This cross-stitch Nessie has been my travel project for the past couple of months. The hoop and associated threads were nice and small and fit perfectly in my bag. And with Pattern Keeper, I didn’t even need to bring a paper pattern. I did, however, make some changes to the original design. It’s supposed to have black back spikes, a white sail and no tail. I didn’t like the spikes so I omitted them. I stitched the sail in white, but it was invisible, so I chose a random red from the hoard. My brain also couldn’t deal with a potential plesiosaur without a tail, so I created one. I really like how it worked out and I’m quite proud of it.
I do have one regret though, and that is that I should have chosen a different colour fabric. There is a white border around the project that is only visible under certain angles. And I don’t think anyone can see the white ‘shadow’ of Wildlife. I’ll still find a place to hang it on my embroidery wall, once I’ve put up another string of hooks.
Ages ago, after I had found the adorable hedgehog that I gave as a gift in April, I looked at the other cross stitch patterns of the same designer and stumbled upon this one. I really loved the colour combinations of the bright orange and the blues. And I thought the fox was adorable. So after finishing all kinds of other projects, I got around to this one.
It’s tiny in real life, but the colours are really quite striking. While I did follow the instructions, I don’t think my blues were all as intended. There are bits that probably should have been darker, and one a little less bright. Really though, it doesn’t matter because this end result is still very pretty. You could also see the idea of what it was supposed to be, but the backstitch did help a lot. I really like how much detail there is.
The only downside is that it doesn’t work with pattern keeper, and keeping track from paper is harder then when stitches just light up in bright green on an app. That is what it is. I do notice that it holds me back from purchasing some more adorable patterns from this shop (this racoon and this tree owl for example). But who knows, I might just be swayed.
As usual around this time of year, there was a large event looming and I wanted a new outfit. My recent Simplicity sewing magazines had asymmetrical dress patterns and they spoke to me. They were Simplicity Naaimode 72, model 24-26, which is the equivalent of Simplicity 9886 (and the plus size version: Simplicity Naaimode 74, model 28-30, aka Simplicity 9887). They also spoke to my stash of 10 lengths of 1 meter of Scuba Crepe Jersey Fabrics that came in a Surprise Box in 2022. Since I hoped I could combine three of those fabrics to make a nice dress.
I started by copying the pattern and cutting it out in a dark grey, lighter grey and light blue fabric. I made two alterations to the original version. 1) I didn’t put in a zipper, since this is all stretch fabric. 2) I cut the light grey back pieces in one since I didn’t have to accommodate the zipper. As you can see, this one was just too big, especially in the back. I pinched out around four centimeters on the side and that was a lot better, but the pockets were also way too low, the colours seemed a bit muted for a fun occasion and I was just unhappy with it.
Then came the most complex alteration I’ve ever done in my life. Trying to make this thing smaller along strategic points instead of just the side seams. In the end: I took out 2 cm along center front and center back, tapered the side seams in from 1-ish cm to nothing in the waist, removed the pointy bit around the center back because there was still no zipper, took in the darts and princess seams by a cm, raised the pockets by about 5 cm and made them bigger, shortened the sleeves and scooped out the neckline. I made adjustments to every paper pattern piece there was, and some are a little bit fudged, but it fits so much better!
These pockets are at a much more comfortable height and the back fits so much smoother than the original version. I just turned the neckline under once and stitched it down, and same with the hem. The hem was with coordinating thread colours and I’m quite proud of it. It looks very neat. I also added some belt loops to the sides that almost disappear into the fabric, which is nice.
While working on the pockets, they gaped a little bit more than I would have liked, so the inside of the fully blue pocket was visible on that side. This bugged me so much that I ripped part of it out, added a patch of the light blue, and sewed it all back together again. So much better! The pockets also really wanted to just float around anywhere, so I anchored them with little straps to the approximate center front of the dress. Now they never end up on the back of my hips and I can put stuff in there, it’s supported and basically invisible.
I like this dress, it’s appropriately swooshy and has pockets and this colour combination is so much better for me than the original. I felt I learnt a lot with the alteration and now I’ve at least used some of that mystery box fabric!
A colleague of mine is leaving to pursue another job and I wanted to make her a little gift. So I figured that I would embroider the saying that we use in the office a lot: ‘Not my circus, not my monkeys’, which in essence means ‘not my problem’. However, it needed some adaptation since it will be her circus. So I found a pattern of a set of monkeys with tails in a heart shape, and found a 5-stitch high font here that I adapted a little. The final result is a ‘This is my circus and these are my monkeys’ embroidery with the name of her new company in the middle.
