The past few days have been a little crazy. Because although the Verena Knitting with the Maschenfein exclusive and my brioche pattern shawl only went on sale at all on Thursday, the idea of the Verenatuch KAL has met with such an insane response that I was really quite overwhelmed in the meantime. But I got a grip on myself and we were able to deliver pretty much all orders. Until the color anthracite was completely sold out. And then also silver gray. And now also Mint. Ahem. Anthracite and silver gray will be re-dyed by express, but mint will really come in again in June. But that doesn't matter, because there are so many great color combinations and so many beautiful yarn alternatives with which you can participate in the Knit Along, that all those who want to join later will be spoiled for choice even without Mint. If you want to have a quick look now, you can get the wool package here in the store.

I have decided on the colors anthracite, silver gray and pearl white. My little miss has of course fallen in love with the pink version and at some point I'll have to knit another mini scarf... but that's going somewhere in the middle of my to-knit list for now. Between twelve thousand swatches for the new book coming out in the fall and a Hint of Summer that I'd actually love to knit as well.... but that's just in passing.

So back to the Verena shawl: I was really steadfast and only started winding the skeins Bayak the day before yesterday. I fortunately have a reel and a wool winder, but very, very many have bravely or even with abandon wound by hand. With a little practice, it can be done. At the show, I discovered a new wooden winder that will be here in the store very soon, as soon as it is available to retailers. At the moment you can find this standard winder from Knit Pro and this standard reel in the store. My wooden winder was organized by my husband for my birthday a few years ago. You can order my winder here, but there is a very, very long waiting list.

But back to the Maschenfein-Verena shawl. Before I actually cast on the first stitches for my own sample at the weekend, I'll show you a few impressions from the Maschenfein knitting round on Facebook today. Who is not on Facebook, do not be sad, the most important I will show you here. In addition, you can find on Instagram under the two hashtag #verenatuchKAL #maschenfeinKAL also many, many beautiful pictures.

The Verena shawl is now knitted not exclusively in the original yarn Bayak (75% yak, 25% bamboo), but also in Sensai from ITO (60% mohair, 40% silk), very very often in Nepal (60% cotton, 28% linen, 12% nettle) and also in corn (100% corn pulp) or also in Lamana Cosma (60% cotton, 40% modal). These are the yarns I have in the store, then of course there are variants in other yarns from the stash or wherever.

So it really is a motley knit along and I just love it so much!!!

I cast on the first stitches this weekend, and here's an explanation: The pattern had to be pressed together pretty tightly for the magazine, so for expert Maschenfein readers, the beginning may not be obvious right away. But it is simply the three-sided stitch cast on (English: Garter Tab Cast On)!

Three-sided stitch cast on: cast on 3 stitches, knit 6 rows right side up, after the last row do not turn the work, but instead turn it 90° so that you can pick up 3 stitches from the left edge, then do not turn again, but turn 90° once more and pick up 3 stitches again from the cast on edge.

Then we first knit "only" garter stitch. By the way, the long lower side is then about 27 cm before we switch to the two-color brioche pattern.

I wish you a happy stitch stroke! Be sure to make a small stitch test beforehand and test whether you like the stitch definition with the corresponding needle size. This is very individual and it is worth trying it out.