr isn't having it.