never too early
August 18, 2024Why is it that in the hottest days of summer I start to dream about jingle bells and frosty snowman and all that is wintry and Christmasy? If you are a knitter and crafter then I imagine your Christmas craft timer has sounded off its alarm too, so please come on in and see the absolutely adorable things I've got planned to make for the holidays. I'll divide them into three groups: the Already Made Department (as in finished in July), the Almost Finished Category (will finish this month), and those projects on my Wishful Thinking List.
In the Already Made Department is a cute checkered stocking that was fun to make, and below, little Christmas trees that will either become a garland, tree ornaments or gift decorations. The minimal changes I made to both are on my Ravelry project pages. FYI, Rachel McClain is one of the twins from a favorite YouTube channel, Those Twins Who Knit.
Checkered Stocking by Rachel McClain, pattern cost is $4
Christmas Tree Spa Cloth by Julie Laffoon, pattern cost is $1!
The Almost Finished category has several goodies!
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I have been addicted to knitting these Christmas baubles from Arne and Carlos and so far have six finished. I'll make a post soon because I have a few tips to share. |
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I love this darling vintage style Christmas sweater from Pernille Larson and have one sleeve to go. |
I've got a lot of ideas in my very large Wishful Thinking List below:
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| The Dala Sweater from Elenor Mortensen. I am in love. I've ordered some yarn in similar colors above. |
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| The Festive Yoke Pullover from Skeindeer Knits. I have the yarn for this, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and will only put the design on the yoke. I plan to start soon so I can have the yoke finished before we go on a long car trip when I plan to plow through the stockinette body. So that is now three Christmas sweaters in one year! Hoping I can make it happen. |
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| Little Long Johns from Susan B Anderson. So dang cute. |
I ordered the Woodland Creatures 2024 ornament kit from Barrett Wool designed by Susan Anderson. Yesterday I received the nicest box and inside is the prettiest wool and all the patterns to make the adorable ornaments above. She is so clever! I'm in the process now of winding all the yarn and organizing my patterns and will also include the long johns above, plus the small and tall houses that she designed several years ago. I seem to be pretty ambitious this morning! I am not the greatest toy maker so I'll need to be patient with myself but I still think this will be a fun project. She said the easiest one is the teddy bear so that will be on the needles first, then the rest will apparently "fly off the needles", fingers crossed. Next will be that gnome and owl! I'll keep you posted with my progress.
While I'd love to make these darling elves, I have to be in a particular mood to tackle something as detailed as this. The pattern for only the elves is a whopping 20 pages long and very detailed, and something that I would enjoy...when the exact mood strikes. So it's here waiting patiently for that exact mood and it may not be this year. Everything was purchased from Etsy. The Little Elves pattern is from the super talented Larissa from MMM Crafts. Check her out, I think you'll love her. As for felt for a nice project like this, you really must use a high quality wool or wool blend. My top choice is felt from Benzie Design. They have a gorgeous and well priced wool blend felt that is easy to use and looks and feels beautiful. Benzie has corroborated with Larissa and sells felt palettes specifically created for her designs and I purchased one below.
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What would Christmas be without a Christmas peg doll? In the past I've made angels, Santas and elves. This year I've got snowmen in mind. |
I don't usually make too many fall crafts but while in Walmart I saw these tiny houses and I couldn't pass them by. I'm going to supplement them with Susan Anderson's whimsical little and tall houses using scrap Rowan Felted Tweed and see if I can't pull together a sweet little fall scene to put on my mantle. Maybe add a gnome?
I hope this finds you enjoying the last precious weeks of summer.
Take care, Kristen
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10 Comments
You and I are on the same page. I just finished making stocking garland for my son and daughter-in-law: Mini Christmas Stocking Ornaments by Julie Williams. I am about to start a stocking for my 4 month old granddaughter: Mix-it-Up Christmas Stocking Stranded Colorwork by Terry Morris. And this spring I finished Yule Do by Isabell Kraemer. Can't wait to pull that out around Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of Susan B. Anderson's patterns. Your adorable crafts have motivated me to search my stash and attempt a few of these patterns.
Your blog is such an inspiration to me! I knit, garden, decorate and entertain but on a much smaller scale than you. I always look forward to your posts.
Thank you so much. Your sweet comment made my heart happy! Well, I'm glad my early bird post wasn't too early at least for one person!
DeleteI forgot that I made Yule Do last year! Thanks for the reminder.
I found that Susan has her own forum on Rav called Itty Bitty. It looks pretty active and now I following (or watching) a few of the threads. They have a thread for the Woodland Creatures and it will be fun to see what activity of the other knitters.
Thank you for your comment, kindred spirit.
Kristen
A serious crafter friend was absolutely delighted with your mushroom ladies, so your influence is spreading beyond knitting, Kristen. Chloe
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I'm thrilled to hear that!
DeleteThis post inspires me to no end...but alas, I have too many other projects already planned. I love Arne & Carlos' Christmas balls, and I have some Rowan Norgwegian wool in red, green, black and white, so maybe those will get on my needles. I also love that Dala horse sweater! I will have to put that in my Ravelry queue, maybe for next year! Thank you for sharing all these adorable ideas!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you were inspired, but alas, there's only 24 hours in a day, right? Arne and Carlos use all the colors you have in their Christmas balls. It's a perfect yarn for the balls.
DeleteAll of these items are delightful. You are so talented. I think some of the sweater patterns you featured would make a really nice Christmas tree skirt. I bet you could write a pattern for one.
ReplyDeleteThank you! A knitted tree skirt sounds daunting, but just like any big project, think of it as a long term project like a blanket. Hmmm, you've got me thinking!
DeleteThanks for encouraging us to get moving with Christmas planning! I like the idea of knitting only the yoke in pattern (Skeindeer pullover). Great idea! The mini knit creatures are sweet though sewing all the seams looks a bit daunting!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm hoping there won't be too many seams, but I haven't started yet so we'll see. Since I wrote this post I finished all the colorwork on the Christmas pullover and now I'm knitting stockinette and I miss the colorwork!
DeleteYou make my day when you make a comment!