Yarn arrives at my house almost every week. This is not a normal occurrence for me. It is the result of sad buying yarn after breaking my ankle. Some purchases have been a great idea, like buying a mystery grab bag from a dyer who creates yarn I love. Some purchases have been odd choices.
I love Anne of Green Gables. Lady Dye had a mini KAL kit for an Anne of Green Gables KAL designed by Casapinka. I signed up for the kit. I didn’t know what the project would be. I didn’t know what the yarn would look like. Normally I would not be tempted by this kit. Hopped up on hydrocodone and fighting the depression of spending weeks in a recliner I bought the kit.

These are not colors I would pick. These are not colors I think look good together. After panic texting Marilee about how mystery kits are not for me I took a deep breath and decided to trust Casapinka and Lady Dye.
The pattern has suggestions on how to break up the shawl into daily chunks that will allow you to finish the shawl in the two weeks of the KAL. I’m hoping I can keep up with this shawl while knitting on Water and my other projects. So far the pattern has far too many P3TOG for my taste (one is really too many for me).
Have you ever purchased a kit totally out of your comfort zone?
No, I resist kits, as a rule. The one time I did purchase a kit for a shawl KAL, I substituted two of the kit yarns with ones that were in my sock yarn stash.
But I like the look of that pattern. I just don’t like the colors you got NOR the colors in the picture.
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The colors look much better knit up. I’m glad I decided not to sub in from my stash.
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I’m so sorry this one didn’t work out! You are right – not a great color combo.
I have definitely purchased kits outside my comfort zone and that I turned out not to like at all. I’ve finished one or two and just ditched on a couple of others.
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So far I’m liking this so much more than I thought I would. The red looks coral once it is knit with the light blue, which makes it much better.
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Oh good! I’m glad it is working out better 🙂
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I’ve never done a kit, but I think these might actually work in the end. If it’s not for you, I think Aubrie will enjoy it!
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Audrey, oops!
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I love that shawl. It will sit perfectly on you and not run away or fall oddly off. And I love the colors
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It’s growing on me as I work on it.
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I really resist kit buying of yarn, but this year I have engaged in a lot of “sad yarn buying” and have bought an astounding amount since the fall season arrived. I’m not so sure about those colors, either, but I’m not exactly a genius at color matching. I am really torn about jumping into the KAL, but if you are doing it too I feel like I should make an effort. If I only do about 30 minutes a day I should be able to keep up, right?
I use the sharpest tipped needles I own for those pesky purl together stitches…. with some stretching of the stitches first.
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I think you should join the KAL! I am liking the yarn as I knit it up. The red looks more coral when it is with the blue. It only took 2 1/2 hours to knit the section today, but that is because there was a P3Tog row that took me over an hour.
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I saw another person using that kit in the Facebook Sharon Show group and it looked really nice. I need to do it to attack those darn P3tog stitches.
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Are these going to be colours you’ll wear? I worry you just finished a huge project you weren’t going to wear. Although it looks fabulous as a window dressing. If you start another then I don’t think this will help your mood. Personally I like the colours in the kit and would be happy but if you are already unsure maybe your stash holds something that would give you more of a warm fuzzy feeling about making it? I’ve never bought a kit before but on my ADVENTuresome wrap there was a mini that wasn’t to my taste so I swapped it out, so suspect I’d do the same if a kit arrived with a colour I wasn’t as pleased with.
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I’m going forward with it, as I think it will be good to break out of my usual projects. I also have socks, a sweater, and another shawl on the needles, so having one thing that is a stretch will be good for me.
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Sounds like you’ve made friends with the project and colours so that’s great. 😁
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I have only bought kits if I know what colors they are coming in. Maybe the humor of Sharon will make the KAL worthwhile. I agree with Liz that if you knit this but won’t wear it, it might not help your mood. Do you have any stash yarn you could substitute? The blue is nice. You have until June to complete Water, so I wouldn’t worry about that. I’m just rambling now because I want to make it all better for you. I’ll stop. Wishing you cast on clarity.
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I really like Casapinka, so I’m going ahead with this. I’m considering the colors a good stretch for me. I knit for others a lot, so I’m sure this will go to a good home.
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No I don’t purchase kits, it’s bad enough to have to purchase patterns with all the millions on ravelry but I did this week and I can’t be happier. I needed something not too complicated but that would fit under a jacket blazer. I like a pattern but I didn’t want holes in it. I don’t think I could get interested in a kit and I don’t like others picking my yarn or colors for me, so yeah. Hard pass. I hope yours turns out awesome though. It probably will.
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I can relate to the sad yarn buying this year! Every week I’m getting deliveries. I can’t knit as fast as the projects are mounting up. I agree with the others; if you’re not going to wear it, change the colors or give this kal a skip. Time is precious and we need to do what brings us joy right now. (I don’t have a broken ankle, but I’ve been locked inside my house for months like everyone else in Ireland).
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I’ve never been very attracted to kits, but now that’s all I look at when browsing yarn shops and small producers. I realise that colours never work right on a monitor. Since I am unable to visit a shop in person, I want to rely on someone else to choose the combinations, preferably someone with good taste. Nonetheless, the last kit I bought was a beautiful combination of yarns, but it would have looked awful on me, so the yarn is still sitting in my stash.
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I often knit for others, and I’m thinking someone in my family will like this shawl.
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Hey you got to do what you can to get through your healing time – if yarn showing up each week makes you smile – good 🙂
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This was my first kit and I have to admit I had the same reaction to the yarns. My kit arrived too late for me to have any chance of doing the KAL
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I’m telling myself buying that kit will save me a lot of money in the future, as I’m not going to buy any more kits.
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Lol true. And thank you I hadn’t thought of it that way
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