Hello!
Big news this week, guys...
I'm running my first-ever month-long Mystery Knit-A-Long!!
I'm so so excited for this, I can't even put it into words. I've run single-day Mystery KALs before and they've always been a lot of fun, but a month-long one always seemed so daunting so I didn't make time for it. Honestly, over the last few years there's been a lot of stuff that I wanted to do but didn't make time for because I was so focused on other things and that was kind of the inspiration for this MKAL...
This year when I was creating the schedule for Club Yumi I purposely scheduled break months so that I could have a bit of a breather every 4th month (I love making the kits, but they are lots of work, lol). I've decided that during the break month would be an excellent time to run a mystery knit-a-long that focuses on self-care because I think that most of us are super busy a lot of the time and sometimes self-care is the first thing that gets dropped when it feels like everything else around you is more important/urgent.
We are all over-spent and over-stressed at times and as difficult as it can be (especially when we're really stressed), getting good sleep is one of the most important acts of self-care that we can do for ourselves. Whether we have enough sleep or not impacts everything from our moods to our cognitive functions to how we relate to those around us. It can truly make or break your day and it can be the difference in whether you catch the cold that is going around your office or not.
Sometimes it can feel like it's impossible to get to sleep, though. As someone who has dealt with insomnia off and on since Middle School, I know how hard it can be to actually get to sleep once you're in bed. One of the biggest tips that I've learned over the years, though is that blue light from screens can actually trigger your brain into thinking that it's earlier in the day than it really is. So when you're spending the evening vegging in front of the TV with your knitting after a long day or you're scrolling through Instagram on your phone in bed, you're actually keeping your brain from activating the time-to-get-ready-for-sleep functions in your body. So, while you can get tired feeling while doing screen-time activities, your body still isn't able to do all the things that it needs to get a good nights sleep.
How does all this tie into the Knit-A-Long?
To help you shut down those screens, let's knit instead!
For the hour or so before bedtime, I challenge you to keep all screens off and just enjoy your knitting. Listen to some music, a book or a podcast and watch your knitting. Enjoy seeing the pattern develop in your hands as you work. I've purposely used stitches that are simple enough to learn if you haven't tried them before, but they are also ones that will force you to watch what you're doing.
Clues will be released every Tuesday during the month of May, 2018 (5 clues total). Each clue will have a sleep tracker/journal for the week where you can mark how long you were able to have some calm pre-bed knitting time as well as how long you slept and what the quality of that sleep was like. If you're not into tracking/journaling that's completely fine and you can just ignore this bit. Everyone works a bit differently and is impacted by information in a different way so if you're in a place where this wouldn't be helpful that is completely fine, but I know that a lot of folks really benefit from seeing sleep patterns laid-out on paper so I encourage you to give it a try.
I'll also be including other tips and resources for improving your sleep in a weekly e-mail that will be sent out upon each clue's release. Some of these will be things that you may have heard before, but some of them will be brand new to you. My hope is to give you some inspiration for delving further into discovering what does and doesn't help you sleep at night while enjoying a fun knitting pattern & some beautiful yarns.
Speaking of beautiful yarns...
Oh, look! MKAL Kits!
Since it can be difficult to select yarns for a mystery knit, I've done the work for you and put together some kits in the shop. You can purchase these kits as they are or use them as inspiration for your own color selection. Any yarn purchase from YumiYarns.com will get you a free copy of the Knit at Nite MKAL pattern so you can feel free to combine with yarns from your stash. Or if you'd rather just buy the pattern & work completely from stash, I've listed the pattern on Ravelry.
Newsletter subscribers will get a coupon for 25% off the pattern, so check your inbox or sign-up at the bottom of this page.
Combo # 1 features Wee Chickadee Woolery Sparkle Sock Yarn in the colorways:
You're a Peach!
Dewdrop
Sound of the Sea
Combo # 2 features Wee Chickadee Woolery Sparkle Sock Yarn in the colorways:
Sound of the Sea
Something Good in Every Day
Wood Smoke
Combo # 3 features Wee Chickadee Woolery Sparkle Sock Yarn in the colorways:
You're a Peach!
Sound of the Sea
Something Good in Every Day
Combo # 4 features Wee Chickadee Woolery Sparkle Sock Yarn in the colorways:
Wood Smoke
You're a Peach!
Dewdrop
I hope that you're all as excited for this Knit-a-Long as I am and I'd like to invite you to join me in the Yumi Yarns Ravelry Group for some fun chatter with other Mystery Knitters, beautiful yarn ideas and even some give-a-ways. I can't wait to see you there!
Happy crafting,
Shaina ^_^
PS: If you're not the kind for mysteries and want to see some spoilers before you sign-up, I'm posting spoiler pics to my IG Stories every day so you can take a look there to see how you like it. #KnitAtNiteMKALSpoilers