These crocheted Starry Dream Ornaments by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk (Lilla Björn Crochet) have been on my to-make list for a good few years now, so I finally decided to give them a try this Christmas! I think they’re so pretty (plus, a fun opportunity to revisit some of the crochet techniques I don’t get to use so often!).

I made 3 ornaments, using the same colour palette in different variations for 2 of them, and then using a single, solid colour for the final ornament, to see how that affected the finished product. Today, I’ll be chatting about which colour arrangement I liked best, how I adapted the pattern to use more/fewer colours and how I found the process overall!

In this post, as always with my 'Making a...' series, I'll be chatting about my experience making this pattern, as well as detailing any changes/adaptations I made. The pattern I have used belongs to Tatsiana Kupryianchyk (Lilla Björn Crochet). If you want to make your own Starry Dream Ornament, you can purchase the pattern from the designer here!

Table of Contents

• The Yarn
• Adapting the Pattern to Include Different Colours
• Making the Ornaments (My Experience Following this Pattern)
• Round-By-Round Colour List for My Ornaments
• Final Thoughts

The Yarn

For my ornaments, I chose a colour palette that I already had to hand, because I used it for a different, festive, yarn-y project (more on that later on this month, or you can check out my Ravelry page for a sneak peak!).

The palette is made up of the following colours:

• Dark blue (I used DROPS Fabel in the shade Blue 107).
• Dark red (I used DROPS Fabel in the shade Ruby Red 113).
• Cream (I used DROPS Fabel in the shade Off White 100).
• Gold (I used some unidentifiable (sorry!) scrap fingering weight yarn).

I really love this colour palette: it’s very rich and festive, but also not your typical Christmas colour scheme! It’s a little bit different, which I think makes it extra special.

For the Star #1, I used all 4 colours.

For Star #2, I used the blue, red and gold shades.

For Star #3, I used the cream shade on its own.

My cream yarn was slightly thicker than the other two Fabel shades, which I guess is why my all-cream star is a little larger than the other two ornaments. The gold yarn is also slightly thinner than the Fabel in general, so that could also be the reason!

Adapting the Pattern to Include Different Colours

The pattern is originally designed for 3 colours of yarn (as I’ve done with Star #2). It can easily be adapted to use 2 or 4 shades (you could even use more, if you wanted!), because you can just join a new colour at the start of the round. If you do use more colours, I would recommend planning out the colours, round-by-round, before you begin and making a note of them on the pattern itself, otherwise it can get a little confusing!

Surprisingly, it’s actually harder to use a single, block colour (like Star #3) for this design than it is to add more colours. I thought that using a single colour would be great, because I wouldn’t need to cut the yarn at all and, as a result, would be left with fewer ends to sew in. Alas, I was wrong. The position of the beginning of the round changes after most of the rows, so, honestly, I found it was still easiest to cut the yarn and reattach it in the right place. There’s probably a way around this (slip stitches, maybe?), but I didn’t want to risk confusing myself!

All in all, the solid colour star was not the revelation I thought it would be and, honestly, I don’t think it highlights the texture and features of the crochet like the multi-coloured stars do. A fun experiment (and completely possible, if it is the look you’re going for!), but I’ll stick to my stripes!

Making the Ornaments (My Experience Following this Pattern)

I made all of my stars exactly according to the pattern (except for the placement of the colours). For each ornament, I made two identical stars and joined them using the crochet method given in the pattern, stuffing them lightly as I went. I did not add a hanging loop at this stage, because I am toying with the idea of making many stars and stringing them together into a garland? Who knows! They’re just so pretty! If I want to hang the ornaments up individually, though, I figure I can always thread a piece of ribbon through the top?

My finished stars are slightly smaller than those in the pattern: the multicoloured ones are about 8cm from point to point, while the cream one is about 8.5cm. I used the same hook size listed (2.5mm), but the pattern samples are knitted in Scheepjes Catona. It could be the yarn, or it could be my tension!

I’ve made a quick list of pros and cons for you, detailing my overall impressions of this pattern, in case your considering making your own Starry Dream Ornament!

Pros!

• Quick project.
• LOADS of colour possibilities.
• Simple way to practise slightly more complicated techniques (there are lots of photo tutorials in the pattern!).
• Easy to join the stars together.
• SO PRETTY.

Cons!

• LOTS of ends to sew in.
• A little hard on the fingers (is this because of my tension? Possibly…).
• Not overly suitable for solid colour designs.

Round-By-Round Colour List for My Ornaments

Just in case you wanted to make your own stars and replicate my colour layouts, I thought I’d include the round-by-round breakdown below.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed making these Starry Dream Ornaments! In particular, I’m super happy with how the multicoloured ones turned out (the solid colour version was a fun experiment, but I just don’t like it quite as much as the other two!). I think my favourite is probably the 4-colour version, but the original, 3-colour version is also lovely.

I think this pattern is super clever in the way it forms the star shape while also creating the surface texture with the stitches: it looks super complicated, but, once you get down to it, it’s nothing too crazy! This project is complex enough to be fun and interesting to make, without being so complex that your brain feels tired afterwards (never fun, not the vibe).

I made some knitted stars last year (these Stjärna ornaments!), but I actually prefer these crocheted ones: I found them a lot less fiddly to make and I really love the extra detail on the design.

If you're interested...

You can find the Starry Dream Ornament pattern by Lilla Björn Crochet here.

You can find my Starry Dream Ornaments project page on Ravelry here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post (and the first yarn-y post of Blogmas 2025)!

Gemma

xxx

Last year, just before Christmas, I saw this amazing crochet garland on Instagram by @deliacreates. It was designed to look like a string of popcorn and cranberries, which is a festive tradition in the US that I have always been fascinated by! I could never bring myself to sacrifice so much delicious popcorn in the pursuit of pretty, Christmassy decor (I love popcorn), so a crocheted version felt like the perfect, fun alternative. As an added bonus, the (free!) pattern looked super simple and straightforward, so I knew this would be a quick and easy project for the festive season. Unfortunately, I saw the post a little too late to make a garland in time for Christmas last year, so I carried it over and made it this year, instead!

Table of Contents

• Materials
  • Cygnet Seriously Chunky: Mini Review
• Making the Garland
• Final Thoughts

Materials

To make this garland, I used the following materials:

• 1 skein of Cygnet Seriously Chunky yarn, in the shade Cream (0288).
• 87 x 12mm dark red wooden beads (I bought this pack of 100 on Etsy).*
• 6.50mm crochet hook.
• 3.00mm crochet hook.**

That’s it! Because I already had the crochet hooks, I only had to buy the yarn and the beads (which worked out at just under £6), so this was a super budget-friendly project!

* The original pattern used bright red beads, but I wanted a more realistic-looking, muted garland, so I opted to use these dark red beads, which I felt had more of a cranberry vibe!

** The original pattern calls for a 3.25mm hook, but I found a 3.00mm hook was easier to insert through the beads and worked just as well.

Cygnet Seriously Chunky: Mini Review

Cygnet Seriously Chunky is a 100% acrylic, super chunky weight yarn that is sold in 100g skeins. Each 100g skein contains about 48 metres of yarn and (at time of posting), costs £2.99 on Wool Warehouse (my go-to for yarn-y purchases!). The yarn comes in a variety of colours (though it’s not the most extensive shade range I’ve seen), and I chose the shade Cream (0288) for this project, which was a nice, neutral, popcorn-esque colour.

I have to say, I truly forgot that this was an acrylic yarn as I was working with it- it has a real, wooly ‘fuzz’ to it that really tricked me into thinking it was made of natural fibres. While the ‘fuzzy’ look probably wasn’t quite the right vibe for making popcorn kernels, I do think this would be a great, budget alternative to a natural fibre yarn for other projects. Even though my kernels are a little on the fuzzy side, I still really love the way this yarn worked up for this project- I think it gives the garland a really homespun, felted look that feels very festive.

Making the Garland

When making this project, I followed the original pattern to the letter. It’s such a simple process, but it’s so effective (and so quick to work up- I made this whole garland in a single sitting!). The popcorn kernels are made from a simple puff stitch, worked in the super chunky yarn, and the cranberries are just wooden beads, added in between each kernel. I kept going until I ran out of yarn, then fastened off, and before I knew it, I had the perfect popcorn & cranberry garland, ready for Christmas. My finished garland, using a full skein of yarn and 87 cranberries, ended up being about 375cm long.

