An MKAL of Ice and Fire!

Hello and welcome everyone to the preliminary kick off of the Game of Thrones Mystery Knit-a-long! I am so excited to have you all here and I can't wait to see what everyone's projects look like! As promised, today I will go over some of the specifics of the MKAL (ie. how to participate, gauge, etc) and next week I will release the official first "clue" or piece of the pattern.

For those of you who are new to Mystery Knit-a-longs, we refer to each part of the pattern as a "clue" because the project itself is a mystery. You probably won't know exactly what we are knitting until about half of the way through and the design elements are definitely a mystery throughout until each clue reveals what comes next. For this KAL, I will release each clue on Sunday morning, starting on March 31st. Now, I know that the 31st is Easter and I apologize for the timing, but that is when the first episode of Season 3 of Game of Thrones actually starts. Hopefully this won't deter anyone from participating. You'll have an entire week to knit Clue 1 before Clue 2 comes out.

Here is some of the important, need-to-know info for the MKAL:

-Yarn: We are using 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Haymarket yarn in the "Winter is Coming" color or another color of your choice. If you would prefer to stash bust or use something different, you'll need about 430 yds of a worsted weight yarn.

-Needle Size & Gauge: US Size 8- 24" or shorter circular needle to acquire a gauge of 20 sts and 24 rows = 4" in Stockinette St. This gauge was unblocked and taken from my piece knit in the round.

*to knit a gauge swatch, cast on 24 sts or more and create a border around your 20 stitch stockinette section. This will help you get a more accurate gauge. Please adjust needle size if needed to get gauge. Feel free to swatch in the round if you find your gauge to vary significantly in the round vs flat.

-Skills needed: knitting, purling, knitting in the round, basic increases and decreases (yo, ssk, k2tog, k1f&b, etc.), simple lace using either written directions or a chart, and an understanding of short rows. If any of these skills are new to you, you might want to practice them a bit before we kick off next week.

-Ravelry: Be sure to check out the Jimmy Beans Wool Ravelry Group. For each blog post, we will create a new thread in the group specifically for help on that piece of the pattern. I'll also create a "spoilers" thread so that GoT fans can talk about the show or books freely without risk of spoiling the story for anyone. If you haven't read all of the books or aren't planning on watching the new season right away, be sure not to venture into Spoiler territory if you don't want to know what happens. I'll be staying out of that thread myself as I've only gotten through book 3. :)

-Remember that the Ravelry Groups are an intrinsic part of the KAL. Be sure to head there to ask for help from your fellow KAL participants. The group is the "community" aspect of the KAL and only works if we all participate.

-About a month after the GOTMKAL (short for Game of Thrones Mystery KAL) is over, I will release the full version of the pattern as a Free PDF on the Jimmy Beans Wool website on the Free Patterns page. It will be re-formatted and re-edited, much like Lady Violet's Dinner Gauntlets from the Downton Abbey Mystery KAL. It takes me that amount of time to properly re-edit the pattern, have professional photography done, and what not.

I am really truly excited for this KAL! I can't wait for the season to start and for you all to knit this little project I've cooked up for you. I think it's going to be a blast! Of course, if at any time you have a question for me directly, please feel free to e-mail me on Ravelry. I answer e-mails at the JimmyBeansWool account and also my personal account, Marinade, and I am always happy to help!

Lastly, I couldn't help but search around for a fun quiz we could all take to get a little more excited for season 3 (as if we really need it). I found two different quizzes for "What Game of Thrones Character Are You?" so I will share them both with you:

http://www.buddytv.com/personalityquiz/game-of-thrones-personalityquiz.aspx?quiz=500000095

http://quizfarm.com/quizzes/quiz/Churchill14/which-game-of-thrones-character-are-you/

I found the second one to be a bit more in depth. On the first one I was as Arya Stark and on the second I was Eddard Stark. I guess it's pretty safe to say I'm a Stark of Winterfell which is perfect because Winter is Coming, and I am ready. :)

Happy knitting