The Next Mystery SAL: The Spring Mystery

Many of you will remember the result of the first Mystery SAL I did on NYE (and a bit before and a bit after depending on your time zone). People had so much fun they wanted to do more so here is the next one! I asked in the Facebook group if people were ok with some pre-stitching (doing some work before the SAL actually starts - at a slower pace) and the response was positive so... we will be starting a little earlier and do a slightly larger pattern than the NYE one.

How to join in:

You don't need to do anything special - you just stitch your own version! That simple! There is a Facebook group listed below but you don't have join it to join in!

How much does it cost:

The patterns are free! So all it will cost is anything you choose to buy for the SAL - I encourage you to dig in your stash and see what you have first though!

The patterns:

• You will be given the main mystery pattern in 15 parts.
• Two parts before the SAL proper starts.
• The rest during the SAL.
• At the end you will be given an additional pattern to use for the back if you wish to make a two sided ornament/pillow/biscornu.

Stitches used:

• The pattern uses whole cross stitches and half cross stitches.
• There are NO speciality stitches
• There are NO backstitches (unless you call half cross stitches a backstitch)

The size, fabric and thread information:

The pattern is 55 stitches square.

• For 14ct Aida/28ct evenweave over 2 you will need:
• A piece of fabric that is 6 inches square - 15.24 cm square
• For the front only you need 0.1 skein of each colour other than Colour A which requires 0.2 skein.
• If you are also making the back you need 2 squares of this size or a strip of 6 x 11 inches - 15.5 cm x 28 cm
• For the front and back you will need 0.1 skein of each colour other than Colour A and F which require 0.3 skein each.
• For 16ct Aida /32ct evenweave over 2 you will need:
• A piece of fabric that is 5 1/2 inches square - 14 cm square
• For the front only you need 0.1 skein of each colour other than Colour A which requires 0.2 skein.
• If you are also making the back you need 2 squares of this size or a strip of 5 1/2 x 10 inches - 14 cm x 26 cm
• For the front and back you will need 0.1 skein of each colour other than Colour A which requires 0.3 skein and colour F which requires 0.2 skein.
• For 18ct Aida /36ct evenweave over 2 you will need:
• A piece of fabric that is 5 1/8 inches square - 13 cm square
• For the front only you need 0.1 skein of each colour.
• If you are also making the back you need 2 squares of this size or a strip of 5 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches - 13 cm x 24 cm
• For the front and back you will need 0.1 skein of each colour other than Colour A and F which require 0.2 skein each.

Thread colours:

You will need the following colours:

• Two greens several shades apart. The darker one is colour A, the lighter colour B.
• Three flower colours:
• Two of which need to be the same colour but several shades apart. The lighter one is colour C, the darker colour D.
• The third needs to be coordinating (or not if you prefer). A variegated colour would work really well for this if you like to use them. This is colour E
• One coordinating colour. This is colour F.

The schedule:

• The first pre-stitch pattern was given on March 1st
• The second pre-stitch pattern was given on March 15th 
• The SAL proper starts March 30th at midday CET - that's over the Easter weekend. Some people get Good Friday off from work, some people get the Monday off too and more than a few of you will be having some kind of family get together during this time, however I'm sure you will be able to find enough time to stitch. 
• New pattern sections will be given every 4 hours and the last part will be given sometime on Sunday depending on your time zone. 
• You can check your local time zone for the start here and a countdown is here.
• Central Europeans will get it around lunch time, Australians in the evening - with time to stitch at least one part before bed. American's will have the first part waiting when they get up and if they get up in time they can sneak a part in before work, or take it with them to work for the lunch break. Doing something globally is never easy but I hope this works out for everyone.

I do not expect anyone to be able to be up to date at all times during the SAL - you need to eat and sleep at the very least so expect to be "behind" part - if not all - of the time! It's part of the nature of this type of SAL for this to happen, so being "behind" is the normal state of affairs. If you are a slow stitcher expect to finish "after" the SAL has "finished" - though tbh the SAL is always available and new people find the patterns on a regular basis so it's never really over.

Some thread ideas - picture heavy as some people are more visual than others. Click to enlarge and see the colour numbers on the bobbin.

I had quite a bit of trouble getting the dark purple to show correctly and in the end only having it next to the other purple helped.

 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! Either here or in the Facebook group or, if you prefer, you can DM me on Twitter or Instagram (@magical525 on both)