I personally think this is hilarious. I hope she likes it.
I must preface this by saying that I haven’t watched a full episode of Ted Lasso, so most of the jokes in the pattern went entirely over my head. Still, the experience of participating in Believe: An MKAL the Lasso Way by Mary Annarella was a lot of fun.
Clue 1Clue 2
It required 4 skeins of yarn, one needed to be high contrast with all the others but those three didn’t need high contrast between them. I settled on dyeing them in three shades of blue and one bright yellow. The blues are a combination of Aqua Tropic as a base with either Teal or Turquoise added. For the yellow, I had to dye a second skein because the first one ended up too orange.
Clue 3Clue 3Clue 4
Unfortunately, the main knitting method for this scarf was extremely similar to the other Mystery Knit Along that I was participating in at practically the same time: Funfetti MKAL. However, this one had opposite increases and decreases from Funfetti so I had to pay close attention to which one I was working on. What was fun was that these sections were much more manageable and different. There are some repeat stitch patterns but all in all that went very well.
Clue 5Clue 6Clue 6
Since there are many colours here too, there were a lot of ends to weave in. The forums quickly shared a good method for weaving as you go. So that made it all a lot less annoying. Once there were two equal parts of the scarf, we knit points. Those two sections were then three needle bind-offed together to get a nice diagonal stripe across.
BacksideBlockingFinished!
I like this scarf. The colours are nice and it’s very long so I can wrap it und my neck twice and still have length leftover. This was very unexpected as I was not on gauge and expected the thing to turn out much smaller. The yarn is decent enough, but it isn’t as warm and cosy as the alpaca sock yarn that I tend to want to use. It has already seen the outside world and I expect that it will do that more often when the weather calls for it.
January 29 was the start of my next Mystery Knit Along (MKAL), this one was Funfetti MKAL by : : : Katie Degroff Knits : : :. It called for 200 grams ish of fingering weight yarn, and then 200 grams ish of two or six or twelve contrast colours. I opted to split two skeins of Alpaca 4 ply into three, so I wound up with six colours. Since I just purchased new yarn dye in almost a rainbow, I figured that would be a great way to test those too.
YarnsMore accurate coloursLeftovers
The main colour was then a combination of violet and periwinkle. The contrasts were A: Neon Red, B: Neon Orange, C: Neon Yellow, D: Blacklight Blue, E: Aqua Tropic and F: Crocodile Green. Most of the colours work well together although the Crocodile Green does feel like the odd one out. Out of my new dyes, Croc Green, Aqua and Neon Yellow are my favourites.
Clue 1Clue 2Clue 3
When it came to knitting, it was a lot per installment. The construction was interesting. We started with a diamond shape with rounds in the different colours. Then we put that one aside and started working on a section where you increase in the middle but eventually start decreasing on the ends, so you end up with a ‘house’ shape. We did that for a few of the clues before going back to clue one and starting to add to that one too.
Clue 4Clue 4Clue 4
The final clue was to fill in two rectangles to connect the two sections we had been working on. This was quite satisfying because it was the last clue and a much smaller number of stitches. I was debating whether to do the colour changes at the end because it would leave so many ends, and while I decided to go for it, I opted out of the last colour and only did five colours. I think this worked fine.
Clue 5Clue 5Blocking
The end result is a long rectangular scarf, with one of the short ends straight and the other side pointed. Since there are so many colour changes, weaving in the ends was a project in and of itself. It really is quite big. I don’t think I should opt for 400 gram scarves in the future. This one will end up being gifted away since I’m not enjoying the purple colour for anything I would wear.
Still, the MKAL was well organized. The forums were fun and the designer was very helpful. I just chose colours that I didn’t like even though the yarn I used was great.
A little embroidered kingfisher in different shades of blue.
I have been engaged in mystery knit alongs (tip, don’t try to do two at the same time that both require lots of knitting) and have had little time to do anything else. However, before I got distracted by those, I finished some more cross stitch patterns!
The first was a really small but super cute bird by LaSelvaDesign. It used more colours than most of the other projects I’ve done, but sometimes only three or five stitches. I love how it came out. The different shades of blue really complement each other and bring some sort of depth?
It’s framed in something that looks woodish but is actually plastic and flexible. Since I left so much fabric around it, it’s been a bit hard to get into this frame, but it does look really nice on my wall. Adorable, if I say so myself.
Sometimes you just want to make little things with leftover yarn. Right?
Meet the Alien Mob! A collection of 7 knit aliens in different colours, all made from the same pattern: Mini Alien by Barbara Prime.
