Fun
MDK March Mayhem 2019: The Champion!
Dear Knitters,
After spending time with 64 beautiful patterns . . .
After five rounds of voting . . .
After wearing out Ravelry . . .
You, the knitters of the world, have landed upon a champion for MDK March Mayhem.
Tabouli by Carol Feller.
[Cue the trumpets and and noisy joy and angels dangling banners!]
Congratulations, Carol!
The Pattern
Tabouli is a modern melange of traditional elements, including lace cables that flare at the back and travel across the back neck and shoulders and down the sleeves. These are the sort of techniques that make knitting fun and full of surprise.
As a garment, Tabouli’s trim, jacket-y silhouette makes it a winning component of almost any outfit, whether everyday or weekend, to work or a wedding.
A lot of beautiful yarns will work with this pattern, which is perfection in Carol’s own yarn, Nua. You can see the fun that 229 knitters are having with Tabouli over on Ravelry. We love seeing all the choices, and all the bodies wearing Tabouli with style.
Meet the Designer
Where does the champion of MDK March Mayhem 2019 live?
Cork, Ireland!
For the second year in a row, the winner of March Mayhem lives outside the United States, and modeled her own sweater.
If this were the Oscars, the announcer would say, “This is Carol’s second nomination, and first award . . .” as her Abys Cowl, below, was a contender in March Mayhem 2018.
A Visit with Carol
A recent interview on the Shiny Bees podcast lets us hang out with Carol as she talks about her background in both art school and structural engineering and her design process, which she describes as a mix of technical skills and art: “You’re building stuff, it just happens to be with yarn instead of concrete and steel.” It’s an insightful, wide-ranging discussion about the evolution of her design business from the days of dial-up internet to Ravelry, social media, knitalongs, and everything under the sun.
Follow Carol on Instagram and on her website, Stolen Stitches, to keep up with the never-ending stream of beautiful things she’s designing, as well as her beautiful yarn, Nua.
And get into a lot of Carol Feller pattern trouble on Ravelry, where she has 289 patterns—so far.
What Happens Now
In a sad repetition of years past, the editors and staff of MDK generally sucked at prognostication. Our personal brackets cracked in Round 1, which simultaneously pleased and appalled us. Apparently we’re not that good at this! However, we are dazzled and awed by the success of MDK’s ecommerce manager, Liz Olson, whose bracket was considerably less busted than anybody else’s.
While we have an inevitable case of the post-Mayhem blues, we will console ourselves by picking a few favorites from among the 64 designs in the bracket, and casting something on as soon as we can. The 2019 bracket will live on right here, as an easy shopping list for you. (And remember, you can print out the PDF here for a more portable, paper shopping list.)
We’ve got a robust selection of sweater yarns in the MDK Shop, should you feel a similar need of consolation knitting. To keep up with all the fun here at MDK, sign up for Snippets in the box below. It’s the perfect accompaniment to Saturday morning’s PJ knitting and coffee, and Snippets subscribers get special deals and are first to hear of new things and rarities in the Shop.
Finally, thank you to everyone who spent time being a part of MDK Mayhem 2019.
Designers, we salute you!
Knitters, we embrace you!
Carol Feller, we hope you enjoy this moment.
Love,
Kay and Ann
Tabouli got my vote all the way through, from Round 1 on. Such a beautiful design – congrats, Carol!
Me, too! Can’t wait to make this one!
Me three—I’m looking for yarn! Congratulations, Carol!
I’d seen it before MM began and voted for it throughout. It’s fresh and exciting while using completely classic elements. I love it.
Me, too. Casting on with Mohonk as soon as I get home from a trip. But there were lots of other beautiful patterns to tempt in the brackets. Well done! Thanks for another year of dazzling designs. So many patterns, so little time…
Thanks MDK for putting this together! I found some great designers I had never found before. Congratulations to the winner. It is a beautiful sweater!
