Hello and welcome to the first part of the Mystery Sparkle Make-A-Long! Today we’ll be making small, cute stars decorated with surface slip stitches. This project is simple and fairly quick—perfect as a warm-up before we move on to the more intricate patterns coming in the next parts.
If this is your first time hearing about the Mystery Sparkle MAL, you can find more information HERE, and the ebook with all four mystery patterns is available on Ravelry HERE.
And if you own the Mystery Sparkle ebook already, simply refresh your Ravelry library and download the pattern.
As every year, my goal with the annual MAL is not only to share small festive designs, but also to introduce different crochet techniques.
With the Sparkle Star, we’ll be practicing surface crochet. For surface crochet, several stitches can be used, but slip stitches are the most common. I know some crocheters aren’t fond of slip stitches because they can feel tight or distort the work. But once you find the right tension, surface slip stitches can add bright, beautiful accents to your crochet pieces.
The Sparkle Star consists of a central circle (just a few easy rounds) and a round of rays. You can even turn your star into a flower by adding an extra layer of rays. Once the base of the star is finished, you’ll decorate it with surface slip stitches—both around the rays and in the center.
The Mystery Sparkle MAL was inspired by the new Scheepjes Catona Shine yarn, which includes a metallic polyester thread in silver, gold, or rainbow colors. I fell in love with the subtle sparkles—they’re perfect for festive decorations! But of course, you can dive into your stash and use any yarn and colors you prefer.
Gauge is not important for the Sparkle Star; it can be made in any size. If you make two stars, sew them together, and add a bit of stuffing, you’ll get adorable 3D hanging ornaments.
The pattern is written in English using US crochet terms. I’ve included full written instructions as well as photo and video tutorials, so you’ll have everything you need to follow along confidently.
Hope you enjoy this first part of the MAL—and see you next week!
P.S. I’ve received many messages, so I decided to slightly adjust the MAL schedule so that all four patterns are published before December 24th. The remaining patterns will be released on December 10th, December 15th, and December 20th. Simply refresh your Ravelry library on each of those days, and the new pattern will appear. Patterns will be released around 3pm CET.
Welcome to our annual festive mystery make-a-long! To be honest, this year I wasn’t sure I would have the time or creative capacity to host it, as we’ve been completely snowed under with packing and shipping the City Walk book pre-orders. But now that all the books are on their way to their new loving homes—and because so many of you kept asking about the mystery MAL—I finally decided to take on the challenge. So… please welcome the Mystery Sparkle Make-A-Long (MAL)!
If you’ve followed my work for a while, you already know that mystery MALs have become a lovely tradition. This year’s event will actually be the sixth in a row!
As with last year, I decided to create small festive projects that can become cute decorations for your home or last-minute gifts for your friends.
What the Mystery Sparkle MAL Includes
The Mystery Sparkle MAL features 4 brand-new, exclusive patterns that have never been published before. And because I always try to teach something new through my designs, each project focuses on a different crochet technique: overlay crochet, brioche crochet, surface crochet, and short-rows crochet.
The projects are small but engaging—perfect for giving you a gentle introduction to techniques you may not have tried before. And by making several items from the same pattern, you’ll have the chance to really master your new skills.
Every pattern comes with:
- Full written instructions in English (US crochet terms)
- A detailed photo tutorial
- A video tutorial
You’ll have everything you need for success!
Where to Find the Patterns
The Mystery Sparkle MAL has not started yet, and pre-orders are open now on Ravelry HERE.
The ebook is available at a reduced price through December 2025. After the MAL ends, all patterns will be released individually, and the ebook price will increase.
When you purchase the ebook now, you will receive a file introducing the MAL, but no patterns will be delivered yet.
- The first pattern will appear in your Ravelry library on December 5th, 2025.
- A new pattern will be revealed every Friday around 3pm CET.
- The final pattern will be published on December 26th. Simply refresh your library each week to access the new releases.
Please note: The Mystery Sparkle MAL ebook is available only on Ravelry at this time. If you prefer buying patterns on Etsy, the individual patterns will become available there after December 26th, 2025. Etsy doesn’t support mystery ebooks or adding new files to a bundle week by week—hence the delay.
What You Will Need
To join the Mystery Sparkle MAL, you will need to purchase the ebook to access all four patterns. The name of the MAL was inspired by the new Scheepjes Catona Shine yarn, which has beautiful sparkles and is perfect for festive crochet.
I chose several Catona Shine colors and combined them with regular Catona shades—ten colors in total—but each project uses only a small amount of yarn. You can mix and match your own colors to create many beautiful combinations and make multiple decorations.
You can find Catona and Catona Shine at your local Scheepjes retailer.
If you are in the US or Canada, be sure to visit Taemombo Yarn Shop—Laura has put together adorable kits with carefully curated colors for this MAL. I’m sure you’ll find one you love!
Pattern Support
Official pattern support will be available in my Facebook group HERE, where we look forward to seeing your progress pictures and answering your questions! Join our friendly community of over 38K members. Please note: you will need to answer a simple question when signing up. Without an answer, your request cannot be approved.
