For a while now, I have known about mystery knit-a-longs (MKALs). I have had friends’ whose eyes just glazed over in ecstasy as they talked about the MKAL they were participating in. I never succumbed to the MKAL bug. I just wasn’t sure what all the hype was about. You get yarn for a project that you have no idea what it looks like to know if you will like it when you’re finished with it. You just have to trust in the mojo of the designer and hope their knitting Kung Fu is good.
One psychological theory is that people who share an experience develop a relationship with each other more quickly than the normal getting to know you process allows. The same theory has a correlative (see, I was paying attention in high school geometry with all those theories and correlatives) that says that people who endure shared hardship bond more quickly and closely because of the need to survive. I am beginning to doubt this after watching Lost and 10 minutes of Survivor: Diarrhea Island.
When reading the dialogue in the Ravelry groups for MKALs, I have gotten the distinct impression that the experience of a MKAL encompasses both the wonderful shared experience and the endured hardship – depending on the knitter.
I have found the same in KALs we have done in the Tuesday night knitting group I attend. There are those of us who get the yarn and the pattern and return three weeks later with a finished project. Then there are those of us who get the yarn and the pattern and return three weeks later to see the others’ finished projects and then want to either cry or vomit, depending on how difficult we have perceived the project to be.
To my shameful credit, I have not finished either of the two KALs from the group. Why I think the MKALs will be different is either the result of some rampant denial on my part or a hopefulness that I can change. I am betting on the former.
So, I am going stash diving to find just the right yarn to knit my projects. Maybe knitting a stole with 1000 beads in it won’t be so bad after all.
2 comments:
So that's what MKAL is in ravelry! I always wondered but never had the guts to ask. Interesting concept, but I don't think I'm confident enough to try :)
- Sinta
knittering.com
There are beads?! You failed to mention that little detail :)
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