One of the fun aspects about Ravelry (aside from finding folks who are just as nuts about yarn as you) is the Knit Along, aka “KAL.” Group of knitters take the same pattern and knit the item, providing encouragement and support — and often, useful advice — to their fellow knitters.

The companion to this is the Mystery Knit Along (MKAL). You are provided with the following: needle size, yarn weight and yardage, and any other items you might need. You don’t know what the pattern is, each bit coming in “clues,” usually on a weekly basis. The fun is in seeing the sock or shawl or whatever develop as you work. Of course, that means there’s always the danger you might not like what you see, but I generally stick to folks whose design sense I trust — or wait until things have started and see pictures. And if you don’t happen to like something, you can always frog it and use the yarn for something else. Plus, there’s the social aspect to all of this, a chance to interact with fellow knitters and drool over their yarn choices.

Now, since I knit faster than George R.R. Martin writes, but not by much, I do not need another project cast on. But when I saw The Knitting Game MKAL2015 and learned it was going to be released not in four to eight clues as is usually done, but 46 clues, each one relatively small, I decided to dive in. I have no idea what yarn I’m using, except that I’m going to be knitting from the stash, starting with pieces that are left over from other projects. There are apparently going to be goodies along the way; an email was just sent warning us to check our emails on Christmas Eve morning and that we might want some sport weight yarn handy. This is one MKAL I think I can keep up with, even with everything else going on in my life and, at year’s end, I’ll have not just a scarf, but something that will be a certain record of the year. I’ll know which parts were made when stories and books go up on sale on Amazon, the ones that were knit in bad weeks and which ones were knit in good. But I’ll also look at it and be able to remember the fun of launching myself on an adventure having no idea what it would be like, except that it’ll be a scarf at the end, long enough to make the Doctor proud.

After all, what’s life without a little mystery?