Thanks ladies and congratulations to the winner! I bought some new patterns and I can wait to get going on them.
This was so fun! Delighted to see that Tabouli won, it was one of my favs from the beginning. I have truly enjoyed your snippets which I just discovered a few months ago. Thanks for keeping knitting fresh and fun!
I really enjoyed tMDK Mayhem 2019. I have purchased several patterns and already started swatching for the beautiful Tabouli. Thank you Kay & Ann and your fabulous team for all you do for us!
Wonderful, actually first saw Tabuoli already knitted & ON an attendee at Vogue Live. in commenting on her sweater, we enjoyed learning the pattern, beautiful
Such fun! I voted for tabouli from the start. I will look forward to next year!
And I plan on trying several of the patterns!
Go Liz! Woohoo! This was a great year, I have more patterns bookmarked and favorited than I’ll ever get knitted. I think I need a schedule and a spreadsheet…
Thanks Susan! I tried to blend all the elements when filling out my bracket – Ravelry love, social media shots, pattern style, overall yarn juiciness with a sprinkle of Moneyball-Vegas-style strategies.
(But seriously it all just came down to sheer luck! And good guessing! Wish I could translate my knitting bracket talents to the Blackjack table! haha!)
Wow! This was so fun! I think the winner is very deserving. Thanks, ladies, for putting this together! Well done.
Thanks MDK, I hope to knit some of the contestants. Tabouli was my favorite too. Congratulations Carol. Love the pattern and the color.
This was a lot of fun! As usual, it’s over way too soon. Congratulations to all whose designs where chosen for the bracket this year. I, myself, can’t imagine ever being able to design a knitwear garment. You are all winners.
Congratulations Carol Feller! Great pattern!
Thank you for the brackets. I participated this year and really had fun with it. Kay and Ann you rock
Congratulations Carol! My bracket was busted early — it’s a good thing I didn’t have money riding on it! But it is still so much fun to play and to get to know so many beautiful designs, many of which I had overlooked. Thank you Kay and Ann.
Woohoo! Congratulations, Carol! Well-deserved. It’s a beautiful sweater I’ve been considering myself.
Is there a way for us to look up all the designs that contended in past March Madness tournaments? Because frankly, they’re all great.
Hi Gretchen – here is a link to the 2018 Bracket:
https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/march-mayhem-2018/
The 2017 Bracket webpage wasn’t set up exactly the same, so I don’t have the archive URL handy at the moment, but I’ll dig!
Also, if you search “March Mayhem” using the search bar at the top of our site (magnifying glass), it should pull up all the MDK March Mayhem posts over the years, including 2017.
Cheers!
Hello, Im new on this and so sorry I came so late that I did not vote, but I would like to know if this will be made again during this year or not, how this work? if somebody can explain me I really will apreciate! Thank you!!!
Hi Liliacraftparty,
This is the third year we have done this championship of knitting patterns. It’s all in good fun, and modeled after the “March Madness” basketball tournament here in the US. We hope to keep doing it every March, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, we leave the bracket up for all to enjoy and knit from throughout the year. May I suggest that if you want to keep up with fun stuff like this, please subscribe to our newsletter, Snippets? It’s fun, I promise, in your inbox every Saturday. (Scroll down for the box to check to sign up.)
Me too!! Stuck with Carol all through the voting. I am so glad that she is this year’s champion!! That said, congrats to all the designers — they all are so amazing! It was good fun.
Good point, Nicole! That is a bit beyond campaigning, in my opinion!
Hi Nicole and Cathy,
See our response below.
Thanks,
Kay
My Bracket held until the Final! It busted when I couldn’t decide as I loved everyone of the finalists. I’ve already knit one so onward I go. What fun to shine the light on the knitting world this way. I’m looking forward to next year already. Thanks you two beauties for making this happen.
