Even though the Mystery Blanket of 2017 hasn’t been my favorite project and I don’t really like the outcome, it has been valuable for my journey as a crocheter. Because it exists of different yarns and patterns, I got to learn so many new stitches and feel so much unknown yarn! This is a list of my favorites.
Yarn
With the Mystery Blanket, you receive 40 balls of yarn. In 2017, there were different Phildar yarns present, and I loved every single one of them!
First, the amazingly fluffy and soft Phildar Beaugency. I love the colors I received of this yarn, with icy blue (pictured) and ivory as my two favorites! The yarn is, despite it’s fluffiness, very good to handle. It glides off your hook with such ease, that it is a delight to work with it. I can see myself in the future workin with this yarn again!
The second Phildar yarn is Randonnees (pictured below: Granny Stripe). It is a little bit thicker than the soft Beaugency, but has a very nice feel. I like the messy little parts of different colored yarn, if that is a good description of what is happening. It also looks and feels a bit like the Schachenmayer Bravo I liked, pictured below (ivory Moss Stitch).
The last Phildar yarn I should mention, is Phildar Partner 3.5. Again, the yarn feels incredibly soft and is so easy to work with! I loved the colors ciel and biche (pictured). I imagine using this yarn for a soft cardigan or light sweater for summer nights.
And last, but not least: Durable Cosy. It is a bit heavier and more firm than the Phildar yarns, but also very nice to work with. This is more suited for thicker projects, like warm cozy sweaters. It also came in lovely colors, but this ivory has to be my favorite!
I enjoyed getting to know so many new yarns! My experience with different types of yarn has been limited, because I mostly made amigurumi’s. This has been a nice journey and definitely gave me some ideas for future projects.
Stitches
For five months, I received four new patterns. This means twenty patterns to play around with! Most of them were stitches I had never done before.
I was so happy when I found out that c2c (corner to corner) was a part of this blanket! I wanted to learn and master this technique for a while, but never had the project for it. Now, after mastering this lovely stitch during the Mystery Blanket, I created an 8-bit pattern for a bag that I will share with you soon!
Another pattern that I really got to love from this Mystery Blanket is the Solid Granny Square. I liked it so much that I made a blanket with 96 squares and I wrote down the pattern in English and Dutch on this blog. Safe to say, this stitch makes me very happy. During the Mystery Blanket I was still struggling with the pattern, resulting in a bit wobbly square…
This Granny Stripe is another of my favorite stitches from the Mystery Blanket. Easy to do, with an amazing result! This is absolutely one of those stitches you can do while watching your favorite show on tv. Perfect for late summer nights or cozy winter evenings, I’ll definitely use this stitch again!
Another one of those easy but beautiful stitches is this Granite Stitch (Moss Stitch, Linen Stitch). By switching between slip stitches and single crochet (US, UK: double crochet), this lovely pattern emerges from your yarn. I’m thinking of a pattern where I can use this… Any suggestions?
This Puff Stitch is also on my to-use-soon list. Again stunning results with a simple stitch! It has been so much fun to make these squares. For me, that’s the beauty of the Mystery Blanket: learning new things and get inspired to use those patterns in other projects, because they are super nice.
All those amazing stitches I got to learn! This is (also?) the Moss Stitch, which is super fun to do. I needed a little time to figure it out, but when I got the hang of it I couldn’t stop! It is also part of the Dreamscarf (Droomsjaal) I made this winter, so I got to practice it a lot. In Dutch this is called the Gerstekorrelsteek, but I could only find Moss Stitch as a translation (which is also a second name for the Granite Stitch)… So let me know if I got any stitch names wrong!
I can’t wait for this year’s Mystery Blanket, because the Tunisian single stitch is also included! A lot new things to learn this winter… What are your favorite yarns and stitches or patterns? Let me know in the comments and I’ll check them out!
