Ravelry, Amber Mystery CAL and a few other things

I love the crochet community.  I honestly can’t remember anytime in my life where I have welcomed by a collection of people who were so supportive, so uplifting, so generous with their words and so kind to take the time to offer words of compliment or encouragement.  

The discussion groups on Ravelry are a perfect example of this.If you have a question, someone will happily give you an answer.  If you’re stuck on something, you will be overwhelmed with people who will offer solutions.  And if you have completed a project, you will receive more praise than from anyone who doesn’t quite appreciate quite how complicated that stitch was or how many times you had to pull it out and start again.  This experience has made me take a little step back to look at my attitude and how I approach things and inspire me to be a little better, a little nicer.  

I particularly enjoy the Fresh Stitches Discussion Board for this.  Friendly, interesting people who treat you like a friend the moment you get involved.  And there’s so many exciting things going on in the group.  Buddy crochet swaps, Kit clubs and my personal favourite, mystery CALs.  

For those of you who haven’t come across a CAL before, it’s a crochet-along, where during a set time period, everyone crochets the same pattern all at once.  Fresh Stitches takes this to a new level.  MYSTERY CAL!  I participated in the last mystery CAL, the Archer CAL.  This turned out to be a dog who stood on four legs, and although the end product wasn’t quite to my liking, I loved getting a little part of the pattern each week and trying to guess just what these funny shapes might turn out to be.

The June/July mystery CAL is almost complete.  Two clues down, one to go, which will include how to put the pieces together and the big reveal.  I have a couple of bits from clue two still to complete (I’m madly crocheting when I should be working to get them all done in time!) so that I’m all set for the last clue.  Here are the pieces I have so far:

Personally, I have no idea, some pieces look like antennas but then the other pieces don’t fit with any kind of insect, there’s definitely some ears in there I think so who knows!  The Fresh Stitches forum is busy with suggestions! A Kangaroo and Joey, dragonfly are just a couple of suggestions.  I’m torn about whether to follow this thread closely or not as I don’t want to spoil the surprise but also want to know.  Only a couple of days until my curiosity is satisfied.  

The yarn I have used for this was from my cute little local yarn shop and the adorable owner Paul.  I have been wanting to use this Knitcol trends yarn for a while now, the colours are so bright and I love the different shades that work through each skein.  When the mystery CAL materials list was released and it said 1 colour, I knew exactly what I had to use and I completely love the results so far.  

It’s also really nice to crochet with and doesn’t split at all.  I usually make most of my amigurumi out of aran weight yarn, but this is dk so my mystery cutie may turn out to be a little smaller than on the pattern, but I’m sure he’ll look just as cute! I’m looking forward to getting the last piece of the puzzle and will be sure to show you the completed result.  Until then...x