Coming this Fall: The Night Circus Read Along Knit Along

Queue or Buy the Pattern / Join the Ravelry Group / Yarn Preorder Page / Does your library have The Night Circus?

Mark your calendars and start picking your yarn, the next Read Along Knit Along starts October 2! We are going to be reading & discussing one of my all-time favorite books, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and knitting The Scarf of Dreams, a mystery design very much inspired by the book. For one thing, the audiobook is narrated by the iconic Jim Dale, of Harry Potter audiobook and Pushing Daisies narration fame, so that’s going to be super fun! For another, this is going to be our first mystery Read Along Knit Along (RALKAL), which means you’ll get one “clue” at a time throughout the knit along, and as an extra treat, we’ll be pacing our reading in time with each clue. Basically… the RALKAL is a dream way to spend some time if your a bookish yarntrovert (I just made up that word but I’m SO going to keep using it!) like me.

About The Night Circus…

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

Throughout the whole RALKAL, we’ll be talking about the book in the Hands Occupied Ravelry group and in person (for the first time!), and we’ll be leveling up our knitting skills while we’re at it. This is a mystery knit along, but I didn’t totally want to leave you all in the dark ahead of this thing. It’s no secret that we’re knitting an infinity scarf – I’m just keeping all of the details of this design under wraps other than what you see in that sassy picture up at the top of this post. ;) Keep your eyes peeled for #RALKAL on social media for clues and more in the coming weeks.

Are you excited? Read on for ALLLLL the details, including how to get your hands on The Scarf of Dreams pattern for FREE, and enter to win a pre-RALKAL prize at the bottom of this page!

Supplies

Here’s a sneak peek at the nuts and bolts of the design we’ll be tackling in this RALKAL, which will give you a couple hints about what’s in store for this mystery knit along. It also runs down what you’ll need to get ready for casting on on October 2. :)

Pattern
The Scarf of Dreams

Finished Size
6.5” (16.5 cm) wide x 88” (223.5 cm) in circumference

Gauge
22 sts and 28 rows = 4 inches [10 cm] after wet blocking, in stockinette stitch on US size 5 needles.

Notions
tapestry needle
cable needle
scissors

Needles
US 3 (3.25 mm) circular or straight (at least 8 inches)
US 5 (3.75 mm) circular or straight (at least 8 inches)

Yarn
1 skein Leading Men Fiber Arts’ Soliloquy (100% Superwash BFL Wool; 150g / 657 yds; Fingering Weight)

This scarf requires ~120g of the listed yarn to create. The remaining 30g is recommended for use in swatching. You’ll also want some scrap yarn for lifelines and casting on.

Yarn & Pattern Preorders

Make sure to note how much yarn is needed for the RALKAL pattern. Leading Men Fiber Arts’ Soliloquy comes in 657 yd. skeins. If you’re subbing in something else, be sure to do your math before casting on. But! I’ve got some incentives for you to try Leading Men’s yarn – they’re offering a special presale Soliloquy this month just for us! I’ve picked out some colorways myself that I think will look great with this MKAL design (Poison Apple, London Fog, Green Gables, Blue Steel & Sunny Side Up to be specific). All yarn preorders from Leading Men Fiber Arts will arrive in time to cast on the first day of the RALKAL on October 2.

You can also preorder The Scarf of Dreams pattern on Ravelry now! Preorder the pattern for FREE for the next 48 hours using the code FREE48. After that the price will slowly climb up bit by bit until the first day of the RALKAL.

RALKALIRL

Those 9 letters actually do mean something! We’re going to have an in real life (IRL) component to this fall’s RALKAL. Chicago’s newest yarn shop, Firefly Fiber Arts Studio, will be our host during the knit along. I’ll be knitting along with local folks at the shop every Friday evening between October 6 and November 10, 4-8 pm. We’ll have a good time hanging out, and I’m available to help anyone who runs into trouble. We might even have to set up Facebook & Instagram live so out-of-towners can play along too! Check out the Firefly RALKALIRL event page for more info.

RALKALIRL doesn’t mean I’ll be neglecting the Ravelry discussion group – this is just another added layer of fun for this fall. Speaking of layers of fun, Firefly has a great selection of yarns that work great with this pattern, which will be on sale if you’re buying for the RALKAL. Plus, if you attend one of the RALKALIRL meetups, you can get the RALKAL pattern for free! Plus-plus, there’s an in person prize raffle sponsored by Firefly Fiber Arts with entries available for each RALKALIRL meetup you attend – find out all the ways to win the in-person prize here. SO many layers of fun!

Giveaways! Yes, plural!

RALKAL Prize Packs
There’s the RALKALIRL giveaway mentioned above, but there’s more. We have some excellent sponsors for this fall’s read along knit along prize pack. Leading Men Fiber Arts, Love+Leche and Eucalan are sponsoring it. The prize pack includes a skein of Leading Men Fiber Arts Soliloquy yarn, a lotion bar from Love + Leche, and some Eucalan Fiber wash. Entries will open when the RALKAL launches next month.

For now, you can get your hands on a free Love+Leche mini balm with purchase of $15 to help get your hands ready for the RALKAL. Just use the coupon code NIGHTCIRCUS at checkout. The image above was borrowed from Love+Leche’s Instagram.

Pre-RALKAL Yarn Giveaway
There’s also a giveaway you can enter right now! To get everyone excited for the new RALKAL, Leading Men Fiber Arts has generously provided a skein of Soliloquy yarn for giveaway! This is the same yarn listed in the supplies above and pattern since it’s the yarn the pattern was designed with. For this giveaway, I’ve got a skein of yarn in the Evil Queen colorway available to one future RALKALer. This giveaway closes next week – whoever wins should have their yarn in time to cast on with the rest of us!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
If you’re on mobile, click the button above to enter. :)

Timeline

It seems fitting to wrap up this beast of a post with a quick rundown of the timeline on all of this.

• Today (9/7): yarn & pattern preorders open. The pattern is free for the next 48 hours, but prices go up incrementally after that, so don’t miss out!
• Pre-RALKAL giveaway runs 9/7 through 9/21. The winner will be announced in the 9/22 Picks of the Week post.
• Leading Men Fiber Arts preorders are open 9/7, and all orders will be filled within two weeks from the time of order so you can get your yarn before casting on.
• Clues will be released 10/2, 10/9, 10/23 & 11/6 with the whole thing wrapping up and prizes awarded Monday, 11/13.
• RALKALIRL meetups will be at Chicago’s Firefly Fiber Arts on Fridays from 4-8 p.m. during the knit along: 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/3 & 11/10.

If anyone has any questions, clarifications, etc., please let me know in the comments! The RALKAL is one of my favorite projects on Hands Occupied ever, and you guys are what make it great. :)

Leading Men Fiber Arts provided yarn support for this design and giveaway. Love+Leche, Eucalan and Firefly Fiber Arts are also providing giveaway support for RALKAL.