I did pick up a few little tricks and techniques when making this project, so I thought I’d share those with you here:

• Keep the beads at the front of the work.

When I first started working up my garland, I didn’t pay much attention to how I reinserted the 6.50mm hook into the working loop of yarn after I added each bead. After a little while, I found that this did have an effect on the garland- in some places, the beads were fully visible, while in others they were obscured by the yarn that runs along them. After a little bit of trial and error, I found that making sure the working loop wasn’t twisted when you reinsert the hook and making a conscious effort to keep the beads to the front of the work helped to minimise this problem. While the garland still twists a little, it’s much less noticeable than before!

• When adding the beads, keep the working loop of yarn as taut as possible.

Adding the beads is the fiddliest part of this project, because you have to pull a doubled piece of super chunky yarn through a pretty small hole! Honestly, this was easier than I expected- it took a couple of attempts sometimes, but, as the pattern says, if you split the yarn, you can just remove the hook, bring the yarn back together and try again! One thing that I found that really helped here was to hold the yarn as tightly as I could around the hook as I pulled it through the bead.

• Keep the beads in a bowl beside you.

This is such a small thing, it barely even warrants a bullet point of its own, but it made a big difference to my speed and efficiency! My beads came in a little, grip seal bag, which is great for storage, but not so great for quickly picking one up every time you need to add a ‘cranberry’ to the garland. I transferred my beads to a bowl and put the bowl on a flat surface beside me (a flat surface is important, if you would like to avoid beads rolling all over the place). This meant that I could just grab a bead super easily whenever I needed one, which really sped up the whole process for me.

Final Thoughts

I am so thrilled with how this garland turned out- it gives me such festive, homespun, felty vibes and I just love it! I particularly like how quickly it came together, how easy it was to work up and how effective the pattern was- I do really think it looks like a popcorn and cranberry garland!

I’m really glad that I opted to use the darker red beads- I think it not only makes this garland look more realistic, but it also looks a little more understated and classic. While the yarn I chose is a bit on the ‘fuzzy’ side, and so makes for slightly fuzzy popcorn kernels, I actually also really like that effect- this is, after all, a crocheted garland, and I don’t mind that being evident!

Overall, I loved working on this project almost as much as I love the finished product! It was the perfect, quick and easy festive project and I know I’ll be using it in my Christmas decorating for many years to come. Plus, no popcorn was harmed in the making of this garland, so that’s an extra little win.

If you're interested...

You can find the "Popcorn & Cranberry" Crochet Garland pattern here.

You can check out the Delia Creates website here.

You can find my Popcorn & Cranberry Garland project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

Last year, I became obsessed with making my own version of the fluffy, festive-themed pillows that were all over Pinterest and Instagram. If you haven’t seen them before, they’re this assortment of cushions, made with a soft, teddy fleece, in a variety of festive shapes and patterns like candy canes, gingerbread men, Christmas trees— all sorts! My favourite one, though, was a cushion that looked like one of those swirly, round, peppermint candies. Because the prices were pretty steep (and I’m pretty sure lots of the ones I saw were from slightly suspicious sources), I did what any crafter would do: I said to myself, “I can make that!”. So I did! However, I was a little too late to get it done in time for the festive season last year, so I decided to make it ready for this year, instead.

To make this Peppermint Swirl Cushion, I adapted this free pattern from the Red Heart Design Team. You can also find this pattern on Ravelry. 

Table of Contents

• Materials
  • Sirdar Happy Chenille: Mini Review
• Adaptations
• Final Thoughts

Materials

To make this cushion, I used the following materials:

• 3.00mm hook.
• Sirdar Happy Chenille yarn, in the shades Lollypop (0031) and Soda Pop (0021).
• Darning needle.
• Scissors.
• 16″ round cushion form (I bought mine from Wool Warehouse).

The original pattern calls for a non-chenille, worsted weight yarn, but the yarn I used is DK weight (and fluffy, obviously!). Therefore, I used a smaller hook than the one suggested (3.00mm, instead of 5.50mm). I actually went quite a lot smaller with my hook, to get a tighter gauge, in an attempt to make my work less gappy, but, honestly, if I made this again, I think I’d go even smaller.

Sirdar Happy Chenille: Mini Review

I hate to say it but… I was not a fan of this yarn. Admittedly, this was my first time working with chenille yarn, so maybe I just don’t enjoy working with this style of yarn in general, but my goodness was it frustrating to work with!

Chenille yarn is basically made up of a central piece of thread with a layer of fluff attached all around it. The central yarn in the Happy Chenille is very… string-like (which, again, could be normal!) and breaks really easily. Also, the fluffy layer isn’t attached very securely, so my yarn kept shedding, leaving me with sad patches of plain string… Weirdly, the red shade seemed to shed much more than the white, so the white parts of the project, me and the sofa I was sat on while making this ended up covered in red fluff.

Overall, I don’t think I’d use this yarn again if I could avoid it! I’d love to try some other chenille yarns, just to have something to compare it to, but, honestly, I’m not sure I can face it just yet…

Adaptations

I did make a few changes to the original pattern for this project, just to make my cushion cover more similar to my inspiration photos. Some of these changes were more successful than others…

• Instead of crocheting over the colour not in use, I opted to carry it loosely along the back of the work.

I did this because I didn’t want the colours peeking through, which you can see has happened in the original patterns photos! At first, I thought this had worked well, but, because the work is quite open, I have had some trouble with bits of yarn poking through to the front of the work, which is a shame! I do think that using a tighter gauge could fix this, though?

• I started one side with white yarn, the other with red.

Look, the perfectionist in me wanted both sides of this cushion to be identical, but I was worried about the amount of yarn I had left. You use significantly more of the colour you start with (which I can’t quite figure out because surely it’s just the extra from the first round?), so I did start running a little low on white yarn after the first side. Instead of buying more yarn (which would have been a shame, seeing as I was so mad at it by this point), I opted to just even out my yarn usage by starting the back with red, and, honestly, you barely even notice it.

• I left the border off (and sewed the cushion together around the form).

I wanted a really clean, modern look for this cushion, so I opted to leave the candy cane-esque border from the original pattern off. Instead, I just stitched the two sides of the cushion together, right over the cushion form, making sure to stitch red section to red section with the red yarn, and white section to white section with the white yarn, for a seamless look. This does mean the cushion cover can’t be removed, but, honestly, I don’t think you could wash this yarn (even by hand) without it all falling apart anyway, so it’s no loss.

One note here: for the white shade, I was able to use long lengths of the yarn to sew up the cushion and carry them underneath the red sections to get to the next white one. Because the red yarn was so sheddy, I found it got messy pretty quickly if I tried to use a longer length, so I opted to use shorter lengths and sew in more ends (except, as you’ll soon read about, I didn’t sew in any ends, so I felt very smug… until they all started poking out… Sigh). Also, I may be complaining about using the chenille yarn, but sewing up the cushion with it was SO MAGICAL because you can be as messy as you want and it will still look absolutely perfect! 1 point for chenille.

• I increased the number of rounds to ensure good fit/account for my smaller gauge.

Because I was using a lighter weight yarn and a smaller hook, I needed to increase the number of rounds I worked so that my cushion cover would fit the 16″ cushion pad I had purchased. This was super easy to do, because the pattern is so simple and repeats every round, so I just had to keep working until it was the right size. To measure that, I just placed the work over the pad and stretched it slightly (but not too much!), so that the cover would be nice and snug, but not distorted. When two opposite points on the circumference reached the seam of the cushion form, I fastened off (leaving a long end for sewing up) and made the second side the same size.

• I didn’t darn in my ends— just tied them off and left them loose.

