The Best of Ravelry, Christmas sweater edition
December 01, 2024
Christmas sweaters make me smile. They bring back feelings of nostalgia and the spirit of self expression and a general feeling of winter coziness. I'm old enough to remember that ugly Christmas sweaters were never intended to be ugly, but rather playful and lighthearted. Then I'll admit, they did get ugly and actually pretty funny and the ugly sweater became fashionable for a hot minute. Now the ugly is out and the pretty is in. I've picked some beauties for you--see if you don't agree. Most of these sweaters can be worn all winter, not just in December. All are knit top down with two color stranded work unless noted. Ravelry links are included. At the end I have a favorite Christmas sweater story straight from the 80s. Also, let me know if I missed any of your favorites.
| The above sweater is Kristtjorn Christmas Sweater by Hanne Rimmen, knit in aran weight. Just lovely. I have a feeling the berries are afterthought applied.  |
Jul Sweater by Elenor Mortensen is knit in fingering weight. Gorgeous, but looks like over half the design uses 3 colors per row so a bit more of a challenge. |
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Thistlewood by Jennifer Steingrass. Topdown in fingering or sport. Similar to the above sweater but knit with 2 colors per row. In my queue and library so hopefully I'll be wearing this next year. |
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Holly Sweater by Pernille Larsen is possibly the beauty queen of all the Christmas sweaters. Knit top down in dk weight. I love this elegant sweater so much! I made it and I'm so looking forward to showing it off this December as it will be attending a few Christmas luncheons this month. Also available in children's sizes. So cute for mother and daughter, don't you think? |
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Yule Do by the adorable Isabel Kraemer. Top down in sport weight, I made it and it's a super easy pattern, plus so cute with trees, swags, and dreidels. |
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| Mini Augustins No 8 by Anne-Sophie Velling, top down in dk. Love the caramel color. Looks like about half of it is 3 color stranded, fyi. |
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| Sleigh Ride by Espace Tricot. Knit top down in DK and in my queue. Love that red nose! |
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Karibou Crossing by thepetiteknitter in DK. I love this one above by Ravelry knitter, Kkatarakta. My favorite Christmas sweater color combo is now gray and red. |
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| Santa Baby by Hanne Rimmen is knit in heavy DK. |
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| Perhaps technically not a Christmas sweater, this would be so romantic at Christmastime. In my queue! Here's me in my dreams: I'm sitting by the fire, dreamy Christmas music is playing in the background and I'm sipping from a glass of champagne while wearing my Northern Augustins No 4 by Anne-Shphie Velling. It is knit in a large gauge with heavier weigh yarn than I can wear, but I'm certain it can easily be adapted to a sport or dk gauge. I love the pale rosy beige paired with the bright red. |
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| Festive Yoke Pullover by Skeindeer Knits may be the big mama of all the Christmas sweaters with 675 made so far. There are so many ways to to customize using over a dozen charts that slip into the basic pattern, much like a doodle pattern. I made one and feel it's so playful and happy, I feel like smiling when I have it on. The above is my favorite colorway with the light gray background with the red colorwork and a touch of dark gray. I hope to make this again and copy this exactly. Today we are going to make our annual pilgrimage to our downtown toy store to buy our Toys for Tots presents. We set a budget, and I buy the girl toys and my husband picks out the boy toys. We have a blast. I am a sucker for the Calico Critters and can imagine any little girl would love them too. We then take them to our club which is a designated drop off. I'll be sure to wear my own Festive Yoke for this happy adventure! |
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| Fallow by Anne-Michele Phelan is knit in DK. I made this in navy and white and wear it anytime. It never fails to get a compliment and was a fun knit. |
Here is a favorite Christmas sweater story. Thirty or forty years ago I was with my girlfriends in line to view one of our town's larger, prettier homes as a charity event. The home was owned by a local tech celebrity (I live in Silicon Valley) and we were all pretty excited to view the home and garden all decked out for Christmas. The line was long with perhaps a hundred women waiting. Each and every one of us was wearing a Christmas sweater and I'm not kidding! One of the more outgoing ladies in line acted as a master of ceremonies and went to each woman in line and had her stand out and do a twirl while we all ooued and ahhed. So funny. We did love our Christmas sweaters in the 80s. I can assure you we did not think they were ugly in the least and would be shocked when decades later our adult children would ask us for our old sweaters because they were going to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. What the? Child, you are this close to being removed from the will. Do you have a favorite Christmas sweater story to share? Do tell!
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16 Comments
Those are beautiful. Your story at the end was pretty funny and I too am old enough to remember wearing our garish Christmas sweaters with pride!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, with pride!!!
DeleteI am 64 years old and after reading your post I decided to knit my very first Christmas sweater.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for many great ideas that I have already copied.
Merry Christmas and many greetings from Germany
I'm so glad to be the one to inspire you! I'm in my 70s and didn't knit my first one until last year. I'm making up for lost time!
DeleteAll of the sweaters in this blog are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI agree! I know there are more on Rav but these are the ones I love most!
DeleteI love the neckline on Caribou Crossing. Chloe
ReplyDeleteI ike a looser turtleneck too.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for speaking up for Christmas sweaters. They are blameless and don’t deserve the aspersions cast upon them. Chloe
ReplyDeletelol thank you for the giggle!
DeletePiękne sweterki ale Holly Sweter skradł moje serce i kiedyś go zrobię.
ReplyDelete"Beautiful sweaters but the Holly Sweater stole my heart and I will make it someday." Thank you from reading from Poland! I agree, the holly sweater is charming in every way.
DeleteYes, I do remember those sweaters. I knew women who had Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, you name it, sweaters. I have to say I never cared for them even when they were popular, BUT these sweaters are beautiful and I would wear any and every one of them.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, yes! I barely remember that there were also Easter and Halloween sweaters! Luckily I never had one of those gems!
DeleteLove all these sweaters! I am a retired teacher and one of those who had a sweater for every ‘special’ day and many to support the teaching units, such as, dinosaurs, penguins . . . you get the idea.😁 I’m wondering if you know what has happened to Madeleine Tosh yarns. My LYS no longer carries it and online stores seem to have limited kinds of Tosh yarns and limited colours.
ReplyDeleteMy son went to school in the 80s and 90s and he had a teacher who was the sweater queen! The kids loved it of course. Maybe it was you? :) I think I remember that Madeleine Tosh was sold to Jimmy Beans and you can find it online and in their shop. I think they sell in other shops as well but my lys stopped carrying it because the shipping was not consistent. I think they have addressed that issue with new ownership. Jimmy Beans is a great company and I always check out their online shop first.
DeleteYou make my day when you make a comment!