Did you know 2015 is the 10th anniversary of Ultra Alpaca? To celebrate, we’re hosting Berroco’s first Mystery KAL (MKAL)! The MKAL is inspired by log cabin and Housetop quilts, this mystery knit-along begins with a colorful, modularly knitted square posted on the Ultra Alpaca MKAL blog page and in KnitBits on July 7. Every 2 weeks an additional square will be posted (4 total), culminating with a final blog post on August 31 explaining assembly.

To make the whole blanket – comprised of 5 of each of the 4 different squares (20 squares total) – in the colors we have chosen, here is what you should buy, along with the approximate yardage I believe you’ll use per color:

#6201 Winter White: 5 hanks (980 yds)
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 2 hanks (335 yds)
#6243 Navy: 2 hanks (255 yds)
#62169 Twinkle Mix: 2 hanks (230 yds)
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 1 hank (180 yds)
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 1 hank (180 yds)
#62179 Melon Mix: 1 hank (175 yds)
#6268 Candied Yam Mix: 1 hank (165 yds)
#62180 Grove Mix: 1 hank (110 yds)
#62176 Pink Berry Mix: 1 hank (105 yds)
#62174 Dungaree Mix: 1 hank (110 yds)

One nice thing about the log cabin style of design is that the dye lots don’t matter so much (as long as they are not wildly different, which they won’t be with Ultra Alpaca), so you could purchase the yarn to make a few squares at a time, adding more yarn as you want to add additional colors.

In case you might like to change up the number of squares for your own blanket, here is a breakdown of approximately how many yards per color for each of the squares. Again, these are approximate, and I’ve also built in a little extra to help compensate for variations between knitters. Each square takes about 142 yds / 60g, and I’ve calculated these by estimating the percentage of each color used in each square.

Block 1: Emily’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 105 yds
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 21 yds
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 4 yds
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 4 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 4 yds
#6268 Candied Yam Mix: 4 yds

blanket-1

Block 2: Amy’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 12 yds
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 7 yds
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 20 yds
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 27 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 24 yds
#6268 Candied Yam Mix: 29 yds
#62180 Grove Mix: 22 yds

Block 3: Ashley’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 68 yds
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 8 yds
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 5 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 7 yds
#6243 Navy: 25 yds
#62169 Twinkle Mix: 18 yds
#62176 Pink Berry Mix: 10 yds

Block 4: Alison’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 11 yds
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 43 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 7 yds
#6243 Navy: 26 yds
#62169 Twinkle Mix: 28 yds
#62176 Pink Berry Mix: 11 yds
#62174 Dungaree Mix: 22 yds

This project is pretty free-form – have fun with it and make it your own! I hope the information I’ve provided here will help you plan your yarn buying. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability (while trying not to spoil any surprises)!