This is very much a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ kind of situation: this did not work. The reason why I opted to do this is not because I hate sewing in ends (although I absolutely do), but because I was worried about the darned-in ends being visible from the front of the work (again, another problem caused by the loose gauge). I figured that tying them off tightly and leaving them pretty long, so they wouldn’t come undone, was a good plan, but it was not. Any time I move this cushion, a new, unfinished end (often a sad, stringy little one) seems to pop out of nowhere, so I spend most of my time these days poking them back in to the back of the fabric. Sigh. If it isn’t the consequences of my own actions…

Final Thoughts

Okay, so I’m not thrilled with how this cushion turned out, but I still like it. I guess I just think that I could do better if I gave it another go (and as I am writing this I am having to physically restrain myself from ordering a different, fluffy yarn and trying again). Maybe if I consider this a prototype, I’ll feel better about it?

It’s not all negative though— this cushion is super soft, fluffy and festive. It’s very huggable, perhaps because it is so soft and fluffy? It was also so quick and easy to make— the pattern is so simple, but it’s also really effective! I whipped this up in no time at all (so I could make another one in no time at all too… right?).

If I did make this again, I’d definitely try and scope out a different yarn— I love the fluff of this one, but, let me tell you, I was not loving it when I was lint-rolling myself for the fifth time in a single day to remove the rather spooky-looking red fluff balls from my whole body. I also really just didn’t enjoy working with it and I think I may have developed a fear of chenille now (chenillophobia?).

Also… I’d love to see if this pattern would work with double crochets, instead of trebles? I think part of the reason the fabric is so open is because of the use of trebles, so even if I made my gauge super tight by using a really small hook, I’d still run into problems. If the pattern worked with double crochets, I could probably get away with keeping the yarn floats at the back, so I’d get the clean look I wanted, plus I’d be able to darn in the ends more easily (or, at least, there’d be fewer holes for them to poke through!). Admittedly, it would make the project much less speedy to whip up, but I’d still be interested to try it! (Oh no, I think I’ve basically convinced myself now…).

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Posting about projects I’m not 100% happy with is something I still struggle with, but I do think it’s important to share all of the aspects of the crafty life, not just the highlights!

If you're interested...

You can find the Peppermint Swirl Pillow pattern by the Red Heart Design Team here.

You can find the Peppermint Swirl Pillow pattern on Ravelry here.

You can find my Peppermint Swirl Cushion project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

I thought this project would be a great way of trialling some of the amazing, free patterns out there for knitted/crocheted pumpkins. I wanted my pumpkins to have a variety of textures, colours and patterns, so it gave me the perfect opportunity to try out lots of different methods and styles. In total, I made 5 different pumpkins. In this post, I’ll go through all of the details for each pumpkin, link the patterns I used & share any amendments/changes I made.

I think it’s time for some pumpkins, don’t you?

Table of Contents

• Pumpkin #1: Wee Pumpkin by Susan Rainey
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #1
• Pumpkin #2: (Fluffy) Pepo Pumpkin Patch by Sandra Magalhães
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #2
• Pumpkin #3: Darlin’ Plaid Pumpkin by Stitchberry
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #3
• Pumpkin #4: Vertical Stripe Pumpkin by Sara Myers
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #4
• Pumpkin #5: Handsome Cable Pumpkin by Sara Kiesel
  • Thoughts on Pumpkin #5
• Final Thoughts

Pumpkin #1: Wee Pumpkin by Susan Rainey

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Wee Pumpkins by Susan Rainey.

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply, in the shade Cinnamon (leftover from my Anthology Pumpkin Hat).

Needles: 2.75mm DPNs.

Stem Details: 5-stitch i-cord, made using King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply in Chocolate (023) on 2.75mm DPNs. I knitted 5 rows of i-cord, then pulled the yarn through the stitches to ‘cast off’.

Adaptations:

• Used fingering weight yarn instead of sport.

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #1 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #1

• This makes a super small pumpkin. It’s SO cute, but a little flat.
• It’s quite easy to make the pumpkin ‘segments’ uneven by accident (I did).
• Pattern used BLCO for increases (not my fave method) and K2tog for decreases (a classic). This pattern, unlike some of the others, does include shaping, which gives the pumpkin a nice appearance.

Pumpkin #2: (Fluffy) Pepo Pumpkin Patch by Sandra Magalhães

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Pepo Pumpkin Patch by Sandra Magalhães (large size, in-the-round version).

Yarn: Scheepjes Sweetheart Soft, in the shade 06 (leftover from a spontaneous mammoth amigurumi, made a while back for my soon-to-be sister-in-law).

Needles: 4.5mm circular needles (40cm).

Stem details: I followed a similar method to the stem of Pumpkin #5, using the same Scheepjes Metropolis in Valencia (062), but made the stem a bit wider (24 stitches, as opposed to 12) to suit the larger pumpkin. Because of the larger stitch count, I worked an extra round of k2togs before finishing off.

Adaptations:

• Used fluffy, chunky weight yarn instead of worsted.
• I added stitch markers to mark where the purl stitches went on every round. This was super helpful, particularly at first, because the fluffy yarn is quite difficult to see/work with! It also made the knitting process much quicker/easier, because I didn’t have to keep double checking where I was in the round.
• I knitted the main piece until it measured 25cm.

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #2 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #2

• I had planned to crochet a pumpkin using this yarn, but my GOODNESS it was hard to work with— it was a real struggle to feel where the stitches were! I decided to use it for a knitted pumpkin instead and it was MUCH easier.
• This particular pattern gave some very helpful information on the ratio between the length of the knitted piece and the height of the finished pumpkin (0.4 ish), which I was able to apply to all of my subsequent pumpkin-making endeavours.
• I LOVED the use of purl stitches as a guide in this pattern— it made dividing the pumpkin up evenly SO simple and easy.

Pumpkin #3: Darlin’ Plaid Pumpkin by Stitchberry

Craft: Crochet

Pattern: Darlin’ Plaid Pumpkin by Stitchberry (regular size).

Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK, in the shades Cream (1005) and Gingerbread (1806) (from my excessive stash of Stylecraft Special DK).

Hook: 5.0mm

Stem details: I made a basic, crochet stem for this one using a single strand of the Gingerbread yarn and a 3.0mm hook. The pattern is as follows (as always, UK terminology is used):

Round 1: Work 6 dc into a magic loop (6)

Round 2: 2 dc in each stitch around (12)

Rounds 3-7: dc in each stitch around

Fasten off yarn, leaving long end for attaching to pumpkin.

Adaptations:

• Used DK weight yarn held double, instead of worsted (obviously, this is not equivalent, so my pumpkin is a bit chunkier than it should be!).
• For the surface crochet, I worked all of the horizontal stripes on the right side, leaving 4 stitches between each one. For the vertical stripes, I alternated between working them on the right and wrong side (to add a bit of interest) and left 5 1/2 rows between each right-side, vertical row.
• I didn’t darn in the Gingerbread ends from the surface crochet, just used a needle to carry them right to the edge of the work, in the same chain pattern, then tied them off and caught them behind the work with the ‘cinching’ yarn (though I don’t actually think the pattern calls for darning in the ends either!).
• I used a few extra stitches as well as the ‘cinching’ method to close the pumpkin shut (because my fabric was so chunky!).
• I used the MC yarn (Cream), not the CC yarn (Gingerbread) to define the pumpkin ‘segments’. I think this looks a little more seamless.

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #3 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #3

• Using DK held double was probably a bit thick— it worked perfectly everywhere except the top and the bottom, where there was a bit too much stiff material to gather it in properly.
• I really liked the effect and colour combo of this pattern!

Pumpkin #4: Vertical Stripe Pumpkin by Sara Myers

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Trio of Pumpkins by Sara Myers (Pumpkin #1 (Maroon & Beige Vertical Stripe)).

Yarn: Cascade Cantata, in the shades Cocoa (15) and Sand (16) (leftover from my Atlantis Sweater).

Needles: 5.0mm circular needles (40cm).

Stem details: Using the darker shade (Cocoa), I made a 4-stitch i-cord that was about 10cm long, then twisted it back on itself and secured it in that shape with a few stitches before attaching it to the pumpkin.

Adaptations:

• I used smaller needles than suggested (even though I actually used the right yarn weight with this one!) because I was worried about the stuffing poking through. I’m actually glad I did this— I think I could have gone even smaller because this pumpkin definitely has the loosest gauge of all of them!

