2018/2019 NYE Mystery SAL!

Yes the time is upon us to prepare for the most fun NYE possible for us stitchers - well I hope it is anyway! Like last year we will be starting on what is December 30th for some and December 31st for the Australians etc. amongst us.

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 mystery pattern in 15 parts.
• One part now - keep reading to find it!
• 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 SOME backstitches - you can skip them if you like.

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 C 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 0.2 skein of each colour other than Colour C and D 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 C 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 0.2 skein of each colour other than Colour C which requires 0.3 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 other than Colour C which requires 0.2 skein.
• If you are also making the back you need 2 squares of this size or a strip of 5 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches - 13 cm x 24 cm
• For the front and back you will need 0.2 skein each.

Thread colours:

You will need the following colours:

• 4 blues several shades apart. 
• Colour A: 1 very light blue (for example DMC 800) 
• Colour B: 1 medium blue (for example DMC 809)
• Colour C: 1 dark blue (for example DMC 798)
• Colour D: 1 very dark blue (for example DMC 820)

It's important to make sure the colours are easily defined so that they don't merge together. You could of course use different colours - just make sure there is enough contrast between the colours you choose.

The schedule:

• The pre-stitch pattern can be found below!
• The SAL proper starts December 30th at midday CET
• New pattern sections will be given every 4 hours and the last part will be given sometime on Tuesday depending on your time zone. 
• You can check your local time zone for the start here and a countdown is here.
• Australians will get it in the evening - with time to stitch at least one part before bed. Central Europeans around lunch time. Americans 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.

Part 1 is here!

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)