Hope you join—and enjoy! I can’t wait to share the first pattern with you!
You have no idea how excited I am to finally share a secret I’ve been keeping for the past three years! Behind the scenes, I’ve been working hard developing the Brioche Crochet technique and creating something very special — my brand-new book!
Please give a warm welcome to A City Walk — a collection of 12 modern brioche crochet patterns. It seems to be the first-ever book dedicated to brioche crochet, and I can’t describe how proud and happy I am to finally introduce it to you.
You can order A City Walk in my webshop HERE.
From “A Sea Story” to “A City Walk”
After publishing my first book, A Sea Story, in 2021, I immediately began dreaming about what would come next. Around that time, I fell deeply in love with brioche crochet — a technique that was still quite new and rarely explored. So, dedicating my next book to this beautiful style felt like the natural next step.
What’s Inside
- Home décor (pillows, blankets)
- Accessories (shawls, beanie, bag)
- Wearables (including a garment project!)
The designs range from adventurous beginner to advanced crocheter, so there’s something for everyone — no matter your skill level.
Book Details
- Paperback, 136 pages
- Size: 170 × 245 mm
- 12 brioche crochet patterns (pillows, throws, shawls, beanie, wall hanging, bag)
- Introduction to brioche crochet technique, with a link to an online workshop full of photo and video tutorials, a stitch library, and helpful tips
- Step-by-step photo tutorials, written instructions, and crochet charts
- Language: English (US crochet terms)
- Published and printed in Brno, Czech Republic
Learn & Grow
If you’re new to brioche crochet and feel a bit intimidated — don’t worry! You can follow my free Brioche Crochet Workshop HERE where thousands of crafters have already discovered how fun and easy this technique can be.
After just a bit of practice with the workshop’s brioche square exercises, you’ll feel confident reading the charts and following patterns. One stitch at a time, you’ll see a beautiful, squishy fabric grow right in your hands.
The Art & Story Behind the Book
The artistic concept of A City Walk tells the story of a girl wandering through city streets — visiting a record shop, sipping coffee in a cozy café, buying flowers at a florist, and dancing like no one’s watching.
We brought this story to life in Wrocław with my dear friends Vitali and Yanina, who helped capture all the photos for the book.
The whole experience felt magical. I’m truly proud of A City Walk book — it’s a piece of my heart and years of creativity and exploration. I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.
Order your copy HERE — we ship worldwide! Your books will be sent out during the week of November 17–21, 2025.
Happy crocheting,
Tatsiana
Some pattern ideas are waiting on my to-do list for months, and even years. It feels like I have been wanting to design a simple mosaic sweater for ages. I was visualizing a colorful sweater with raglan yoke and repetitive mosaic stitch pattern. I have made a few attempts at swatching, and my notebook with square paper run out of pages, because I was drawing and drawing, but the raglan repeats never lined up like I wanted them.
I noticed an interesting thing about designing. If the idea does not come up together in one day, it’s not worth continuing working on it. I thought it was only me, but I talked to my crafty friends about it, and they felt the same.
If the design idea needs lots of brainstorming and reworking, and it still does not feel right, it is better to step away for a while and give it some time. It may happen that the next time, everything will click at once.
And this is exactly what happened to my Brick Sweater.
After months of staying in a naughty corner, I suddenly had a strong desire to start working on it again. And suddenly, the very first sketch turned out to be the one I needed.
Brick Sweater pattern is available on Ravelry HERE and Etsy HERE. It is written in English language with US crochet terms including full written instructions, detailed photo-tutorial and video tutorial. The difficulty level is Intermediate, but advanced beginners with good understanding of basics of crochet can also give it a try.
In crochet design, the beauty and intricacy of stitching does not always mean the pattern will become a good one. With years of designing, I realized that the best patterns are simple ones, and easy to follow.
And especially it is important for garment designing, when there is additional pressure of keeping the gauge correct and watching the sizing. And then the construction and stitching of the crochet pattern must be logical and easy to understand.
Of course, not all my garment designs appear to be as simple as I would love them to be (though I am always aiming for simplicity). But I am happy and safe to say that Brick Sweater is one of the simplest. And this was proved by my wonderful testers team.
Brick Sweater is worked seamlessly from the top down. First, neck ribbing and short rows are worked to shape the neck opening, then the yoke is worked in rounds to separation for body and sleeves. Then the lower body is worked in rounds to bottom. Sleeves are worked in rounds top down, and the length of the body and sleeves are easily adjustable.
I have made two sample sweaters for myself, one with long sleeves and another one with short sleeves. For a long-sleeved version I chose the new Kindsome yarn from Scheepjes, which is 60% wool and 40% compostable polyester, thoughtful and sustainable composition.
This yarn is incredibly soft and perfect for crochet garments. It is a pure joy to work with, and the finished project feels like a warm hug. I have used it already for a skinny version of My Scarf. And for sure, more designs with Kindsome yarn will come in the future. I only wish there were more colors available.