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #4 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #4

• I was a bit disappointed that my pumpkin wasn’t as ‘swirly’ looking as the pumpkin in the pattern photo? I’m not entirely sure how you could achieve that, and I do like the stripes, but it’s just not quite what I was hoping for.
• As I mentioned, I think I would use slightly smaller needles if I were to make this again— perhaps 4.0 or 4.5mm?

Pumpkin #5: Handsome Cable Pumpkin by Sara Kiesel

Craft: Knitting

Pattern: Handsome Cable Pumpkin by Sara Kiesel.

Yarn: Fyberspates CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, in the shade Citrine (118) (leftover from a project that I will be sharing soon!).

Needles: 2.75mm (DPNs and circular (40cm)).

Stem details: I followed the instructions for the stem from the pattern, but made it separately (as opposed to directly on from the pumpkin itself) and stitched it on after stuffing because I knew my pumpkin was a little more sparse at that end (because of my reduced row count) and wanted to stitch it together first! Like Pumpkin #2, I used Scheepjes Metropolis in Valencia (062).

Adaptations:

• Used fingering weight yarn instead of worsted.
• After round 62, I jumped straight to round 103 to decrease the height of the finished pumpkin.
• I intended to follow the pattern from there as written, but I was playing yarn chicken, so, I ended up working rounds 103-108, then only worked rounds 110, 112, 115, 117, 119, 121, 124 and 126-134 (i.e. the ones with shaping/cables, plus a few extra rows, just until I was confident I had enough yarn!). I don’t recommend doing this, because (obviously) the top of my pumpkin was a little sparse, but it was nothing a little darning couldn’t disguise.
• I made the stem separately (so that I could fix the problems caused by my above fudging more easily).

You can find the link to my Ravelry project page for Pumpkin #5 here!

Thoughts on Pumpkin #5

• I ran into SO MUCH trouble with this one at first, because I just couldn’t work out the increases vs the stitch count! Turns out you absolutely NEED to use an increase that doesn’t use an existing stitch (i.e. not KFB), otherwise the stitch count won’t add up right. I ended up using a combo of lifted increases and M1Ls.
• This pattern is a little bit fiddly to work up at the beginning and the end (when you’re on the DPNs), but becomes much more fluid on the circular needles.
• This definitely took the longest of all of my pumpkins— it involves a lot more knitting than the rest!
• If knitted as instructed (using worsted weight yarn/ and working the whole pattern), this pumpkin would be absolutely huge. Like, HUGE. If you want a massive pumpkin, this pattern is your friend.
• I absolutely LOVE the cable pattern and yarn colour.
• I’m also a big fan of the slip knot/crochet starting technique used in this pattern! It’s not a technique I’ve come across before, but I thought it was very neat and super snazzy.

Final Thoughts

I have to say, I really LOVE my yarn-y pumpkin patch. I think each pumpkin has so much character— they’re all so different and individual, but still all very pumpkin-y. I think that they make the perfect, autumnal decorations!

Overall, I think my favourite pumpkin is probably Pumpkin #5 (the Handsome Cable Pumpkin), which is funny because it was definitely the one that caused me the most grief as I was making it! I don’t think the written pattern is perfect, but the cable pattern is just so gorgeous, and the Fyberspates yarn is such a pretty shade of orange, I think it all came together really nicely (even with all of my fudging).

Sadly, I do think Pumpkin #4 (the Vertical Stripe Pumpkin) is my least favourite of the quintet. It just doesn’t have the same neatness (dare I say, elegance?) as the other pumpkins, and I was disappointed not to achieve the same swirly effect that the pumpkin from the pattern seems to have. I also think I could have knitted this pumpkin on even smaller needles, because it has a slightly more open fabric than I would have liked for a stuffed object.

Having said all that, I love all the pumpkins together and think they make a lovely, autumnal cluster! What do you think? Which pumpkin is your favourite?

Gemma

xxx

It was actually my mum who found this pattern and fell in love with it, but, because she’s not a big crocheter, she asked me to make it for her. Because I am a big crocheter- I readily agreed! It was perfect timing as well, because we ordered the yarn just before the Olympics began, so I was able to start making this blanket while watching the Opening Ceremony on 26th July 2024. Because I basically watched the games 24/7 while they were on, I had a lot of time to spend working on this project. In fact, as time went on, I got more and more hopeful that I’d get it all finished by the end of the Closing Ceremony on 11th August 2024, but, alas, it was not meant to be (read: I had to stop crocheting to take a nap). Instead, after 19 days of pretty hardcore crochet, I finished this blanket on 13th August 2024 (only 2 days off my target, though!). Still, to me, this blanket will forever be my Paris Olympics Blanket.

Table of Contents

• The Yarn
  • Wendy Supreme DK: Mini Review
  • Buying the Yarn
• The Starbursts
• Crocheting the Squares Together
• The Granny Rounds
• The Mini Grannies
• The Picot Edging
• Final Thoughts

The Yarn

I used the exact yarn specified by the pattern for my blanket, because a big part of what drew my mum to this blanket was the colours. The pattern calls for 19 balls of Wendy Supreme DK, which is an acrylic yarn that I’d actually never heard of before! If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll know that I’m very loyal to my beloved Stylecraft Special DK, so I was tempted to get similar colours in the Stylecraft and use that instead. However, I was a bit worried that the shades wouldn’t be perfect matches. I also figured that this could be a nice way of getting out of my comfort zone (in the gentlest of ways) and testing out some other yarn, so I opted to use the Wendy Supreme DK.

Wendy Supreme DK: Mini Review

After using the yarn to make this blanket, I thought I’d share a few quick thoughts on it (and talk about how it measures up to my beloved Stylecraft)!

• The Wendy Supreme DK is pretty soft, but ever so slightly ‘squeaky’…? It also felt a little rougher than the Stylecraft– I actually gave myself yarn burn at one point (but that could very well have been due to the excessive amount of crochet I was doing on a daily basis…)! It definitely feels more like acrylic to me than the Stylecraft, but not so much that I couldn’t be tempted to use it again.
• The Wendy Supreme DK is significantly more ‘splitty’ than the Stylecraft. It’s not unmanageable, but it was definitely noticeable as I worked with it.
• The colour of the Wendy Supreme DK was really nice and even, much like the Stylecraft shades. No complaints on that front!
• In all 18 balls of the Wendy Supreme DK (that I used), there was not a single knot, which made me very happy (because, you know, fewer ends to sew in). Big win for Wendy (though, having said that, I don’t often find knots in the Stylecraft yarn either…)!
• This might just be because I was working with so much cream yarn, but I did feel that the Wendy Supreme DK was a tiny bit… sheddier… than the Stylecraft? I made the mistake of wearing black trousers for a couple of the days and it was definitely giving me white-dog-fur-curse vibes.
• The Wendy Supreme DK is slightly cheaper than the Stylecraft (£1.99 vs £2.35, respectively), which is good to know if you’re looking for a slightly more affordable option.

Overall, the Wendy Supreme DK was a perfectly pleasant yarn, but I don’t think I enjoyed using it quite enough for it to usurp the Stylecraft Special DK as my all-time favourite. It was a fun experiment though! Just for fun, I did take out my (beloved) Stylecraft yarn pegs to see if I could find the closest shades and managed to find some pretty good (but not quite exact) matches:

• Cream WD02 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Cream 1005 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Duck Egg WD28 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Duck Egg 1820 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Rose WD09 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Pale Rose 1080 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Soft Peach WD52 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Soft Peach 1240 (Stylecraft Special DK)
• Natural WD17 (Wendy Supreme DK) – Parchment 1218 (Stylecraft Special DK)

In general, I would say these Stylecraft alternatives are ever so slightly lighter than their Wendy counterparts, but the tones are pretty spot on (aside from Soft Peach, which is also slightly brighter and pinker than its corresponding Wendy shade).

Buying the Yarn

You can actually buy a full yarn pack for this particular pattern from Black Sheep Wools, for £36.99. However, I had a discount code for Wool Warehouse (which is my usual go-to for wool purchases) and it actually worked out slightly cheaper to buy the balls individually from there, so that’s what I did (oh, she’s thrifty).

The blanket calls for:

• 2x100g balls of Rose, Soft Peach and Natural.
• 3x100g balls of Duck Egg.
• 10x100g balls of Cream.

