With just a few days to go before the launch of the 2018 Mystery Blanket Club, I thought that you might like to see how some of the members got on last year with their special tenth anniversary project, "Retrospective". I invited members to send me their photos and stories about their 2017 Mystery adventures - both Cushion and Blanket - so that they could be shared here with you.
So here goes, starting with a lovely message from Jennifer Anderson from Raleigh in North Carolina, USA, who had her Mystery Blanket displayed at a state Fair in North Carolina, with fabulous results...
Jennifer says: "I am excited to report that my 2017 blanket was awarded first place in the NC State Fair! Thank you for your support and for the awesome pattern! Looking forward to next year's club!"
Catherine Pope from Nottingham was very pleased with her Mystery Blanket. I met her several times at the meetings at Yarn in Nottingham, where we knitted and chatted together with other local members for a couple of hours each month...
Catherine says: "I thought you might like to see the finished product.
Thanks for all the help, and looking forward to the next one!"
June McBain from Edinburgh has been a lifelong member of the Mystery Blanket Club and has knitted all ten of the designs! And she's not stopping there - she has signed up to the 2018 Club too! Here is her beautifully executed Retrospective blanket, which I am sure will make a lovely addition to her Mystery Blanket collection...
June says: "My blanket is finished! The flags seemed to take an age, but I'm very pleased with the result. Thank you so much for your brilliant design!"
It's always exciting for me to see variations on my blanket designs, so I was thrilled to receive these photos from Kathryn Fowler in Aberdeen:
Kathryn says: "I thought you might like to see my variant – I didn’t go for the flag border, and a mix of option one and two, plus a modified centre square. Looking forward to 2018 now!" And what a lovely job Kathyrn has made of lining the blanket - it finishes it off superbly. Great choice colour too!
Lesley Price from Haifa in Israel joined the Mystery Blanket Club for the first time in 2017 and found her experience very rewarding. It was lovely to hear how much she learnt from knitting the blanket:
Lesley says: "This is my very first mystery blanket and I'm very proud of the result.
I've had such fun this year, learnt such a lot and it kept me very busy.
I improvised a little on the 2008 and centre squares. As you can see I
also decided to do my own border, complete with beads. I've lined it
with a mauve jersey fabric and tied it on the back in several places to
hold the lining in place.
Thanks to the blanket I've gained such a lot of confidence in my
knitting, and patterns which previously seemed complex and are now a
piece of cake. I've also learnt to appreciate knitting with the high
quality Rowan yarns. It has spoilt me for anything else.
I've signed up for 2018 and can't wait for the parcel of yarn and the
first mail out to arrive!"
Pippa Taylor from Cambridge decided to add on a knitted border to every square in her blanket, which made it bigger than the original design - what a fabulous idea! I think it looks really good Pippa and that purple colour between each square really enhances all the indivdual squares beautifully - well done!
Janet Holdsworth from London has knitted several of the Mystery Blankets, and as you can see she has made a splendid job of Retrospective. Janet came to the Mystery Blanket workshop at Rookery Hall last year and despite being an excellent and very knowledgeable knitter, she still managed to pick up some extra tips for her blanket...
Janet says: "Here is the finished version. I tweaked the colours on the flags so I could use the same type of yarn for all of them. Used “heritage” buttons in the centre, did not use your buttons, and backed with blue fleece."
Janis Smith from the Shetlands has knitted several of the Mystery Blankets. But she decided to sign up to the Mystery Cushion Club instead last year, and was thrilled with her Metropolis design...
Janis says: "Just thought you would like to see how beautiful the Mystery Cushion 2017 turned out - loved every stitch!"
Carole Perry from Nottingham signed up to the 2016 Mystery Cushion Club and decided to do something very different to the original design for her daughter. I absolutely love what she has come up with, with every panel redesigned, making it her very own unique Mystery Cushion design!
Carole says: "I had a request from my daughter for a ‘grown up’ and less colourful version of last year’s cushion! I hope you don’t mind what I did with the pattern. I actually only needed to buy extra grey and cream yarn- and used some additional beads from the last bead club that you offered."
And finally, Mystery Blanket Club member Peter Bartlett from Congleton in Cheshire not only took part in the Mystery Blanket Club last year, but he also came to our Inspired Minds workshop in Bournemouth last November with his wife, Sue. They were so inspired by the projects that Jane and I provided for the group, that they went on to make this amazing collection of gorgeous festive goodies for their grandchildren. What a super Christmas they all must have had!
I would like to say a BIG thank you to everyone that took part in my Mystery projects last year, and an extra special thank you to all of you that sent in your photos and comments for this blog.
The countdown to the 2018 Mystery Blanket Club is now truly underway with the brand new Club beginning on 1st Febuary! And for those of you who have signed up to it, please don't forget to send me all your wonderful photos and stories so that I can keep up with your progress and share your experiences with other knitters all over the world! Happy "Mystery" knitting in 2018!!!