Hi Nicole,
Election tampering is a serious accusation and in this case it’s not accurate. There was no prohibition on voting from multiple devices because it’s not something we had the ability to prevent.
That’s why we moderated your original comment.
All best,
Kay and Ann
Thank you Kay and Ann for acknowledging my comments, and thank you for your kind reply. I understand that some things are beyond your control. I have enjoyed the brackets and all you do! I just found the designer’s suggestion to vote multiple times a little unsportsmanlike. Thank you for listening.
Tabouli was my number 1 out of the gate! Congratulations Carol!! Fabulous job K&A!!
Thank you, that was such fun! I did pick Tabouli from the start– way beyond my skills, but so gorgeous.
Tabouli was my fave cardi from the start! Hurray!
Wow! I choose Tabouli in the final round! My bracket held pretty well in the second round, not so much after that. Except Tabouli. Congratulations Carol.
I have a request for the final bracket page. Could you add a little “Save” icon on it? I have it saved a a PDF file, but like using this one because of the pop-up info and links to Ravelry.
Another exciting and well-done tournament! Thanks for all the work you put into it.
You will find a ‘save’ icon just to the left of each posting’s title. (Above the Facebook link) . MDK thinks of everything!
A very worthy winner! Congratulations Carol!
Thanks, Ann and Kay, for upholding your motto: Knitting is supposed to be fun!
Congratulations Carol.
Congratulations, Carol! I voted for the beautiful Tabouli even though the words “lace cables” are not in my knitting vocabulary. It was just so beautiful that I kept voting for it! (Not to mention…pockets!)
Thank you Kay and Ann. March Mayhem is brilliant — promoting indie designers (and sometimes yarns too), stimulating interest, and great fun all around. What this inquiring mind wants to know is how many votes were cast. Totals per round, bracket, pattern, etc. would be a fun tidbit, as well as comparison to 2017 & 2018. Thanks again!
Seconded! It would be great fun to dig into the data sometime (maybe in the off-season, when passions have cooled). And I swear I’m a different Julia!
A totally beautiful winning design! I also did not do well in prognostication, but I really love all 64 designs- so many of them have filled my favorite queue, I’m stumped on what to knit next. A wonderful problem, I think!
Congratulations to the winning design as well as the other 63 nominees! I’ve discovered several new designers to keep an eye out for, and my Ravelry queue is now 15 items longer 😉 Thanks again to Kay, Ann, and the rest of the MDK staff for running this wonderful showcase for pattern designers!
I didn’t see Carol’s comment, but I saw two other designers “reminding” us that we can vote from all our devices. So, maybe it all works out in the end. It’s all in fun, and I don’t know how many of us were so invested in a “big win” that we bothered to fire up the voting finger and click away with bad intent. I loved all the patterns, and love them no less now for lack of Supreme Champion crown.
It’s true, though, it sucked to see those reminders because it seemed a little greedy when we knitters just want to have fun — and it was SO FUN! I’m gonna chalk it up to the designers’ giddy excitement and getting a little carried away.
Yay March Madhem!
Thank you for all the hard work that goes into The March Mayhem. It is so fun to participate and so wonderful to be introduced to soooo many new patterns. I had a blast and will have even more fun with new projects.
Will you share the votes that each item received? Curiosity is just killing me.
Congratulations to all who entered and designed such amazing items! Congratulations Carol Feller. Your Tabouli design is delightful. I’m going to Ravelry and check it out. May you continue to enjoy many more happy days of designing!!
My favorite(s) made it all the way through the brackets! Apparently I should take up professional betting in Las Vegas. Tabbouli is rather similar to the sweater I have OTN right now: just enough cabling to be interesting and plenty of stockinette in which to relax.
attended a knitting workshop in Ireland with Carol just after she won… and she was wearing Tabouli. she is brilliant and inspiring.
How can I buy this from Australia please
Tolle muster..tolle schnitte !! Suuper !! Ich wünschte ich könnte sie stricken..toll