However, I did have a bit of yarn leftover- particularly of the cream shade. I could definitely have gotten away with buying one fewer ball of cream, because I had just under 2 balls left by the end. Having said that, I am a pretty tight crocheter, so that might be why?

The Starbursts

The first step of the blanket is to make the central starbursts. I’ve never actually made starbursts like these before, though I have seen them frequently on social media, so I was excited to give them a try myself! They were super simple to make, but I did make a commitment to myself that I would sew in all of the ends as I went along (blegh). It was a bit of a drag at the time, but I was so relieved not to have thousands of ends to sew in at the end of the process, so I guess it was for the best.

The pattern provides colour charts for all of the starbursts, because the colour choices are intentionally random and don’t follow much of a pattern. Unfortunately, the colour chart isn’t colour-coded- I can completely understand why this is the case, because if you were following the pattern using different colours, it would be tricky to follow, but ohhhhhh… I struggled. Ultimately, I just colour coded the chart myself on my computer, which wasn’t too tricky for the first lot of starbursts, at least.

For the second lot of starbursts, the colour chart is arranged a little differently, so I ended up just making a separate spreadsheet and using the ‘conditional highlighting’ feature to quickly colour code it. I’m not too mad about that, though… I love a spreadsheet.

Crocheting the Squares Together

I’ve done a lot of crochet in my life, but, surprisingly, I’ve never actually crocheted granny squares together using the join-as-you-go method. I know- crazy right?! It took a little bit of time to get my head around it, but I got into a rhythm pretty quickly and, actually, those rounds always seemed to fly by!

The instructions were super detailed for the first couple of times, but I would have loved a slightly more detailed explanation for the joining of the second round of starbursts- the pattern (completely reasonably, I have to say) just says to follow the previous instructions, but I felt that this round was a little different from the previous two joining rounds (almost a combination of the two?), so I would have liked a recap at this point (if just to save me from having to scroll back and forth between the other two instructions- especially seeing as you have to keep an eye on the colour chart at this point, too!).

I admit, I was a bit worried about how smooth the joins would be using this join-as-you-go method, and, for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised! I felt the method was really good for the bigger starbursts, but maybe not quite so smooth for the mini granny squares? My mini granny rounds are just a little bit bumpier around the joins than I would have liked, but perhaps that will smooth itself out in the wash…?

The Granny Rounds

The granny rounds really brought me back to my early crochet days and I really loved having the blue rows every now and then to break things up. The initial, photographic instructions for the granny sections were super clear and worked really well- though I do think that after that first set of instructions, the directions for the setup rows aren’t quite so clear (I feel there’s a couple of treble crochet instructions missing when joining the squares?). That doesn’t really matter though, seeing as the detailed instructions are right there at the start of the pattern anyway.

The Mini Grannies

Ah, we get to the part of this blanket that nearly, nearly got me. The mini grannies.

I opted to make all of the mini granny centres for the first round to start with, sewing in the starting ends after making all of the centres for a particular colour, so that I could work the joining round continuously. Honestly, I would still do it this way if I were to make this blanket again, but, my goodness, when I had to make 152 of the things for the second mini granny round, I really had to force myself to stay strong. I survived though! Big win for Gemma At Home.

I wasn’t crazy about the crocheting over the end technique used for these mini squares. On the one hand, I hate sewing in ends, so it should have been right up my alley, but I just feel like it’s not the… neatest? The pattern assures me it’s super secure, but I’ve already had a few little ends poking out… Maybe I did it wrong? Plus, you still have to sew in half of the ends, so I guess I’m wondering if it’s really worth it?

The Picot Edging

The joy I felt when I got to the picot edging- I can’t even tell you. Not because I struggled with this project, or didn’t enjoy it- I actually loved the process of this (except the mini grannies. Screw you, mini grannies.)! You know that feeling, though, when you know you’re going to finish a project that day? I had that. Also, I knew I only had about 6 ends left to sew in at this point, so I didn’t have the impending doom of thousands of ends waiting to be darned in, staring up at me from the depths of hell. Thank you for that, past Gemma. Your sacrifice is very much appreciated.

I don’t know why, but I found it so hard to get into a rhythm with this edging! I think because I was so used to doing treble crochets by this point, working double crochets and chains just threw me off. I had to keep checking to make sure I was actually doing it right, so it took me a bit longer than it should have. I also added an extra dc at the end of the round, alongside the first cluster, because I just felt it looked a bit uneven compared to the rest of the picots, but that was just a tiny, spur-of-the-moment thing.

To be honest, I’m not usually crazy about picot edgings on blankets (or borders, in general, really), but I actually really like this one??? The blanket pattern, admittedly, is not overly modern-looking, so maybe it just fits the vibe, but I think the picot edging really finishes this blanket off. I’m super happy with how it turned out!

Final Thoughts

So, after 19 days, 17 of those spent non-stop watching the Paris 2024 Olympics (including 2 pretty early mornings to watch the Triathlon events), 1 ominous case of yarn-burn, 5 padded plasters on top of said case of yarn-burn (so that I could continue crocheting through the pain), 18 balls of yarn, 232 cursed mini grannies, thousands of ends and, surprisingly, only 2 naps, my Grace Blanket was finished. I’m so proud of this one- I love that I’ll forever associate it with the Olympics, but also that I didn’t let myself get scared off by the idea of all. those. ends. (and that I darned them in as I went along which was… groundbreaking for me).

What do you think? Would you ever make a Grace Blanket for yourself? It’s such a clear and easy-to-follow pattern, I think it’s a great project for beginners and hardcore crocheters alike!

If you're interested... 

You can download the Grace Blanket pattern here. 

You can find the original pattern page on Ravelry for the Grace Blanket here.

You can find my Grace Blanket project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

As I mentioned in that post, the whole setup was inspired by this Halloween Ghost Cat Amigurumi crochet pattern, by Imelda Liputri (@medaami). I think it is truly one of the most adorable things I have EVER seen and it definitely made for a super cute, super spooky setup. I did say that I might give the crochet pattern a try at some point during October and… I did! I made my very own Halloween Ghost Cat Amigurumi, and I thought I would share my experience working with this pattern and making my cat with you today.

A little disclaimer to begin: obviously, this post does NOT include the pattern for the cat. If you want to make your own cat, you will need to buy the original pattern yourself. You can purchase the pattern from Ravelry (which is what I did!) or from Etsy. I purchased this pattern independently for my own, personal use and this post is just me sharing my experience of it and attempting to shine a light on this super-talented creator! 

With that out of the way, let’s get into my cat-making adventure!

Table of Contents

• Materials
  • Yarn
  • Additional Equipment
• The Process
  • Head
  • Body
  • Tail
  • Sheet
  • Ears
  • Arms
  • Pumpkin Bag
• Final Thoughts

Materials

Yarn

I just used odds and ends from my stash for this project- you don’t need very much. For the majority of the yarn, I used Stylecraft Special DK. To the best of my knowledge, I used the following shades:

• Black (1002), for the body and the embroidery on the pumpkin.
• Powder Pink (1843), for the nose and ear details.
• Warm Grey (1805), for the whiskers
• Camel (1420), for the eye details.
• Spice (1711), for the pumpkin bag.
• Walnut (1054), for the handle of the pumpkin bag.

I didn’t have any white acrylic yarn on hand, so I used some cotton yarn instead. I have absolutely no idea what brand it is, but it is a DK weight yarn, just like the Stylecraft.

Additional Equipment

• 3.5mm crochet hook
• Locking stitch marker (I use these ones).
• Tapestry needle
• 2x12mm safety eyes (a little bigger than the ones listed in the pattern, but it’s what I had- I figure bigger eyes can only make amigurumi cuter anyway, right?)
• Scissors
• Stuffing

The Process

For this pattern, like most amigurumi patterns, you make most of the elements separately and sew them all together at the end. It doesn’t really matter what order you make them in, but I did find it helpful to make the head (top left) before I made the sheet (top centre) that goes over the top, so I could ensure it fit (which it did, pretty perfectly, which I was very impressed by- the pattern was so precise!). Along with those two pieces, you have 2x ears, 2x arms, 1x tail, 1x pumpkin basket and 1x body (which includes the two legs- more on this later). For the most part, I just followed the pattern for each body part, but I did make a couple of adaptations, here and there. I’ll talk through those adaptations in a second.

