Episode 1176 | The Kristin Omdahl Show

Sometimes the best way to move a creative project forward is to stop working on it for a little while.

In Episode 1176 of The Kristin Omdahl Show, I’m sharing an update on the motif dress I’ve been designing, the inspiration behind its possible new name Moonlight in Miami, and something that happens to me even after more than 20 years of designing: design anxiety.

We’re also trying something completely new this week. I introduced a segment I’ve been thinking about called Make • Modify • Move On, where I’m going back through more than 1,000 designs from my archives — one completely random design at a time.

And because apparently I can’t make an ice cream pie without eventually involving geometry, we also have a Math Nerd moment involving Oreos, frozen chocolate-covered bananas, and the volume of a cylinder.

There is a lot to talk about this week, so let’s get started!

WATCH Ep 1176 THE KRISTIN OMDAHL SHOW on YouTube LIVE Premiere Thursday, September 3, 2026 10am
GET EARLY ACCESS ON PATREON Tuesday, September 1, 2026 9am
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ON SPOTIFY

On My Hook: Moonlight in Miami

The motif dress I’ve been working on continues to evolve, and this week I shared some of the inspiration I’ve been imagining for the finished design.

Picture a warm night in Miami. A rooftop overlooking the city. Lights in the distance, music playing, a starry sky — and this dress moving while someone dances. That image has been floating around in my head as I’ve worked on the design, and Moonlight in Miami has become a possible name for it.

But I also talked about another part of designing that isn’t nearly as pretty: design anxiety. Sometimes I reach a point in a project where I’m not completely sure where I want to go next. I’ve learned over the years that forcing myself to keep working isn’t always the answer. One of my favorite strategies is what I call putting a project on the back burner. I don’t abandon it. I don’t decide it isn’t working. I simply give my brain some room to think about something else. Very often, the solution appears while I’m busy working on an entirely different project.

The Pickleball Coaster Detour

And this week’s creative detour happens to involve pickleball. I have a birthday party coming up for a pickleball friend, and I’ve been playing around with an idea for handmade pickleball-themed coasters. Could I crochet a green circular base and add a tiny paddle and pickleball? How thick can those pieces be before a glass or mug becomes unstable? Would thinner yarn work better for the appliqués? I don’t have all the answers yet — and that’s part of the fun. Sometimes a small project with absolutely no pressure attached to it is exactly what I need while a much larger design sits on the back burner.

Introducing Make • Modify • Move On

This week I also introduced a brand-new segment that I’m especially excited about:

Make • Modify • Move On.

Over the last two decades, I’ve published more than 1,000 knit and crochet designs. Some I remember incredibly well. Others may take a minute. And there are undoubtedly some surprises buried in those archives.

So I decided to make this interesting. I have my design catalog numbered, and during the show I use a random number generator to choose one — without knowing ahead of time which design I’m going to get.

Then I have to decide:

MAKE — Would I happily make it again as it is?

MODIFY — Is there something I would change if I designed it today?

MOVE ON — Or is this one I’m happy to leave in the archives?

The First Random Design: #846

And the random number generator gave me…

#846.

That one number opened up a much bigger conversation than I expected.

I was able to talk about the original design, the yarn I used, the yarn company — which is no longer in business — and how I look at the garment now with many more years of design experience behind me.

My verdict?

MODIFY.

In the episode, I explain what I would change and why.

That’s exactly what I hoped this segment could become. It isn’t simply about deciding whether I still like an old pattern. It’s an opportunity to revisit the designs, yarns, techniques, companies, stories and different stages of my creative career that brought me here.

In time, I would also love to create a Make • Modify • Move On catalog here on the website so you can explore every design that comes up on the show and find the corresponding patterns, tutorials and episodes.

With more than 1,000 designs to choose from, I don’t think we’re going to run out anytime soon.

Math Nerd: How Many Mini Ice Cream Pies?

This week’s Math Nerd moment started with something considerably more delicious.

I recently made a Frozen Chocolate-Covered Banana Ice Cream Pie with a Homemade Oreo Crust for a friend’s birthday.

I’ve actually been making ice cream pies for parties for many years and published one of my versions here on the website back in 2015. This time, I wanted to create one inspired by frozen chocolate-covered bananas. The combination of banana, chocolate, creamy ice cream, ganache and that thick homemade Oreo crust turned out even better than I hoped. I also made a little 4-inch pie on the side.

Which naturally led to the question:

How many 4-inch mini ice cream pies could I make from the full recipe?

Well, they’re essentially cylinders. So out came the Math Nerd hat. Using the volume of a cylinder:

V = πr²h

…and estimating the dimensions of my finished large pie and mini pie, I calculated that the full recipe should make approximately eight 4-inch mini ice cream pies, filled roughly 2 to 2¼ inches deep.

Was it necessary to use geometry to make ice cream pie?

Absolutely not.

Did that stop me?

Also absolutely not.

Happy Moments

I love ending the show by making some room for the good things happening in our lives.

My Happy Moment this week is especially close to my heart.

My niece started college this week, and she’s attending my alma mater on an academic scholarship — just like I did.

I am incredibly proud of her.

Happy Moments don’t have to be enormous milestones, though. They can be something funny, beautiful, peaceful, exciting or simply something that made an ordinary day a little better.

What was your Happy Moment this week?

I’d love to hear about it in the comments. I may share some of your Happy Moments in a future episode.

Learn the Rules — Then Make Them Your Own

This week’s episode was inspired in part by the quote:

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

It’s commonly attributed to Pablo Picasso, and I think it applies beautifully to creativity.

Experience doesn’t have to make us more rigid.

Understanding construction helps us experiment with a crochet dress. Understanding technique helps us look at an old design and see how we’d approach it differently today. Understanding a little geometry can even tell us how many tiny ice cream pies we can make.

The more we understand why something works, the more freedom we have to ask:

What else could I do with this?

And sometimes the answer is to keep going.

Sometimes it’s to modify.

And sometimes it’s to put the whole thing on the back burner and crochet a pickleball coaster instead.

Watch Episode 1176 of The Kristin Omdahl Show

Watch or listen to the complete episode to see the latest progress on Moonlight in Miami, my pickleball coaster experiment, the very first Make • Modify • Move On random selection, this week’s Math Nerd adventure, and more.

I’ll continue adding links and resources from the episode here in the show notes so you can easily find the projects, recipes, patterns and other things we talk about each week.

New episodes of The Kristin Omdahl Show are released weekly.

Let us make time to create, share and inspire today and every day.

xoxo,
Kristin

About Kristin Omdahl

Kristin Omdahl is an author, designer, and lifelong maker with more than 20 years of experience creating crochet and knit patterns, books, tutorials, recipes, and creative projects. With more than 1,000 designs published worldwide, her work blends creativity, technique, curiosity, and a love of storytelling.

She is the host of The Kristin Omdahl Show, where she shares the creative process behind what she’s making, explores ideas and rabbit holes, revisits more than two decades of creative work, and finds inspiration in everything from yarn and color to recipes, math, travel, and everyday life.

Kristin is also the author of The Sea Glass Journal, a novel about creativity, self-discovery, and beginning again, set against the beauty of coastal living. Its world continues to inspire many of the recipes, patterns, projects, and stories she shares.

Explore The Kristin Omdahl Show, more than 1,000 knit and crochet patterns, tutorials, recipes, books, and more at KristinOmdahl.com.

WATCH THE KRISTIN OMDAHL SHOW on YouTube
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