Last Christmas (I gave you my heart)(no, just kidding), Petite Knit released a free knitting pattern for a Christmas Caramel, a stuffed ornament that looks like a little wrapped candy. I fell in love but, alas, I had too many other projects on the go to make one last year, so I set the pattern aside for this year.

Serendipitously, while I was making my Christmas Caramels this year, DROPS released a pattern for a Holiday Confection as part of their Christmas Calendar, which I always love following along with this time of year. This pattern makes a very similar, though slightly smaller and rounder, stuffed candy ornament.

So, naturally, I made two candies following the instructions from each pattern to compare them (you know, for science).

In this post, as always with my 'Making a...' series, I'll be chatting about my experience following these patterns, as well as detailing any changes/adaptations I made. If you want to make your own Christmas Caramels, you can find the free pattern on Petite Knit's Ravelry page, here. If you want to make your own Holiday Confections, you can find the free pattern on the DROPS Design Ravelry page, here.

Table of Contents

• Materials
• Christmas Caramels vs Holiday Confections
  • Size
  • Shape
  • Initial Stitch Count
  • Shaping Method
  • Edges
  • Design
  • Design Symmetry
• The Pick ‘n’ Mix Sweet
• Final Thoughts

Materials

To make these knitted sweets, I used the following materials:

• 2.5mm circular needles.

Both patterns call for 3.0mm needles. This makes sense with the Christmas Caramels, because they use a worsted weight yarn, but is slightly surprising with the Holiday Confections, which use a fingering weight yarn (and a particularly fine one at that: DROPS Flora). I used a fingering weight yarn for my sweets (more on that below) and I think it’s always better to have a tighter gauge whenever you’re working on a project that will be stuffed, so I used a 2.5mm needle for all of my candies.

• Fingering-weight yarn (I used DROPS Fabel in the shades Off White 100, Blue 107 and Ruby Red 113, plus a scrap of a gold yarn with unknown origins).

Are you sick of seeing these colours yet? They’ve kind of become my unofficial Christmas 2025 colour palette and… I’m not mad about it!

• Stuffing.
• Darning needle.
• Scissors.

Christmas Caramels vs Holiday Confections

While these patterns are very similar to one another, they are not identical and they do produce quite different candies.

Here are the key differences between the two patterns:

Let’s go through these one by one!

Size

The Christmas Caramels are significantly larger than the Holiday Confections. This is achieved simply by knitting more rows (as the starting stitch counts of each pattern are the same).

Shape

The Christmas Caramels have a longer, more oblong-esque shape, while the Holiday Confections have a rounder shape. Again, this is caused by the number of rows: working fewer rows produces a rounder shape, while working more rows produces a longer, more rectangular shape.

Initial Stitch Count

Both patterns start and end with the same stitch count: 24 sts.

Shaping Method

The shaping method used is one of the most significant differences between the two patterns: I think the Christmas Caramel version is easier to work (and work with, when stuffing/ finishing), but the Holiday Confection version gives a slightly more defined shape.

Edges

The first and last row of the Christmas Caramel is worked plain, while the first and last row of the Holiday Confection is worked in 1×1 rib. I was surprised by the addition of the rib row at first, but it a) stops the ends of the sweet from curling and b) somehow makes the ends look even more gathered and realistic, so I’m team 1×1 rib all the way!

Design

The Holiday Confection pattern has a greater variety of design variations than the Christmas Caramel but, admittedly, 4 out of the 6 of the designs are just slight variations on a horizontal stripe. I made all my sweets using the 2-row stripe pattern, for continuity.

Design Symmetry

The main problem I encountered with both of these patterns was the (potentially unintentional?) asymmetry of the stripe pattern!

As written, the main colour sections at the start and end of the body piece are different sizes (a natural consequence of the way the shaping is worked in both patterns), which drives me slightly crazy. In the photos above, the red sweets are worked according to the pattern and have this problem (the far left end of the Christmas Caramel (left) and the far right end of the Holiday Confection (right)).

On my second attempt at each pattern, I made a a slight adjustment to rectify this:

For both patterns, on the striped, body section, always START with two rows of the contrast colour and END with two rows of the main colour.

To achieve this, I made both of my second attempt sweets 2 rows shorter than the pattern suggests (these are the blue sweets in the above photos!). I’m much happier with them this way!

The Pick ‘n’ Mix Sweet

After making 4 sweets of various pattern origins, colours and alterations, I decided to combine my favourite features of each pattern and make my ultimate, knitted ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ sweet. Here’s what I did:

• Used 2.5mm needles (magic loop method) and fingering weight yarn (omit extra glitter yarn).
• Followed DROPS pattern for BONBON-2 from cast on to Round 4, leaving long tail for later.
• Worked 3 closure rounds as per Petite Knit pattern.
• Worked 12 plain rounds of 2-round stripes, starting with contrast colour and ending with main colour.
• Worked 3 closure rounds as per Petite Knit pattern.
• Followed DROPS pattern for BONBON-2 from Round 27 to cast off, leaving long tail for later.
• Tied off contrast yarn ends inside the sweet.
• Used tail ends of cast on/off to tie off each end of the sweet. I wove in the end until I reached the closure rounds, then wove the end in and out of the holes created by the yarn overs. I pulled the yarn tight to gather the fabric in, then wrapped the yarn around the outside 3 times to cinch it in even more. I then secured the end by threading it up underneath the yarn wraps and darning it in on the inside of the work.

Final Thoughts

And that was my (super scientific) process of knitting up some little sweet decorations! I’m so happy with my finished ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ pattern— I’ve obviously opted to go for the slightly rounder shape, but I could definitely knit more rows for the body to make it more of an oblong shape if I ever needed to.

