I know that many of you may already be familiar with Scottish knitter/designer Ysolda Teague, but in light of her most recent shawl design, I think that she bears a second look! (And third, fourth, etc.!) Ysolda has several books to her credit, most familiar being her Little Red in the City, perhaps, or her Whimsical Little Knits series, and many ‘single offering’ patterns, which can be found, where else? on Ravelry!
Today, though, I would like to direct your attention to her latest shawl pattern, ‘Follow Your Arrow’. This pattern was released in the form of a Knit-Along (KAL) on Ravelry January 13th – February 10th, 2014. As any of my knitting friends is already aware, I am a fan of the KAL in pretty much any shape or form. The Follow Your Arrow KAL is no exception. While a typical KAL features one new clue a week, spread over a period of three to six weeks, the Follow Your Arrow KAL added a fun twist to the mix. Instead of just one clue, knitters could choose from one of two clues each week, Version A or Version B, in the fashion of the children’s books “Choose Your Own Adventure”, where a child reads one chapter and then chooses which next chapter to jump to, thus influencing the outcome of the story in a unique way. In the same way, the Follow Your Arrow shawls, while using the same basic pattern, have very different outcomes. There was a single-color option as well as a two-color option. And, of course, some knitters chose to use even more than two colors, which resulted in an even different project outcome than imagined by the designer. I encourage you to check out all of the wonderful outcomes found as a result of knitting the Follow Your Arrow pattern. As of this writing, there are 798 finished projects shared on the ‘Finished Arrows!’ thread in the special forum for this project, “Follow Your Arrow KAL Group” on Ravelry, with a random drawing being held to award several skeins of beautiful yarn to the winners of said drawing who posted a picture of their finished project before the specified deadline. (See, participation brings rewards! LOL I have personally won several such random drawings for participation in different forums on Ravelry, so I know that prizes really ARE awarded!)
In addition to being an innovative knitter/designer, Ysolda is also a prolific blogger, so be sure to check out her words of knitting wisdom at www.ysolda.com . If you are a fan, you can participate in her Ravelry Forum, titled, unsurprisingly, “Ysolda”, and chat with other avid Ysolda fans about past, present, and future Ysolda designs. Should you have questions about a specific project, you will find that, in addition to the usual other forum participants who have knit the project before you, Ysolda herself answers your questions. You can also be her friend on Ravelry when you visit her profile page ‘Ysolda’ and click on the ‘add to my friends’ button. That way, you will be sure to see all of her latest knitting projects. Happy Knitting!
blingmama knits 