You’re interested in doing a mystery knitalong, but you’d like some details.
Details in the mystery…that’s a hard one, right?
How can knitting be mysterious?
A mystery knitalong is a knitting event where people buy a pattern without knowing what it will end up like. But, because of the designer, or something about the description, you’re willing to trust the process.
You’ll be given information about what yarn weight to use and how much to buy, given colour advice, and information about gauge. You will probably see the yarn the designer chose to use. Designers do their best to give information and advice because we really want you to be happy with the finished project.
You’ll also be given the dates of when the clues come out. Well, they’re called clues, but there’s no guessing, no crossword puzzle lateral thinking, no escape room pressure. When we say clues, we just mean ‘the next part of the pattern’. With my mystery gnomes, for instance, I break the gnome into around 8 parts and send out the steps every few days. You might not know if you’re starting a hat, or how it connects with the body, but you just need to knit what’s written.
Community
One of the best parts of knitalongs is the chatter and fun! Usually, each knitalong will have a place to discuss yarn choices and get advice before it starts, then has a place to ask questions and show off your progress as each clue comes out. It is utterly fascinating to see, step by step, how different a pattern can look just based on colour choices.
Which leads us to…
Spoilers
Spoilers spoil the mystery. So as a community we try to keep photos and details safe. Good practice around spoilers includes:
- If you create a project page on Ravelry, make your top photo something neutral. A photo of your yarn or the visual the designer is using for the event. (Right click on the visual to save it and use it if they’ve given permission. You’ve always got my permission to use my event graphics.)
- When posting on Instagram, try to post a set of photos, with the first one something neutral. However, the way that the app now works, the second photo is often automatically shown to people when they log in later, so spoiler-free posing on Instagram isn’t entirely possible.
- Make sure you only post about details in the chatter thread for that clue. That way people who are a bit behind can still participate in the conversations by ignoring threads for clues they haven’t reached.