Another colleague of mine decided to pursue her dreams and is leaving my work soon. For the goodbye party, I wanted to stitch a cute little something so that she can feel motivated. I chose this adorable bear that originally said ‘Yes I can’ in the bottom. I changed it to ‘Go get it’ because she should reach for the stars and she’ll grasp them. It was a fun quick stitch with a lot of backstitching.
I really love how this one turned out and I can absolutely see myself making it again for a different occasion. She said that she really liked it and that it had sentimental value for her too, so my goal was achieved. She’ll go get it too!
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 nice new pouch for all the stuff I lug around on the daily.
Every Day Carry – the amount of stuff you just bring with you daily ‘just in case’. Mine used to be in a pouch I made in 2018, but recently I wanted to downsize. I had managed to remove some items from the original pouch and it just looked sad and floppy. I went on the internet and looked around for nice pouch patterns that I could make and stumbled upon the ‘Pencil case with layer‘, which is also a YouTube video.
So I wandered back upstairs for the bin with pouch materials and came down with exactly the same fabrics as the originals were made of. I liked the idea of the pocket on the top even if I didn’t want the extra layer for pen(cil)s. I also wanted a carrier strap. I made an estimated guess of how big the thing needed to be and made myself a ‘pattern’ in Microsoft Word-shapes based on the original.
I skipped all the interfacing steps, since the original held up for 8 years (and still isn’t breaking), I figured it was fine as is. I grabbed a fun length of zipper and got to work. Since I had a tiny bit of the black shrooms leftover, I made two parts out of that. I also opted out of finishing everything super nicely, this stuff doesn’t fray. I ended up with a nice little pouch with a pocket in the top for pens and my spoon, and enough space in the main compartment for anything else. I love that it’s flatter and shorter and so far, it’s been doing well!
Ps. for those who looked back at the original post. I did not, in fact, make a cover for my scooter in a reasonable timeframe…
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.
Two baby gifts, a stuffed duck and some spit bibs.
Some time in the past, I was asked by a friend if I could reproduce her sister’s stuffed duck that had seen some wear. So I looked around, found the Crazy Duck Sewing Pattern and thought I could make it work. She was very happy and asked me to make another for a new family member that should be arriving. So I asked for preferred colours and we settled on yellow with orange details. Since it’s for a young baby, I didn’t use safety eyes but embroidery to create his face.
I also found some precut slobber cloths or spit bibs in my hoard when I was reorganizing. I figured I should put them together and they could make a nice set. So I located some white terry cloth that I had no idea existed and cut out the triangles. They were sew together and the snaps were added. I had some leftover triangular terry cloth, so I also made the mice one. That one I’ll keep for future additions. I love these, such quick and fun projects.
I hope babies necks are about the same size as my dinosaur’s..
Making two cute gifts for a wedding where the participants are just supposed to have fun!
One of my colleagues went to Portugal to get married, and to celebrate the occasion, gifts were in order! The only thing I really knew was that I wanted to make something. I just initially didn’t have a clue what the something would be. So I stared considering the options. Since I really like words, I thought about recreating some sort of pun.
I first thought making a set of stuffed peas for ‘two peas in a pod’ but apparently that saying means something different than I thought. It’s about people being alike and not about people liking each other, so even though there is a similar saying in Portuguese, it was out. Since my brain was letting me down, I went the google route to look for sayings that meant to ‘have fun’. I settled on two: ‘Let the good times roll’ and ‘Have a whale of a time’.
The first one was easy, just make a ball and embroider the saying on it. Google translate indicated that it is ‘deixe os bons tempos rolarem’ in Portuguese (no guarantees whether that’s valid though..), which is also five words. Happy coincidences! I settled on a 6 panel ball and to celebrate the union added the word ‘together’ (juntos) to the end of the saying. I chose some of my 10×10 pre-cut quilting squares and added some interfacing to the back. All but one seam were completely sewn and then made extra neat at the joins. For fun, I added a bell in with the stuffing before closing it up. I think it’s very cute!
The second one made me trawl through what felt like the entirety of Pinterest to find a cute whale pouch. The full idea was to make an object that could hold suggestions to have a whale of a time. Basically ideas for dates within the local area. In the end, I settled on using the pattern from this pin, but enlarging it slightly. I chose three coordinating quilting fabrics and fluffy interfacing for the outside and some whale patterned fabric for the lining.
I found a coordinating zipper and sewed it all together. The lining was mostly attached on a train journey because I had a hard time manouvering under the sewing machine. I left a hole in the lining so I could stitch one some cute felt eyes. I also added a felt heart to the tail. I really like how this one turned out. I asked some of my other colleagues for date suggestions, printed those on paper, added some of the discount cards from tourist destinations and put it all in the whale.
In any case, I’ve heard that the wedding was a great time!
Nine non-functional kiwi buttons on a fun yellow and white gingham top.
After working on the Ochre Overalls and using the yellow and white gingham fabric as a lining for the straps, it seemed like a great idea to make a coordinating top. So I looked around and found the Kleinia Blouse by Mood Fabrics. As usual with Mood patterns, there are some sparse instructions and the decisions that are made are very strange.
In this one for example, they want you to sew the yoke and bottom together but there is no shaping whatsoever along that seam, so I just cut it in one piece and sewed a fake seam. It was ridiculously big too. I worn it for an afternoon and then cut it down by several centimeters on each side. It was also extremely long.
I do not understand how they wanted me to add buttons along the back when they barely included enough space to do so. Since the top neckline is very wide, I luckily didn’t need a working button placket. So I sewed it all down and added the buttons. There are little kiwi birds on them, and I love them very much. Even if they dig in to my back if I wear a backpack for a full day. I might make it again, but then reduce the height of the yoke and make it a lot smaller from the get go.
I saw the pattern ages ago somewhere on a blog probably and sort of secretly fell in love with it. The Ophelia Overalls from Decades of Style have been hanging out in my mind for a while now. There’s an ochre/white version on the pattern envelope and their sew-along version is ochre. When I found some ochre diagonal corduroy on the fabric market for a very reasonable price, I needed it. So I bought some amount of fabric and that then languished in the hoard for a lot longer still.
But I finally convinced myself to purchase the pattern and I got to work. I tried to follow the instructions but I did end up deviating here and there. For example, they want you to topstitch the big pockets on, but it’s just as easy to sew them on flat and fold them back up and then topstitch. My topstitching is also a different width than indicated, the straps are lined, there’s some extra d-rings on loops added to the side and the front pocket and I put snaps in the side seam and on the straps.
The are some interesting choices made in the instructions, such as indicating that certain parts don’t need to be serged, when they will be serged half-way through. Also, for my size, it’s absolutely not necessary to have both side seams open up. There’s plenty of space to wiggle myself in without even opening any of those snaps. They also wanted to me to just fold over the edges of the straps. Luckily, I’d read a review and followed their hints to line the straps and attachment point. It makes me feel a lot better.
The length of these is also weird. I’m not sure if my fabric just shrunk, but it’s single fold hemmed at 1.5 cm and it fits. I’ve never been able to use a full length pants pattern without shortening it. Now, the straps are a bit too long, so maybe my waist is in the wrong place or something? Nobody knows. However, since I’ve finished it, I’ve worn it plenty, even if it’s probably a little hot for summer. It’s extremely comfortable and I really like the colour and the feel of it. So I’m strongly considering making this in pants without bib and no (or maybe one) side opening too!
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