It is highly recommended that you register an account with us before placing your YAL order. This will give you the option to come look at your order, and status of your order even if you’ve missed an email from us. It is a very useful tool for keeping track of your order throughout the YAL.

We are able to accept all major credit cards as well as Paypal and ShopPay. Unfortunately for the YAL we are not able to accept local payment methods which includes iDeal. If you would like to purchase the YAL using a local payment method we recommend ordering a gift card from us before the YAL goes on sale and using that to purchase your YAL subscription.

We know costs are rising all over the world so we've done our best to make this year's YAL as affordable as possible, for your three month YAL subscription the cost will be €287.60 excluding VAT and shipping. 

Postage for YAL covers all three shipments. We use UPS and DPD for Yarn Along shipping. We will do our best to make sure packages arrive at their destinations at the same time, but things like customs clearance and local weather are beyond our control.

Free shipping is not offered on YAL orders. However, to take advantage of the shipping fees already paid, YAL participants will be able to place additional orders to be sent with each YAL package for free up to the shipping deadline on each of the three shipments (please note we're not able to add extra items to shipments going to the UK).

Unfortunately our couriers are unable to deliver packages to PO boxes so please make sure your delivery address is not a PO box. If you list a PO box as your delivery address, we'll get in touch to update your delivery address before shipping. Please bear in mind this might result in delays to your order. 

Unfortunately it’s not possible to pick your YAL order up in store!

UPS sometimes adds a remote area charge per shipment when your address is a significant distance from their sorting centre. Sometimes we don’t know this until we try to send your order. 

Many countries charge customs when your items arrive. This amount usually equals the sales tax that would be due in your country plus a fee for assessing the amount due. Many countries don't bother taxing orders around the value of a single YAL (USA), and others always do (Switzerland, Iceland). On all orders where customs might be due, we do not charge European tax, so your price for the YAL will be 21% less than full price.

Please note if you are ordering from the UK you may be charged customs when your package arrives with you. For more information about UK shipping please read our FAQ here.

We have no control over the amount that you will be charged when your goods arrive, and we can't be held liable for these costs. If you refuse a shipment, we can refund your order on its return to us, but please note if you decide to refuse the shipment and extra shipping costs are incurred because of this, we are unable to cover these costs and the amount will be deducted from your refund.

Changing addresses part way through the YAL is quite disruptive to the process. As a rule we don’t allow more than one address for shipments, but if you have circumstances that are out of your control (not holidays), please get in touch and we will see what we can do. You can always choose to have a work address or a friend’s address for all three shipments if you are unsure of where you will be during the shipments.

Winding yarn for the YAL can be really time consuming with so many orders going out, so we're not able to offer this service for YAL shipments.

We try our best to ship out the YAL so that it arrives for everyone at around the same time. Packages outside of Europe are shipped first, then packages within Europe are shipped. Most orders will be shipped using UPS and should arrive within 3-6 days of leaving our shop in Amsterdam. 

We ship the orders out in time for them to arrive by the pattern release dates, which are May 3rd, June 3rd and July 3rd this year.

If you haven’t received an email with a tracking number, that might be because it has ended up in your SPAM folder or in a different email account.

You can avoid your email from us going into SPAM by adding our email addresses (info@stephenandpenelope.comand orders@stephenandpenelope.com) to your contacts list. You can also login to your account on our website and find your tracking number there.

We begin to send the tracking numbers straight after we have logged the shipment in our system.

As soon as your order has been picked up by our courier you will be able to follow your order straight to your door, it can sometimes take a couple of working days for your tracking number to update so don't panic if you don't see it straight away!
If the problem persists please send an email toorders@stephenandpenelope.comand we will look into it with our postal carrier.

Unfortunately due to the volume of orders and the fact we ship geographically for the YAL, we're unable to hold orders until a later date.

With your YAL subscription you can add any extras to each YAL shipment without paying extra for shipping! If you'd like to add extras to your first YAL shipment then be sure to place your order before 25th March. If you'd like to add extra products that arrive with your second YAL shipment, place your order before 22nd April. For the final shipment, place your order with any extra yarns or products before 26th May. Don't forget to include your YAL order number in the notes on your order so we can match them up! 

If you forget to use your YAL discount code, send us an email straight away at orders@stephenandpenelope.com so we can make sure not to ship out your order and to refund your shipping costs to you. If we don't hear from you that you want your order to be combined with your YAL shipment before the order is processed, we will assume that you wanted it shipped right away and not with your YAL. In this case your shipping costs will not be returned.