The original pattern suggests using a dark grey yarn for the body of the cat. This works really well, because you can then embroider the facial details on with a black yarn- the whole thing still ends up looking like a black cat, but you get a bit more dimension. I think it looks great! I, unfortunately, did not have a dark grey yarn on hand, so I opted to use black for the whole thing. I do feel I lost a little dimension by doing this, even though I managed to keep the nose/whisker details by replacing the black embroidery with pink/grey embroidery, respectively.

Head

For the construction of the head, I followed the pattern exactly. The pattern makes for a really cute head (that sounds weird, I know, but it’s true!)- the cat has little chubby cheeks that are super easy to make but have a real impact on the finished cat- you might not be able to see it so clearly on my cat, because of the colour, but it’s definitely there!

The only thing I did differently for the head was that I embroidered the face (i.e. the pink nose and the grey whiskers) when I added the safety eyes- just before you finish off the head. I did this just to make the process a little easier for myself- embroidering onto a toy that has already been stuffed is a little trickier than embroidering onto an unstuffed piece of crochet because it’s a little harder to secure the ends. Having said that, the placement of the embroidery is easier to visualise when the head is stuffed, so do whatever you find easiest! I didn’t add a mouth, like the cat in the pattern has, because I thought a pink/grey mouth would look a little… strange? I also didn’t add the optional ‘eyeliner’ because, unless my cat wanted to go full 80s blue with its eye makeup, the little wings wouldn’t have shown up against the black body…

A couple of notes here:

• My whiskers looked super cute at this stage, but, when I put the sheet over the head, it completely covered them! Having looked at the original pattern’s photos, I think this was the case for that cat too- which seems a little pointless to me- I wanted to see the whiskers! I went back later and extended them out a little- they’re still a little obscured, but they are at least visible now. If you want your whiskers to be seen, I recommend taking them much closer to the eye- about a stitch away.
• I am OBSESSED with the technique this pattern used to enhance the safety eyes! It was so simple, but SO effective- genuinely, if you’re looking to up your toy eye game, I would recommend buying this pattern just for that! I’m not sure if it’s an original technique, but I’ve definitely never seen it before.

Body

For the body, I followed the pattern exactly as it was.

When I first started following amigurumi patterns, I would make one body piece and two leg pieces, all separately. Either I was using the wrong patterns, or the collective hatred of the amigurumi world for darning in ends and sewing things up has inspired a more seamless approach to bodies: an all-in-one method, where the legs are made separately, then worked together into a single body piece. This pattern uses that all-in-one technique! I’ve made a few patterns that utilise this kind of approach and I am completely, utterly IN LOVE. Not only does it mean that there’s less sewing up, but I think it gives a really professional, seamless look. The technique can feel a little awkward when you start out, but the pattern is so clear- just follow the instructions and you’ll get there!

Tail

When I first made the tail, my first thought was: “Tail, why are you so LONG?” Everything else about the pattern seemed so proportional and right, that this tail just felt a little weird. Admittedly, in the photo of all the body parts, it doesn’t even look that long, but it just seemed very long when I was making it, you know? Anyway, having assembled the whole cat, I have since discovered that the long tail is vital to this design. The legs are quite small, so the tail really helps balance the cat so that it can stand up by itself. I often find that my amigurumi makes don’t stand up so well on their own, so the fact that this cat does (and so well!) is a real win for me. Tail, I’m sorry- I misjudged you!

Sheet

Ah, the sheet. Honestly, the sheet was one of the main selling points of this pattern to me- I use a lot of amigurumi patterns, but I was really intrigued by the construction of this sheet- specifically, the hole around the face. It was really interesting to see how this unusual shape was constructed and I was super impressed by how perfectly it fitted over the cat. The problem, however, is that, for someone like me who despises sewing in ends, the technique suggested in this pattern is absolutely hellish. Essentially, to get that hole in the front, you have to leave a gap in your rounds of crochet- the pattern achieves this by cutting the yarn at the end of every row and re-joining it at the beginning. All fun and games, but this goes on for a good number of rows- when every row has 2 ends to sew in, I’m sure you can see why I was so aghast.

I honestly could not bring myself to do that. Instead, I opted to form the rows by crocheting back-and-forth over the area. It takes a little bit of working out, but it is much easier (and much less soul-destroying) than sewing in all those ends- just remember that the shaping is always at the start/end of the row and work out the number of regular stitches from the pattern accordingly. However, you can see a difference in the texture of the stitches. If you look in the photo above, you can see that my crochet is a little more open where I have gone back and forth (around the centre portion) and is slightly more ridged than the crochet worked in rounds. Obviously, the pattern was designed to avoid this- but I just couldn’t face all the ends (I’ve seen a lot of other people who made this pattern who felt the same way!), so I decided that the slightly less neat sheet was the lesser of two evils.

While the sheet did fit very well over the cat’s head, it does have a tendency to slip about a little, making it look a little less like the perfect fit it is! In the end, I decided to use some more of the white yarn to add a few little stitches to keep it in place. I didn’t want to stitch all around the face hole because I thought that might look a bit funny, so I opted to make 8 little stitches, evenly space around the perimeter of the face hole, making sure to make each stitch as invisible as possible. Honestly, I think this made a huge difference- my little cat always looks his best now and the whole thing is much more secure!

Ears

In the original pattern, you crochet the black ears, then you crochet two teeny-tiny triangles of pink, which you then stitch onto the black ears. I won’t lie, it seemed like a lot of effort- sewing in ends on tiny things is the WORST, especially when they really have to look nice and neat. Again, I let my laziness win. Instead of the extra crochet details, I opted to do a little bit of freehand embroidery to add the ear details. I cut a length of pink yarn, threaded it onto my needle and looped it through one side of the black ear piece, over and over, going through the same point near the top of the ear each time, to get a triangle. When I was done, because I was really embracing the whole lazy vibe at this point, I tied the two ends in a double knot and tucked it inside the ear, never to be seen again. Truth be told, I actually… love how this turned out? The embroidery gives the ears a slightly puffy look, which I think makes the cat even cuter!

The embroidery did make it slightly trickier to attach the ears to the cat- it is quite loopy, so it’s not the best for stitching into. However, I found that if I stitched very solidly along the back and sides of the ears, they were secure enough anyway. I also wrapped the black thread once around the base of the ear, at the front, before darning in the end, to add a line of black in-between the pink of the ear and the white of the sheet, which made a HUGE difference in how put-together my little cat looked. Such a simple trick, but so effective.

Arms

I am undecided about the arms on this cat. I think they are very proportional to the cat body, which is great, but I would almost like them to be just a little bit longer (maybe a single row?). I think that would make it easier to position the pumpkin bag on the right-hand one, because I just feel that the bag doesn’t quite have enough room to sit right?

The pattern suggests stuffing the arms lightly, before sewing them to the body. I was a little worried about attaching the arms to the body (you have to attach them through the sheet and onto the body), so I opted to stuff only the paws, then stitch across the opening of the arms so that I had a flat edge to attach to the body. After that, the process really wasn’t as bad as I thought! I sewed the arm fully onto the sheet, then attached it to the body underneath with a stitch on each end- that way, it was secure and gave the cat some dimension, but the sheet wasn’t so cinched in that it looked weird. I do wonder if stuffing the whole arm and leaving the opening as it was would have given the ams a bit more structure and length though, so maybe that was on me!

Pumpkin Bag

I feel like the pumpkin bag is the thing that really makes this cat. It’s just so cute! I opted to embroider the face on, using black yarn, as opposed to the felt used in the original pattern (again, it just seemed like sooooo much work to find the felt, cut the felt, stick it on etc.). I embroidered two little upside down V’s for the eyes, then made a loose straight stitch for the mouth, which I curved into a smile by securing it at the bottom with a tiny stitch.

For the handle, the pattern suggests making a chain, sewing in the ends and glueing it to the pumpkin part. I just crocheted the chain directly onto the pumpkin and sewed in the ends afterwards- it was very quick, neat and effective.

I didn’t fill mine with scrap yarn to look like sweets, as the pattern suggests, because I figured they’d just fall out. Sorry, cat.

