During act 2 with Shay, as said before by others, don't talk to Twyla until you've collected the robes. And speaking of that, don't grab them immediately after fighting the druids. Fight them, then go down the tree and get the fruit and tapper, then go back up and collect the robes on the way to the right.

Later, when you're going to solve the knot, take note that untying the cloud teleports you back to Alex, just like getting the sealant pH right. So do make that mold on the way to the knot!
Also, when I loaded a save that I made just before taking a try with the knot (when I had the solution from Carol), it was the same as the first time. The knot will be different each time when you check it for the first time. But you should be fine saving just before you solve it (although for me, interpreting the solutions was easier than describing the knot in the first place anyway).

Now, after act 1 with Shay, I didn't do Friendship Circle at first. This does mean that the yarn pal doesn't have the crochet hook later, and you need to do that mission when you're working for Marek. I'm not sure whether that takes more time, though. In the end, even though I seemingly saved some time at first, my save at the start of act 2 counts 17 minutes.

I started my own speedrun! I managed to do the first act with Vella in about 7 minutes. Here's what I did slightly differently from the guide:
* when I landed in Meriloft, I talked to Twyla and got the shoes first. Then Maggie, Carol etc.
* in Shellmound, I went straight to the cave. Got the squirt gun, did the business with the laser, went to fill gun, sprayed maidens, got perfume, Sprayed myself with it and THEN talked to Marshall, doing both the bucket and feast entry in one conversation.
* went straight to Curtis to get the stool, back to tree. Axe, bucket, stool (I actually made the mistake of clicking on the tree with the bucket first – Vella says she should listen to what the tree has to say first, so remember to axe first)
Then Mog didn't want to pick me up until I tried shooting the last arm, but idk if that's related or it was just taking too long.

Looking up a walkthrough makes it extremely easy because it doesn't include paused gameplay

This is a very helpful guide, however there's a very clear flaw with the order of operations in Shay's Act 2 section when going to Meriloft. The first thing you say to do is to first go talk to Twyla to convince her to make you the radiation suit. Without the robes from the Druids, there's no reason to do this, and if you do it first, then you'll need to make 2 unnecessary trips.
Instead, you can do everything else listed first, THEN go talk to Twyla, when you actually have the robes.

Oh boy! I had 56 min on the clock when I reached the Finale! And after several tries I finally got it!!! Thanks alot!!!

Somebody please post a savegame for this.

Doing Friendship Circle quest at least one time seems to be mandatory in order to have the crochet hook from the yarn pal. Otherwise the yarn pal won't have the crochet hook stuck in his back.
Thanks for the guide, this was very useful !

You don't need to switch to Shay at the end to activate grabbing gary first. Activating the deathray as soon as you move vella to the deck and then activating grabbing gary will work just fine.

Also, i dont seem to understand why you do the friendship circle quest at first. I did it because i'm afraid that i'll miss something important but idk if it's necessary since you won't get any item out of it.

Regardless, thanks for the guide! You're a lifesaver.

Thanks a lot for the checklist. Just had to read another guide to understand the knots meaning ^^