Welcome to my Summer Mystery Shawl Knit-Along for 2014! If you purchase before July 12, you will receive an Introduction that is a placeholder for the pattern, with yarn and needle requirements and gauge information. The pattern itself will then be released in three parts: Knitting will commence on July 12 with the first piece of the pattern. The second piece will be released on July 19, and the final piece on July 26.

My design process this year was a little different. The first half of 2014 has been a rough one, not just for me, but for some people I love. So this year, the mystery shawl is all about sending love and healing thoughts to others. So instead of light, ethereal cobwebs, think soft, pretty, and comforting.

The shawl itself is immensely customizable. For starters, you can knit this shawl in two different ways:

Option One: Knit exactly according to the pattern directions. I am providing specific instructions for knitting the design in fingering, sport, and DK weight. I have knit up samples in these three different weights, and the pattern works beautifully for all three. Yarn requirements:

• Fingering: 420 yards
• Sport: 360 yards
• DK: 270 yards

With the above amounts, you will knit a small cozy shawl that unstretched is 48” along the bottom edge and about 11.5” deep at the center back. Finished measurements are approximate: because this piece is garter stitch it stretches quite a lot.

Option Two: Knit According to Your Yarn (KAYY): Complete information is given for knitting with pretty much any weight yarn (fingering and heavier) and any yardage amount. So if you have a special skein you would like to use but it doesn’t match exactly the yardage required for one of the three different sizes, you can still use it. Or if you want to double the size of the shawl from the pattern as written, you can do that too. A requirement for knitting according to the amount of yarn you have – you must have access to a gram scale. This can be a kitchen scale or a little postal scale – I talk about scales in the pattern intro. If you don’t already have one you can purchase one for just a few dollars.

So this shawl is different from the ones created in my previous mystery knit-alongs. At the end of this KAL, you will have a shawl template that you can use over and over again, customizing it for your yarn and for the recipient. By changing a few simple things in the basic template, you can create a different shape for your shawl and resize it any way you like.

There is some charted lace in this design, and that chart is completely written out as well.

Discussion threads for this project are in the WendyKnits group here on Ravelry.