Unfortunately we're not able to offer this to YAL customers in the UK.

This year's YAL yarns features a variety of fingering weight merino wool yarns and a luxurious blend of merino, yak, and silk too. They are all very soft and smooth to knit with producing that classic shawl drape that Westknits is known for.

This year's Yarn A Long contains 9 total skeins of fingering weight yarn in custom colourways hand dyed by 3 incredible dyers.

Each month you will receive two, three, or four skeins of yarn to knit that month's shawl. The shawls range in size from medium to large shawl shapes. The shaping, constructions techniques, and stitches are all a complete surprise as we treat you each month to a delightful new shawl knitting experience.

The beauty of hand-dyed yarn is that it has variations. Some batches will come out slightly darker, lighter, bluer, or just different than other batches. The dyers are making hundreds of skeins of each colour, so some will look a bit different to others. We have selected some of the best dyers working today, so differences will not be extreme.

Because of a small difference in the timing of when people will receive their yarn, we don’t have any restrictions on posting on social media. If you want to be surprised by your yarn and really don’t want to see it before it arrives, take care not to be on social media in the days before your package is set to arrive.

When posting, please use the hashtags #yal2024 #westknitsyal2024 #yarnalong, and #stephenandpenelope we love to share the photos you post with these hashtags!

All hand dyed yarn for the YAL is exclusive to Stephen & Penelope, and is exclusive to YAL members for the duration of the YAL. When you sign up for the Yarn A Long you will be first to receive these special colourways designed by Stephen & Penelope and the participating dyers. By popular request, this year all custom colourways developed for the YAL will be available after the YAL, so if you fall in love with a Yarn A Long colourway, we will have them available later in the year as well. 

We are sending your pattern download code via email in your order confirmation which includes all the information you need for this year’s YAL. You will receive this email as soon as you've placed your YAL order. Using this download code you will receive all three patterns as PDF updates once you redeem your download code for the YAL e-book. Didn't get the email? Get in touch with our customer service team info@stephenandpenelope.com

You can redeem the pattern using that code here.

Make sure you are logged into your Ravelry account before you redeem your code! 

The first pattern is released on 3rd May 2024 After you have received and downloaded your first pattern, you will have the pattern in your library for the second and third shipments and those patterns will be available in your library on the 3rd June and 3rd July 2024.

Once you have  redeemed your pattern code, you will need to update the YAL 2024 pattern in your Ravelry library to receive the new pattern files. You can find instructions on how to do this here.

Please note that we have found smaller email providers are more likely to block our emails reaching you so if you have an alternative email address that uses a larger email provider please feel free to use that one instead to make sure you receive your download code and all your other YAL information!

The second and third patterns will be released on the 3rd June and 3rd July 2024. You will receive an email telling you there is an update to the YAL 2024 pattern page. From the email, you can simply follow the link to the pattern. If you miss the email somehow, here’s how you can manually update your pattern:

Click on My Notebook in the upper right hand corner of Ravelry and drop down to Library. 

On the left hand side you will see a button that says “updates available”. 

Click on that and you should see all patterns that need updating. 

Find “Westknits Yarn A Long 2024” and click on “Update Now” below that pattern. 

Then look for “view in library” to go directly to the pattern.

If you have already updated but are just looking for the pattern, go to your library. 

Underneath the button “add items to my library” click on “search patterns”.

Then search for “Westknits Yarn A Long 2024” and the YAL patterns will be the first to appear. 

Click on the little blue library icon beside the pattern name to download the pattern.

The Yarn A Long Pattern Download Code in your order confirmation will add the patterns to your Ravelry library.

If you don't use Ravelry, please contact Westknits at hello@westknits.com and they’ll be more than happy to help to make sure you get each month’s pattern!

First make sure you’re entering your code into the following link: http://www.ravelry.com/redeem/westknits. 

The code is case-sensitive, so pay attention to upper and lower case letters when you enter it.  If you’re still having problems, then email Westknits at hello@westknits.com

They won't be available as individual patterns until the YAL is over.

I’m glad you asked! We have lovely pattern support available to help you with questions. Simply send an email to support@westknits.com and we will get back to you quickly.

Another option is to check out the YAL2024 group on Ravelry to see what other people are doing and if anyone is having the same questions as you and what they’re doing to remedy it. This Ravelry group is also an inspiring forum to see everyone's shawl progress.