After months of planning, knitting, designing, testing, editing and re-editing, it’s time for our Read Along Knit Along featuring The Night Circus! I’m so exited!
Queue & Buy the Pattern / Join the Ravelry Group / Does your library have The Night Circus?
The blog (here) is where you can find new tutorials as they’re posted and enter the giveaway (scroll to the bottom of this post and look for the entry box). We’ll be discussing the pattern & book on Ravelry, and you can get in on sharing and seeing everyone’s work-in-progress pics on Instagram – just use & look at #RALKAL. And in case you’re in the Chicago area, we’ll be doing RALKALIRL (Read Along Knit Along in real life, get it?) at Firefly Fiber Arts, which is right by the Damen Blue Line stop.
The Scarf of Dreams – Clue 1
The first clue is finally available! If you preordered the pattern on Ravelry, the update of clue one should have arrived in your account last night. If you still need to get your hands on the pattern, you can get The Scarf of Dreams right here. (Psst! You can save 20% in the shop by signing up for the Hands Occupied newsletter in the sidebar.) While you’re there to grab clue 1, don’t forget to join the Hands Occupied Ravelry Group, which is where we’ll be discussing the book & the pattern for the next 6 weeks.
Anticipation
Actually, I lied about having planned this KAL for months. To be honest, it’s been years! No joke – I’ve been planning a knit along featuring The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern since before I’d fully developed the Read Along Knit Along concept last year. I first solicited yarn support from Leading Men Fiber Arts at the Stitches Midwest conference in August 2015 after seeing a skein of their Soliloquy yarn in Poison Apple. Between the appropriately-dramatic name and gorgeous red color, I knew it was the perfect yarn for a design inspired by The Night Circus. I’d had the book on my to-read list forever, but as a librarian, there’s always a million things to read for this or that book group, review project or committee. When I finally read The Night Circus, I fell head over heels for it, due in no small part to the role red, handmade scarves play in the story. BUT! Since I know some folks will be finally crossing TNC off their own to-read lists during this RALKAL, I’ll refrain from spoiling anything beyond the phrase “red scarf” and the following quote, which seems appropriate for RALKAL day 1:
“What kind of circus is only open at night?” people ask. No one has a proper answer, yet as dusk approaches there is a substantial crowd of spectators gathering outside the gates.
You are amongst them, of course. Your curiosity got the better of you, as curiosity is wont to do. You stand in the fading light, the scarf around your neck pulled up against the chilly evening breeze, waiting to see for yourself exactly what kind of circus only opens once the sun sets.
For week 1 of this RALKAL, we’re knitting clue 1 of The Scarf of Dreams and reading Part 1: Primordium of The Night Circus. You can 100% read ahead if you like, but in the spirit of a good mystery knit along, we’ll focus our chat for this first week on just clue 1 and part 1. Here’s a break down our reading and knitting schedule for the next 6 weeks:
- Oct. 2: Clue 1/Week 1 Section 1 & Part 1: Primordium
- Oct. 9: Clue 2/Weeks 2-3 Section 2 & Part 2: Illumination
- Oct. 23: Clue 3/Weeks 4-5 Section 3 & Part 3: Intersections
- Nov. 6: Clue 4/Week 6 Section 4 & Part 4: Incendiary & Part 5: Divination
I, for one, will be listening to The Night Circus on audiobook. Of course, audiobooks and knitting go hand in hand, but this audiobook is really good. It’s narrated by the legendary Jim Dale. He’s such an epic narrator that you might even have heard of him from his audio work alone. He’s the guy whose whimsical voice brought the entire Harry Potter series to life on audio, and he narrated the utterly-charming (and unfortunately short-lived) TV show Pushing Daisies. I know audiobooks aren’t for all knitters, but consider this paragraph my strong case in favor of giving this book in particular a shot. ;)
Giveaway
This RALKAL prize pack is basically what I wish I could get for Christmas every year. There’s a skein of Leading Men Fiber Arts Soliloquy yarn, the yarn The Scarf of Dreams was designed with, in the Evil Queen colorway. Plus, there’s a gift pack of Eucalan Delicate Wash in 5 amazing scents, as well as a Love+Leche lotion bar featuring two adorable, nuzzling sheep. The bar even comes in a drawstring bag that works great as a mini project bag.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway prizes were provided by Leading Men Fiber Arts, Eucalan & Love + Leche.
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