Pattern Round-up: Advent MKALs for Christmas 2025
- Susanna
- 12 minutes ago
- 7 min read
I may not be doing a new Fair Isle MKAL this advent but that doesn't mean you don't have to sit idly by, waiting for Santa to appear. Quite the contrary! December is prime mystery knit-along time and you're spoiled for choice for everything there is on offer.
In this blog post I've gathered 15 different mystery advent-alongs in five different categories: mittens, socks, hats, cowls, and shawls. All patterns are available in English but they might come in other languages as well — check the specifics below. For many of them you can use scraps, leftovers, and partial balls from stash; some are designed specifically for advent calendar mini-skeins.
Mittens
The Swedish yarn company Järbo has a tradition of hosting a Christmas mitten (Julvanten) MKAL and this year is no exception. Designed by colorwork specialist Maja Karlsson, Julvanten 2025 features techniques such as Latvian braid, two-color stranded colorwork, and a gusseted thumb.
The materials list for this year's mitten has already been revealed. To knit the mittens you'll need three colors of worsted-weight yarn in strongly-contrasting colors: 50 g of the main color, 40 g of the contrasting color, and 5 g of an accent color. The MKAL is free to join but you can also purchase three-color yarn kits from Järbo.
The first clue of this three-part MKAL is released on December 10, Nobel Prize day in Sweden. Subsequent clues come out on December 12 and 16 on the Järbo blog both in English and in Swedish.
Nina Pommerenke's Advent Mystery Mitten KAL 2025 (Ravelry link) is designed for four colors of fingering-weight yarn: white as the main color, green, brown, and beige for contrasting colors, and a little bit of black for accent. The specific color suggestions and the MKAL poster are probably good hints about the theme of these mittens...
Clues are released on the four Sundays before Christmas starting on November 30. The pattern price is 60 Swedish kronor (about 6.30 €).
Vottelauget (Mitten Guild) is a collective of Norwegian designers who release a new Christmas mystery mitten each year, revealing a small part of the pattern at a time. This year's mittens have been designed by Wenche Roald, and they come in three sizes. To knit the mittens you'll need three colors of sport-weight yarn with a good amount of contrast between them: one for the main color, second for the contrast color, and a little bit of the third for an accent color.
This 10-part MKAL started on November 23 and clues come out every few days. But there's still lot to uncover! The final clue will be revealed on December 17. The pattern price for Vottelaugets Mysterievotter Julen 2025 (Ravelry link) is 66 Norwegian kronor (around 5.90 €). Instructions are available in Norwegian and in English.
Socks
Lisa Müller's Adventssocken 2025 (Ravelry link) are a pair of three-color socks using fingering-weight yarn. To knit the socks you'll need about 60–70 g of the main color, 10 grams of a contrasting color, and a little bit of the third for a color pop. The socks come in four sizes corresponding with EU shoe sizes 36/37, 38/39, 40/41, and 42/43.
The pattern is released in four weekly clues starting on the first advent, Sunday November 30. Available in both English and German, the pattern price is 4.40 €.
Holiday Cheer by Heidi Nick (Ravelry link) is a free sock mystery KAL. The socks are done in a single color of fingering-weight yarn and come in three sizes. The pattern is released in four weekly clues starting December 1.
Becky Greene's Christmas Tea Party (Ravelry link) is another free sock MKAL. The pattern is designed to use scraps, leftovers, mini skeins, or yarn advent calendar skeins of fingering-weight yarn, approximately 320–400 m or 350–440 yd in total. But you can also use just a single color of a solid, semi-solid, or tonal yarn. And that's a bit of a clue in itself: there's no colorwork!
The pattern comes in four sizes and the clues are released daily from December 1 to 24.
Hats
Tricia Weatherston's Advent Hat 2025 (Ravelry link) is a free mystery KAL for what the designer calls an "inside outside hat", a double-layer beanie with a folded brim akin to Musselburgh or Oslo Hat. The inside layer is done in stripes, the outside in stranded colorwork.
To knit this hat you'll need 160–230 meters or 175–250 yards of fingering-weight yarn, two colors for the striped inside and 5–7 colors for the colorwork on the outside. This MKAL has already started in November with the instructions for the striped inside layer. The colorwork clues are released piecemeal in December, one bite-sized morsel each day from December 1 to 24.
Painted Pathways MKAL by Claire Slade (Ravelry link) is a fingering-weight colorwork beanie. The pattern comes in three sizes and can be done using only two colors (a main and a contrasting color) or 11 colors (one main, 10 contrasting colors).