There’s Blue (from this sweater), White (from this sweater), Yellow (from this cowl), Turquoise (from this sweater), Mottled (from this shawl), Grey (from this sweater) and Green (from this project).
Knit in the round, very few stitches, quick and easy. They have antennae from different offcuts of the Cowlopus leftovers. There are 7 mm safety eyes and a tiny mouth from the Highland Tea Cowsy. It was fun to just make some tiny bobbly creatures and not worry too much about them.
Cowl in blues, yellows and oranges with wolf, mountains and paw print motif.
While deciding what to do over the winter break, I was browsing Ravelry to see if there was a fun Mystery Knit along. As we’ve discovered, I like mystery anything-alongs and knitting fits in too. The last mystery knit along that I participated in is still not done, the clues had too many stitches to keep up with in the last three sections, so it’s now a travel project. But that wouldn’t hold me back.
There’s a forum called Upcoming MKAL/MCAL Calendar that lists MKALs that are going to start. There I found Tales of the Tundra Cowl (Knit) by Mary P. Hunt. The MKAL was set to start on the 25th of December, promised daily clues and 12 installments. I figured cowls aren’t enormous, and the other patterns that Mary P. Hunt has made are very cool, so this was setting up to be a good one.
It required three yarns in DK weight with good contrast between A (main) and C (background) and some contrast with B too. I didn’t really feel like dyeing, so I dove into the hoard to find some yarn. I settled on Ultra DK in turquoise dyed in August 2023 for the main colour, Ultra DK with yellow spots dyed in September 2023 as the background and some DK 115 in orange from February 2025 as the contrast.
The pattern included some links to tutorials on colour dominance and jogless rounds and basically set us up for the project. This was super useful to just have in the document itself to refer back to.
Then the first clue dropped and we started knitting. The first section is corrugated ribbing, something I don’t recall having done before. However, it’s quite fun once you get into it. I got to use my relatively newly acquired skills with knitting left-handed to keep the yarns from tangling.
The second and third clue involved some pattern work where we made a cute design – it felt Scandivian inspired to me? And once clue three was done, we broke the B colour and continued with only two. I kept the blue in the left hand and the yellow in the right. I didn’t really see what was appearing as I was knitting it. I discovered the mountains from clue 4 and 5 only once I saw them in other people’s pictures on the forum.
I was also convinced for a while that the snout was from a bear, although it became clear along the way that it was actually a wolf. I guess the pattern image was a good hint towards that. Many people decided to duplicate stitch the eyes in a different colour, but I think that would make mine demonic looking, so I left that off. At some point, a paw print appeared in the sky too. Once the ears were done, the last three clues were almost mirrors of the first three.
This project was great. I had a lot of fun discovering the pictures every day and most of the time there were only 7 rows to complete, which is totally doable. I did have to pay attention and count (not my strong suit), but with the help of the line tool in Adobe Reader, I managed to keep track of which row I was on. I’m definitely planning on joining more MKALs if they seem as doable as this one.
That’s how this started. I found a fun pattern online that I bought and printed and taped together and tried to figure out. And then I wasn’t convinced by my mock-up. So I chucked that in the corner and let it be. I restarted the project by buying the Tsubaki coat from Waffle Patterns. I was so enamoured with the Dinosaur Momiji that I hoped that this would also do well.
The pattern comes with options: hood or collar, several different pockets to mix and match, and some options for cuffs too. I opted for the hood, one zippered pocket, two welt pockets, one inside pocket and knit cuffs but detachable. I also widened the bottom of most of the pattern pieces to make it more a-line and I drafted a capelet.
For the lining, I chose a brownish stretch cotton with Monstera leaves. I really like the look of this fabric. For some reason, the lining was shorter than expected, so I think I probably made a mistake there. The buttons came from the hoard and were all different, so I made pairs and arranged them in an (to me) aesthetically pleasing order. Unfortunately the welt pockets are too low, so I cannot comfortably reach the bottom, but I do like the look of the zippered pocket.
I don’t like wearing the end result. The look is great, the functionality not so much. I tested it when it was raining and the hood doesn’t stay on my head, the front blows open in the rain so my legs still got wet and my knit cuffs are not long enough so they are too cold. Most of those things are probably my fault but I’m not sure how to fix them yet. So for now, this thing is just hanging on my coat rack waiting for my inspiration to hit.
The thing I do like is the capelet that I drafted. I quite like the detachable nature of it. It buttons onto the already existing buttons on the coat and a hook on the back. I made two straps so that it is theoretically wearable by itself too. I think I probably made it too wide, so if I make one again, I’ll narrow it more. For now, I don’t think either the coat or the capelet will see much wear, but who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind.
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