One final note on the pumpkin basket: the pattern suggests that you just hook the pumpkin bucket over the arm, which I felt was just an accident waiting to happen, so I decided to secure it with a single stitch, in the centre. That way, it can still be manoeuvred a little bit, but it’s not about to go missing (or be eaten by a misguided dog) anytime soon!

Final Thoughts

I’m pretty used to the techniques used in most amigurumi patterns, so I was pretty confident going into this one, which is listed as an intermediate-level pattern. Honestly, I think this rating is spot on- I didn’t struggle with it by any means, but I feel if I had less experience with amigurumi, it definitely would have been challenging in places- specifically the body piece and the sheet. Having said that, I feel like it looks a lot more challenging than it actually is (which can only be a good thing because I apparently live to impress).

I made a few little changes throughout, here and there, just to suit the pattern/finished cat to my individual needs, but the pattern itself is incredibly clear and thorough, so none of my changes were really necessary.

I still would have loved to have made this cat in a dark grey yarn, so I could really get the detail/dimension of the original pattern, but I’m still really happy with my black cat. It’s so cute and it really didn’t take me too long to make at all!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! Let me know if you’re crocheting anything spooky this October!

Gemma

xxx

I first saw the TOFT kit for Morag the Highland Coo (many years ago) in John Lewis. I fell in love. I mean… it’s so cute! At the time, I was put off by the £30 price tag, but I did dream about the coo for a long time afterwards. This year, I finally gave in and bought (a slightly different version- more on that later- of) the kit. Today, I’ll be reviewing both the kit and pattern, as well as discussing my experience making my coo. I hope this will be helpful to anyone considering buying the kit themselves, or anyone who may be struggling with it.

You can buy the Morag the Highland Coo kit here, from the TOFT website.

Table of Contents

1. Complete Kit vs .pdf Download
2. Price
3. Yarn
4. Thoughts on the Pattern Overview
5. Thoughts on the Pattern
6. Sewing Up
7. Final Thoughts

Complete Kit vs .pdf Download

As I said in the introduction, I was initially put off by the £30 price tag for this kit. When I finally bit the bullet and purchased the kit direct from TOFT, it was at the lower (but still pretty steep, I feel) price of £25. At first, I thought this price drop was simply the result of buying direct from TOFT, but the two kits are actually different- in fact, TOFT has two separate products on their website: the complete kit (£30) and the ‘.pdf download’ (£25), which I bought. I have summarised the differences in the table below (these prices are for the regular-sized coo – prices vary for the different sizes).

Keep this in mind if you are planning to buy a TOFT kit- you’ll get very different packages based on which kit you order and it’s quite easy to not notice the distinction on the website. When you go to the coo page on the TOFT website, there are 3 drop down boxes. The first 2 are for your colour selections, while the final box asks you to select either .pdf pattern or complete kit.

Price

TOFT sells individual 25g balls of DK weight yarn for £6 each and 100g balls for £18. That means, for the .pdf download kit, you’re paying £24 for the yarn and £1 for the pattern, but will have had to, at some point, buy the other components needed. For the complete kit, you pay £18 for the main colour of yarn, plus £12 for the additional black and mushroom yarn, the hook, the yarn needle, the stuffing, the physical and digital pattern and the advice leaflet. We can also work this out a little more specifically: TOFT charges £3 for one of their own crochet hooks, £1 for a wool needle and £6 for a bag of premium toy stuffing (though I doubt you get a whole bag’s worth in the kit). The kit doesn’t specify how much you get of each extra yarn colour, but I would assume it is less than 25g of the nose colour and only a tiny bit of black, considering the price. You’ll pay a little extra for the benefit of a printed pattern, but otherwise it seems the kits are fairly standard across their pricing. There doesn’t seem to be much monetary benefit to buying one kit over the other.

Yarn

I made my highland coo in the regular size (there are 4: small, regular, large and giant), so I was using the TOFT DK yarn. I used the shades Camel (for the main colour) and Oatmeal (for the nose colour), which is the same colour scheme that is used for the promotional photos- both on the website and on the front of the kits.

I thought the yarn itself was very nice. It’s 100% wool, which does make the £25+ price tag (a little) less shocking, and it gave a lovely fluffiness to the finished coo. It is rather split-y, which isn’t the most fun when you’re doing something as intricate as amigurumi crochet, but it wasn’t unbearable. In fact, that same split-y nature actually helps the finished coo to look fluffier, because it helps the loops loosen out a bit.

I did, however, have quite a lot of yarn leftover after I finished my coo. Because I got the .pdf download version of the kit, I received 1x100g ball of Camel and 1x25g ball of Oatmeal. After finishing my coo, I had 27g (just over a quarter) of Camel and 18g (over half) of Oatmeal left. Obviously, with crochet kits it’s much better to have leftover yarn than to not have enough- but just be aware that you will probably be paying for more yarn than you need.

Thoughts on the Pattern Overview

Let’s start with the overview on the TOFT webpage. There are 2 things I want to comment on: the difficulty rating and the approximate time required. TOFT has 3 difficulty ratings for their patterns:

The pattern for Morag the Highland Coo is rated 3 – Intermediate, which is the highest level of difficulty. I would argue, however, that the term used for this ranking is a little misleading. I have quite a lot of experience in both crochet in general and amigurumi specifically, but I found this pattern to be very much on the difficult side. That is not (necessarily) a reflection on the pattern, more on the techniques that are required to make this coo look like its best coo self. I understand that the term ‘intermediate’ is probably used to encourage crocheters of all abilities and make the kit feel more accessible, but I do feel that it is not quite the right descriptor. I definitely do not think this kit would be suitable for a confident beginner (at least not one who did not want to end up in frustrated tears). Don’t get me wrong- making this coo is completely doable, but I do feel like the pattern underestimates its own difficulty a little bit!

The other thing from the webpage that I did just want to highlight is that the approximate time required is listed as 1-5 hours. I am a pretty quick crocheter, but there is no way I could make and assemble this coo in 1 hour. All in all, my coo took me about 4-5 hours. I think a more realistic approximate time required would be 3-6 hours.

Thoughts on the Pattern

Let’s talk about the pattern itself. All-in-all, the pattern is clear and laid out in a way that makes it easy to follow. If you’re making this coo, I would definitely recommend checking out the YouTube videos linked in the pattern (clicking any of the circular pictures in the ‘Basic Techniques and Stitches’ section will take you to the corresponding video- it took me longer than I care to admit to figure this out). With the videos, the techniques become much easier to pick up. I do wish that some of the written instructions for the specific techniques were a little bit more comprehensive (I’m looking at you, loop stitch and chain tail), independent of the video tutorials. I really relied on the videos for those two techniques, in particular.

On the topic of loop stitches… I despise them. Obviously, this isn’t at all a criticism of the pattern- the loop stitches are essential for turning a regular ol’ cow into such a CUTE highland coo. And yet… Oh. My. God. I love crochet. Love it! But those loop stitches made me reconsider that love. It’s the loop stitches that make this project much more difficult than an average amigurumi project, both because they are a bit finicky to do and because they make it so much harder to sew up the coo (more on that later). You make so many loop stitches, however, that the finicky-ness does subside after a while. The problem that persists, however, is that the counting for the loop stitches and the counting for the increases/decreases in a round seldom line up, so you have to keep two counts in your head at the same time (again, I feel this would be particularly challenging for a beginner, who would inevitably have less experience counting within rounds anyway). It feels a little like patting your head and rubbing your stomach. This is not to say the loop stitches are not achievable, but they are the main reason why I feel that this pattern underestimates its own difficulty.

Sewing Up

In the face of all the excellent elements of this pattern- the cuteness of the finished coo, the clear layout and the helpful video links, I can’t help but feel that the sewing up instructions let it down a little. TOFT has an incredibly wide range of different patterns that all use the same basic format, so it makes sense that the sewing up page is very generalised, because it is designed to apply to multiple different projects (remember, as well, that you do only pay about £1 for the pattern itself). However, I did find myself wishing that some details from the ‘Sewing Up’ page were included on the specific pattern page and that there were more detailed, specific instructions for sewing up. Let’s talk about those two things now.