The week-long MKAL starts on December 1 with seven daily clues, concluding on December 7. The pattern price is £5.50 (approx. 6.55 €) but there's a 50% off coupon code on the Ravelry pattern page that's valid until the end of the MKAL.
Sofia Capelle's Sofia's Winter Hat 2025 (Ravelry link) is a sport-weight colorwork hat that comes in one adjustable size. You'll need approximately 250–300 meters or 270–330 yards of sport-weight yarn. There's no information on colors but the designer's previous mystery hats have all involved colorwork.
Released in four weekly clues starting on November 28, the pattern costs 77 Swedish kronor (about 7.30 €). Instructions are available in Swedish and in English.
Cowls
Lily Go's Cowlestial Dreams (Ravelry link) is a DK-weight cowl in 5 sizes, featuring bold, textural lace and cables. To knit the pattern you'll need only one color of DK-weight yarn, approx. 170 to 340 meters (190–380 yd) depending on size. You can also add either seed beads or triangle beads!
The pattern is released in 10 clues starting on December 4 and concluding on December 17. The pattern price is $5.00 (approx. 4.30 €).
Gingerbread Mystery Cowl by Stephanie Lotven (Ravelry link) is a colorful colorwork cowl worked in fingering-weight yarn, and features textural stitches as well as stranded colorwork. The pattern is designed for 6 colors: you'll need roughly 110 meters or 120 yards of each, 660 meters or 720 yards in total.
The shape is not your usual straight-up tube but what the designer calls a "shawl-shaped cowl", a tube that's wider at the bottom than at the top, worn so that it looks like a triangle shawl on the front. The pattern comes in one size only and costs $9.35 (around 8.40 €). This 12-day MKAL is released in 12 daily clues starting December 1.
Laura Aylor's Just For You 12 (Ravelry link) is a one-size mystery cowl pattern designed for worsted-weight yarn. You'll need two contrasting colors, 125 yd (115 m) of one and 220 yd (200 m) of the other for a total of 345 yd (315 m). Not much is revealed of the textures and techniques used in the cowl other than it involves increases, decreases, and picking up stitches.
As the name suggest, this is the 12th year in a row that the designer releases an advent cowl pattern. Clues are revealed daily starting on December 13 and concluding on Christmas Eve. Pattern price is $4 (approx. 3.60 €) until December 12 after which it'll go up to $6 (approx. 5.10 €).
Shawls
With mittens and hats you can pretty much guess what type of an item you're going to get. But with these last three patterns the shape of the finished object is part of the mystery!
Wintergrün MKAL by Christelle Nihoul (Ravelry link) is a (mainly) fingering-weight shawl designed for two highly-contrasting colors. For the second color you can also use something lace weight and fuzzy, such as mohair or suri alpaca.
The size and shape of the shawl are a mystery but the designer assures there is no brioche or colorwork involved. Available in French and in English, this pattern is released in four weekly installments starting on December 2. The pattern price is 7.15 €.
Tarkine Wrap by Susanna Kaartinen (Ravelry link) is also a fingering-weight advent shawl. The shape is a mystery but the word "wrap" in the pattern name might hint at a long, rectangular piece.
This shawl pattern is an exploration of colors and textures, designed to use one main color along with a 12-skein, 20-gram mini-skein set. The pattern also includes alternative instructions on how to knit the wrap using 2, 3, 4, or 7 colors so you can use up something from the stash.
Priced at 11 Australian dollars (about 6.50 €), the pattern is released in 12 parts starting on December 2 and concluding on December 24.
Concluding the round-up is Renee Strouts' Intangential Advent Mystery Shawl KAL 2025 (Ravelry link), a 24-part mystery shawl knit-along designed for 24 colors of advent calendar mini skeins. The pattern comes in two sizes, the small being suitable for 10-gram minis and the larger for 20-gram minis of fingering-weight yarn, 800 or 1600 yards in total (730–1500 in meters).
The shape of the shawl is part of the mystery but if the designer's prior work is anything to judge by, it's going to be something modular. Clues are released daily starting on December 1 and concluding on Christmas Eve, December 24. Pattern price is $6.60 (approx. 5.90 €).
If you're looking for more ideas on what to do with that 12-, 24-, or 25-color mini-skein advent calendar you got, check out this post from two years ago: Pattern Round-up: What to Knit with Advent Calendar Mini Skeins?
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