I chose 6 color for my sweater, as I wanted something different from what I usually do. But of course, Brick Sweater can be made with fewer colors, even two colors will work well.
For my short-sleeved version I decided to choose something light and picked Scheepjes Cotton Create yarn with 50% recycled cotton and 50% premium cotton.
Surprisingly, the gauge was the same as for Kindsome yarn, and no adjustments to the pattern were needed. I chose four colors this time, for a more balanced and muted look.
First, I wanted black color to work as a background, but on the last minute decided that a lighter shade would look better close to my face. So, I used black all the way throughout the sweater, including the lower ribbing, except of the neck opening area.
I hope you will agree with me, that both versions look fantastic!
You can find Scheepjes yarn via retailers worldwide, or via online retailers: Woolwarehouse* (UK worldwide shipping), Caro's Atelier* (NL and Europe), Taemombo (Canada and US). And you can also check Scheepjes yarn on Amazon (affiliate link).
Brick Sweater is designed to fit with approx. 13-28cm/5-11in of positive ease at the bust, and the pattern comes in 9 sizes from XXS to 4X. Personally, I prefer it as slightly oversized, but thanks to clean raglan shape this sweater can be made as a fitted garment, too.
And simple geometric stitch patterning makes it a gender-neutral design, good for men.
Look at the gorgeous Brick Sweaters created by our testers team.
Esther Schippers decided to go for just two colors, and made an XL size with Scheepjes Kindsome yarn.
Laura Jackson went for neutrals, and made her Brick Sweater cropped, with wider lower ribbing (featuring Scheepjes Stone Washed yarn).
Loele van den Berg made a lovely sweater for her granddaughter. She used Scheepjes Stone Washed yarn and made short sleeves.
Will you make yours? 😊
Find the Brick Sweater pattern on Ravelry HERE and Etsy HERE.
Hope you enjoy!
Happy Granny Square Day 2025!
Did you know that crocheters all over the world celebrate International Granny Square Day on August 15th? Yes, we do! If you read my blog, you probably already know how to crochet. And most likely you started your crochet journey with a simple granny square, as it’s the most basic shape and a symbol of crochet as a craft.
When we hear ‘granny square’ we know exactly what it means and how it looks. It consists of several rounds of double crochet stitches and chain-spaces (and I am talking US crochet terms), usually with several colors.
Being the simplest and the most basic shape, a granny square can be used for many different projects, including blankets, throws, pillows, bags, scarves, shawls, and even garments. And with the ‘granny stitch’ (not a square), you crochet anything at all. Either in one or multiple colors.
However, today, modern crochet is not only about granny squares anymore. It’s been developing rapidly in the past decade, with tens of different techniques transforming crochet into a new form of fibre art.
To celebrate Granny Square Day this year, I have teamed up with Scheepjes and designed five pillow covers with the new Softfun colour mini packs, using different crochet techniques.
I have been designing with Scheepjes yarns for more than 10 years now, and Softfun yarn has been high on my list of favourites. Mainly because of its softness and hard wear. It holds the shape very well, the stitch definition is brilliant, and crochet projects look good after years of being used and washed. Just the perfect choice for interior accessories.
I worked with Softfun mini colour packs in the past (you can check my Like a Kelim Pillow). They come with curated 12 mini balls, each with 20g of yarn. And that amount is enough to create a medium-sized project, such as a front decoration for a pillow cover.
When Scheejes approached me with an idea of creating designs for new color packs, I was thrilled and honored to join. Let me introduce five new cushion designs exclusively created with new Scheepjes mini colour packs.
You will find a QR code on every pack, bringing you to the pattern page on our website.
Important Links
The ebook with all 5 patterns is available via our website HERE.
You can find the packs at your local Scheepjes store, or via online retailers. Scheepjes yarn is also available on Amazon (*affiliate link). And can also find Softfun minis colour packs on Amazon (affiliate link).
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Each new Softfun mini colour pack comes with a theme of carefully curated colors, and you can choose from neutral earthy or ombre shades to vibrant brights: Autumn Walk, Ocean Breeze, Spring Blossom, Summer Party and Tropical Paradise.
And of course, you can use the patterns for bigger projects too, as they are easily adjustable. You can either crochet more small squares and join them together into a blanket (Spring Blossom and Summer Party designs). Or you can continue crocheting in rows/rounds until you reach the desired size (Chess Squre, Autumn Walk Square and Geometry Square designs).
As already mentioned, each mini colour pack comes with 240g of yarn in total (12 balls each with 20g), and the yarn is enough for the front panel of the cushion.
I used ready fabric pillowcases to sew my crocheted pieces onto them. Or, alternatively, you can use two packs and create a double-sided pillow, with the same or different design for each side.
The patterns use different crochet techniques: mosaic and overlay crochet. They come with full written instructions in English language (with US crochet terms), detailed progress pictures, and links to instructional video tutorials.
The ebook with all 5 patterns is available via our website HERE.
Hope you enjoy!