The process described in the ‘Finishing’ section on the ‘Sewing Up’ page is a fairly standard gathering technique. While I do appreciate the in-depth instructions for this, I would have also liked to see a simple instruction for that process at the end of the pattern for each body part within the coo instructions- just one line, so that the pattern can be followed directly, rather than needing to read that page (which comes after the pattern) beforehand. In terms of construction, I did struggle with my coo’s neck being quite weak- a concern that is highlighted in the TOFT sewing up videos and that I have seen discussed by many other makers. If I were to make this coo again- I would consider finishing the body after Rnd 28 and not gathering it, which would give you a clearer guide for where to sew the head to the body and, ultimately, a wider neck.

The one element this pattern is fundamentally missing is a set of detailed instructions for sewing up the coo specifically. I would have loved to have seen a step-by-step guide that explained how to position the ears and horns that are specific to the coo, as well as how and where to embroider the nostrils(/eyes? Even now, I’m not sure if my coo is supposed to have eyes or not? I gave it some, because it felt wrong not to, but I can’t for the life of me tell if the ones in the official photos have eyes!). TOFT has a great video explaining where to position the legs, arms and head, but the animal-specific elements fall a little by the wayside. Again, the loop stitches rear their ugly heads at the sewing up stage- they make sewing on elements SO MUCH MORE difficult. I normally don’t mind sewing up toys, but this one was not fun. One of the main issues was that the TOFT softies have a slightly bulging ‘tummy’, which has to be at the front to aid balance and general cuteness. However, with the coo, the loop stitches make it incredibly hard to find said tummy. Even now, I’m not sure if my coo is back to front or not…

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this pattern makes for a super cute highland coo, which, ultimately, means that in my book, it’s a success! However, I did find this project difficult, even with my experience making crochet toys. For the most part, that difficulty was caused by the loop stitch- an unavoidable evil, unfortunately (even if it does make for an adorable coo…). If you have never done the stitch before, I would definitely recommend watching the TOFT video on the stitch, and playing around with it a bit beforehand to get comfortable!

I would recommend this pattern to pretty experienced crocheters, who have sewn up crochet toys before, because, as a result of both the loop stitches and the minimal sewing up instructions, this is not the project to be learning how to assemble amigurumi. However, the finished product is pretty unique- in fact, I haven’t seen a crochet pattern for a sitting highland coo that is as iconic and cute as this one at any point during my research. Using this pattern will reward you with the coo, as advertised, even if the process involves quite a bit of loop stitch-induced rage (definitely not speaking from experience…).

In terms of value, both variations of this kit are definitely on the pricier side. I would argue that the complete kit is a little bit better in terms of value for money, but, at the same time, it would be pointless to spend an extra £5 if you, like me, already had the stuffing, tools and black yarn on hand. If you were purchasing this as a gift for someone, though, I would recommend getting the complete kit, in case they don’t have one or more of the necessary components.

Finally, I’d just like to reiterate that I made this review purely with the intention of supporting other crocheters who, like me, want to make/are struggling with making Morag the Highland Coo. While I did have a few issues with this kit, I still absolutely loved my finished coo and am hugely in awe of the ability of Kerry Lord from TOFT to put together such a cute pattern.

Gemma

xxx

Some notes before we get into the project:

• The stitch used in the original pattern is called ‘moss stitch’. It is also known as ‘linen stitch’ (what I am used to calling it). This is just a case of there being multiple names for one stitch- if you have done linen stitch before, you have done moss stitch and vice versa!
• When I have used linen stitch before, I have frequently run into problems with my tension. Because of the chain 1 in between every double crochet, the overall tension within the blanket can vary massively. I’ve yet to find a solution to this when using linen stitch for larger projects (e.g. baby blankets that are worked straight, as opposed to c2c). However, I did not run into this problem when using linen stitch in a c2c format (much to my relief!). If, like me, you love the stitch but struggle with your tension when working it straight, I would definitely recommend giving it a try with c2c. Having said that, if you have any tips for maintaining a consistent tension with linen stitch normally, please let me know!
• Finally, just a heads up that the original pattern uses American crochet terms. Keep this in mind if you use British terms (like me) and want to try this pattern out for yourself.

Now we have covered that, let’s get into the materials I used for this project:

• 4mm crochet hook
• 2x100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK in Claret (1123)*
• 2X100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK in Cream (1005)*
• Darning needle

*I did not use the full amount of yarn- my finished blanket was 61cm square and weighed about 240g, including the border. I used about 120g of each colour.

Right! Into the action!

I used the instructions provided in the original pattern to make a square blanket, as opposed to a rectangular one. I did also extend my blanket slightly, completing 14 stripes while increasing and another 14 while decreasing (the original pattern calls for 11 for each). This was just to make my blanket a little bigger, because I felt it was a little too small as it was. Other than this, I followed the original pattern to the letter, alternating between claret and cream for my stripes.

For the edging, I opted for a very simple double crochet border. I achieved this by placing 1dc at the end of each row along the sides and (dc, ch1, dc) in each of the corners. This provided a simple edging that gave the blanket a neat finish, but did not detract from the striking impact of the modern stripes.

Overall, I really love this baby blanket. I think it looks beautifully festive, without being too overtly Christmassy or (dare I say it?!) tacky. Plus, it was a real joy to make! Let me know if you try it out for yourself!

Gemma

xxx

First up is the Panda Bauble:

Isn’t he just adorable?! I made him as a present for my friend. I used this pattern, by Stephanie Lau from All About Ami (who, by the way, is my go-to for all things amigurumi! Stephanie’s patterns are clear, easy to follow and SO cute!). The pattern includes variations for a teddy bear and a koala, so it is very versatile. Overall, it took me about two days to completely finish the bauble, but it could just have easily have been one day, had I not procrastinated the sewing-up process (as always…). If you want to check out my panda bauble on Ravelry, you can click here. If you want to see some other baubles made using Stephanie’s pattern, click here to go to the Ravelry page for the original pattern.

To make my panda bauble, I used:

• Black, white and red yarn from my stash (knowing me, all of these were most likely Stylecraft Special DK – probably 1001 White, 1002 Black and 1246 Lipstick)
• 2.0mm crochet hook
• 7.5mm safety eyes
• Darning needle
• Polyester stuffing

Also, please note that I am British, so I use British crochet terms:

• dc = double crochet = insert hook into stitch, pull yarn through, yarn over and pull through both loops on hook (US equivalent = sc)
• htc = half treble crochet = yarn over, insert hook into stitch, pull yarn through, yarn over and pull through all three loops on hook (US equivalent = half double crochet)
• tc = treble crochet = yarn over, insert hook into stitch, pull yarn through, yarn over and pull through first 2 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through remaining 2 loops on hook (US equivalent = double crochet)
• ss = slip stitch = insert hook into stitch, pull yarn through stitch and loop on hook (the same as in the US, thank goodness!)

I did deviate from Stephanie’s pattern in a couple of places: instead of making the eye patches with felt (I didn’t have any!), I made them with yarn and I made the scarf slightly longer (I think I may have been a bit too generous with my stuffing!). I ended up using 70 ch (instead of the original 62) for my scarf. For the fringing, I split short lengths of my red and white yarn into 3 individual strands. I then used 1 red and 1 white strand together to make each fringe and placed 5 of these fringes on each end of the scarf.

The pattern I used for the eyes was as follows:

R1: 5ch, join to first ch with a slip stitch.*

R2: ss into the loop made in R1. Continuing to work into the loop: htc, 3tc, htc, ss, then ss to the first stitch and fasten off.

Sew eye patches onto bauble in place of felt patches. Attach safety eyes through centre loop of patch.

* I usually prefer to use a magic loop for amigurumi. However, here I found the magic loop did not work as well as a chain loop, because it was too neat! I needed something that I could easily crochet into, but that would remain open enough for me to poke a safety eye through. For once, the chain loop was my best friend!

Anyway, 2 days of intermittent crochet later and I had myself an incredibly cute panda bauble to give to my friend:

I was very pleased with how it turned out! What do you think? Have you made an amigurumi Christmas ornament before? I’ve seen a lot of adorable versions that I would love to have a go at. Let me know!

Gemma

xxx