The Twelve Days of Knitmas Mystery Knit-Along(MKAL) is our annual let’s-spend-this-awkward-post-holiday-time-knitting-together-and-shaking-off-the-stress-of-the-season MKAL. It is a twelve-day knit-along full of fun and friendship, and at the end of it, you have a beautiful project to gift or keep.

This year’s Twelve Days of Knitmas MKAL is complete, but be sure to follow along at NomadicKnits.com to learn about our upcoming KALs.

How do we get the clues?


The Twelve Days of Knitmas MKAL 2022 is complete, and the pattern is now available in its entirety here on Ravelry. If you download Day Twelve it will include all of the previous day’s clues as well.

Where can I participate?

We’ll be hanging out in our Facebook group, Knit the World and would love for you to join us there! We have a wonderfully kind community where all are welcome.
 We’ll be following and sharing posts on Instagram using #twelvedaysofknitmasmkal, and you’ll be eligible to win prizes there, too. (Your profile must be public for us to see the pictures.)

Can you give us any hints?

Absolutely! We’d love for you to be ready with your yarn and needles so you can cast on with us on Day One.

This year’s Knitmas project is a gorgeous, squishy cowl that will be loooong (think long-enough-to-pull-up-and-keep-your-head-warm, long) and full of beautiful motifs to keep your fingers happily knitting row after row!

The cowl will require 500-700 yards of fingering-weight yarn. You can knit along using any yarn you like, so feel free to go stash-diving or put an advent kit to good use.

You will need a 24” circular needle, or your preferred needle for knitting in the round, in the size required to achieve gauge.

The shape of this project makes it easy to customize the length; the stitch count doesn’t change as the cowl progresses, so you can adjust the length of each section as you go. If there’s a stitch pattern that you love, keep going with it as long as you like. If there’s a stitch pattern that’s just not your jam, skip it. You can just knit an inch or two, skip the whole day, or substitute a stitch pattern from a previous day.

For those of you who are already panicking just thinking about modifying a MKAL, have no fear! Those options are there for people who love making modifications and can be completely ignored if you prefer to knit the pattern as written.

Can you help me choose colorway combinations?

Sure! We’ve curated five kits featuring Emma’s Yarn in Practically Perfect Sock. If you look at the kits, you’ll see a wide variety of colors in a range of contrasts. They are a great reference when choosing your own colors.

For stash divers, here’s a guide for creating your own combination:

The Twelve Days of Knitmas MKAL contains simple lace and colorwork sections. If you enjoy high-contrast colorwork, be sure that at least one of your CCs is in high contrast to your MC. If you prefer a more subtle contrast, choose a kit with softer contrasts for a more delicate effect. If you are unsure if your yarn has high or low contrast, take a black-and-white picture of all skeins together. This will make your contrast level clear.

Another consideration is lace; you may want to have a solid or tonal color on deck to show off any lace panels. Again, if you love the look of an intense or busy colorway over lace, go for it!

The MKAL doesn’t instruct you on which colors to use on a particular day or section of the pattern. That will be up to you! Each section will list the required amount of yarn so you can be sure you have enough of each color.

Please remember - this is just knitting, and there are no hard and fast rules for color selections. Choose what makes your heart happy. 

We want this experience to be fun, not stressful. There are twelve days of clues, but it isn’t a race. The goal is to enjoy your knitting and have something fun and relaxing to look forward to each morning. The KAL will “officially” run through the end of January, but anyone who participates will be eligible to win prizes. We’ve been known to give prizes to enthusiastic cheerleaders as well, so join us in sharing your love for everyone’s projects, even if you’re not knitting along.

Speaking of prizes…

We have some exciting treats up our sleeve this year, but I’m not going to spill ALL the beans quite yet. I will say that there will be yarn, and books, and knitting needles, oh my!

We have created two threads in our Ravely group for all things Knitmas. You can see them here: Nomadic Knits