Otherwise known as an advent calendar. :)
I was highly intrigued by a pattern that popped up on Ravelry a few weeks ago that was a garland for knitted advent ornaments. The ornaments looks small and quick, and I thought it would be fun to knit them through December… and any I didn’t finish could be easily done for next year. Christmas is pretty reliable for coming at the same time each year… though I swear the stores are putting the decorations out earlier and earlier.
The patterns are being released individually, one a day, from the first of December through Christmas Eve. According to the designer, Frankie Brown, you’ll need the following items:
- 4 ply yarn, definitely in red, green and cream but various other colours too
- Something cream and textured (think snowman), ie: Sirdar Snowflake DK
- Toy stuffing
- Tiny beads and buttons for decoration
- Metal jingle bells
- One solitary pipe cleaner
- Needles: 2mm, 2.75mm (most of the decorations are knitted on this size) and 3.25mm. Also 2.25mm dpn and a 2.5mm crochet hook (or thereabouts)
Personally I’ve been using 2.25mm needles because a) I always have spare 2.25mm needles on the table next to me in the lounge, and b) my 2.75mm needles are busy. I’m also using a 3mm hook as it was also sitting on the table next to me.
So far the ornaments are coming out at about 2 inches (5cm) tall, not including the hanging loops, and they are taking about 30 minutes to knit plus a bit of finishing time which has been anywhere from about 10 to 20 minutes, based on the two ornaments I’ve done so far.
Here’s the first:
I’ll not be posting these everyday, but I do plan to take a snapshot of whichever ornaments I manage to finish by Christmas. I don’t plan to do the garland, and I’m still having a think as to how I do want to display them. Hopefully I’ll have decided by the time the Jule Man comes for a visit.
If you are interested in joining in, I’d suggest popping over to the KAL thread as the designer is posting photos and links to each ornament as she releases them.