I think these little candies look so cute just dotted around the place, but you could also attach a loop of yarn or thread and they’d make adorable little Christmas tree ornaments too! I feel like there are a lot of creative possibilities for these… maybe I need to cut myself off from making them now, lest I end up surrounded by sweets that I cannot even eat…?

If you're interested...

You can find the free Christmas Caramel pattern on Ravelry here.

You can find the free Holiday Confection pattern on Ravelry here.

You can find my Christmas Sweets project page on Ravelry here.

Gemma

xxx

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

It’s been 3 months since my last instalment of my Project Knitwear series, so I figured it was high time for an update. Full disclosure: I have actually finished the shorts to match my Flutterbutt Shirt from the last post, but, to be perfectly honest, I can’t fathom the thought of trying them on to take a photo in this chilly weather. I think I’ll keep that one until the weather starts getting a little warmer again! Anyway, I thought it would be nice to have a festive edition of Project Knitwear, so here we are.

This time, I’m tackling socks.

Table of Contents

• The Pattern
• The Yarn
• The Knitting Process
• New Techniques
• Final Thoughts

The Pattern

I really wanted to make festive socks with a colourwork component for this project. After some searching on Ravelry (you can find my Ravelry account here), I settled on these Snowy Nights Socks by This Handmade Life. I thought that the colourwork design was so pretty and elegant (as far as socks go), and I knew I would get lots of wear out of them. I also thought it would be a good idea to go with short socks, because of what happened last time I made socks… Many years ago, I set out to make my first ever pair of socks. I made the first sock quite happily, but the horrifying realisation that I had to do the whole process all over again nearly broke me. I figured if the socks are shorter and take me less time, I might not be quite so heartbroken over having to do it twice? Maybe?

The pattern has 2 sizes: medium and large (is that normal for sock patterns? I have no idea! Surely feet come in more than 2 sizes?!). I made the medium socks for myself (I have UK size 6 feet) and knitted 48 rows for the foot (before the colourwork). Speaking of colourwork- the pattern also comes with two different charts, but I couldn’t find a picture of the socks made with the second chart at all, so I just went with the one I recognised from the photos. In the yarn listing, it does reference a ‘sample with chart 2’, but I can’t see it anywhere? Weird.

The Yarn

The suggested yarn given in the pattern is Sandnes Garn Sisu in the shades 5962 and 1001. I’d love to try this someday, but it was easier for me to get a hold of some Drops Fabel Uni Colour. I used the shades Blue (107) and Off White (100). I enjoyed the yarn, but I haven’t used a lot of sock yarns in my time so I didn’t really have anything to compare it to!

The pattern doesn’t tell you how much yarn you need, which I thought was a bit strange. I weighed the yarn before and after (something I always forget to do, but am trying to get into the habit of) and I ended up using about 23g of the main colour (blue) and 4g of the contrast colour (white) per sock. That meant that I could have gotten away with 1 ball of the blue wool for both socks (Drops Fabel comes in 50g balls), but I had purchased two- just in case. Does that mean I have to make another pair of socks…?

ALSO, I didn’t bother doing a gauge swatch, because the gauge was given for ribbing in the round, which I know is notoriously hard to measure. I just used the recommended needles (2.5mm) and hoped for the best- luckily, it turned out fine! I was thrilled, because, as you know, if you’ve read the past 2 posts in the series, I despise swatching.

The Knitting Process

Honestly, these socks were a lot more straightforward than I expected them to be! Admittedly, I would have gotten into a complete pickle with the heel if I didn’t have my mum to explain it to me (I had never heard of a wrapped stitch before??), but, luckily, I did have her, so I survived. I had been a bit apprehensive about the colourwork- I’ve done some colourwork before, but never in the round (and not particularly well) so I was a little nervous, but it wasn’t bad at all- it was even enjoyable! I did make sure that I knitted those sections from the inside, to make sure that the colourwork wasn’t too tight, but other than that I just followed the chart and hoped for the best.

The one big problem I had with these socks was the heel. My first sock was okay, but on my second sock, my wrapped stitches left quite large holes all along one side of the heel- specifically, the side of the knit rows. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what happened, because I didn’t do anything differently for the second sock and my tension is usually pretty even? I know there are lots of different heel constructions out there, so I think I might try out a different one, if I ever make socks again, and see if it suits me better.

New Techniques

There were quite a few sock-related techniques that were new for me with this project- I really feel like I’ve learned a lot (even if I’m not sure I would use some of them again…). Previously encountered techniques (that I actually remember doing before) are marked with an *:

• German twisted cast on
• Short row heel (using wrapped stitches)
• Toe shaping
• Grafting stitches (for the toe)
• Following a colourwork chart*
• Colourwork in the round

Final Thoughts

I’m really happy with how these socks turned out- they fit perfectly, the colourwork was much less of an ordeal than I thought it would be AND I didn’t even struggle with Second Sock Syndrome at all! Perhaps I am just a more patient knitter these days. Anyway, I’m really proud of my socks. Now I’ve taken all the pictures, I can start wearing them- just in time to appreciate their festive design!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the third instalment of Project Knitwear- I’m already starting to feel more confident when it comes to knitting things to wear! Now, what to make next…?

If you're interested... 

You can purchase the Snowy Nights Socks pattern here. 

You can find the project page on Ravelry for my Snowy Nights Socks here.

Can you believe we’re halfway through Blogmas At Home? Time really is flying, but it always does this time of year, right?

Gemma

xxx