I did it again, I started another octopus.

This time in classic Doctor Who scarf colours, which as you may recall I’ve used many a time in scarves (of course) and a Sea Glass Sweater.

This time I adapted the usual pattern, which is Octavius the African Flower Octopus (Ravelry link) by LineandLoops (Etsy link). 

I changed the pattern by skipping the round that makes the shapes into flowers and changing the last round so that each peak has a double crochet, and each trough has a long stitch into the previous round, but the rest are singles. This left me with smaller, plainer shapes to put together.

So far, making the shapes was quicker than before. I got the bulk of them done in one day (a long day, but a day nonetheless). The second day of work had to be undone because I joined one piece the wrong way. I went back and did it again THREE TIMES before I got it right. Brutal.

I’ve tried to use the colours roughly in proportion to the way they’re used in the scarf – with the sand colour being the most common (which is why I used it for joining, as well as the octagon on the underside and the tips of the tentacles. Yellow is least used, half as much as the sand. So there you go. Facts.

I’m leaving my job, with the intention of taking a break from working for a while. In the meantime I’m wondering if these octopus friends may be sellable? So I wanted to make the pattern quicker to make and simpler to work in single colours, to allow for easier customising. Pride flag colours, for example, or geek-related colour schemes. Ideas welcome!

Practically speaking I’ll never be able to charge a living wage for the work on them, so the viability is to be further considered.

Previous octo-adventures are: the rainbow one, the giant one, the pastel one and another pastel one.

I’m using DK cotton from Hello Crafts and a 2.5mm needle. I bought six colours in their petite ball size. Each is 25g and the shapes used these amounts:

High Risk Red – 16g

Silver Fox – 15g

Blackberry (Purple) – 15g

Hay (Yellow) – 11g

Walnut (Brown) – 16g

Forest Floor – 12g

The sand colour I’m only using for joining, and so far it’s taken 41g.

All this suggests that I wouldn’t be able to make a second octopus without making the shapes smaller again, which I’ll mull over. Also I still need to make the feet triangles – I’ll wait till I know how much sand is left then decide if they’ll be plain or coloured.