Flight of the Snowman

Here's a stop animation video about a snowman ornament who decides he's going to go find another Christmas tree to hang out on.

Let it Snow Men

For today's post I've selected a number of snowman-themed knitting patterns. I do this partly in honour of my sister, who is Christmas crazy and especially likes snowman stuff. One of the items I bought for her for Christmas this year was a snowman clock, which plays a few measures of a Christmas carol every time it strikes the hour. (One does have the option of turning the carols off, and the clock automatically turns off the carols between midnight and 5 a.m.) I expect she'll either love it or hate it, which is a win either way. Anyway, let's have a look at the knitted snowman goodness I've picked out.

The above photo is of the Snowman Pillow, by Brenda K. B. Anderson. It's a free pattern.

This is the Snowman Tammy, designed by Sandra Jäger. It's well shaped and well charted. The pattern is available for €2.99(EUR). There is also a beanie version of this design.

This is the SnoBuddy Family, by Chris de Longpré. This little Snow family is weighted with beans so as to sit reliably upright, and they're guaranteed to get through the holiday season without a single brawl or spiked egg nog hangover. This pattern is available for $8.00(USD).

Update: I've made this little snow family myself, as a present for my sister. I used glass marbles to weight them instead of beans.

This is the Snowman Stocking, by Bernat Design Studio. It's guaranteed to stretch out so as to hold more Christmas goodies. It's a free pattern.

If you like the thought of snow that magically disappears without having to be shovelled, the Snowman Illusion Mittens, designed by Margit Sage, might be for you. This pattern is available for $1.99(USD).

These are the Snowmen Pot Holders, by Marilyn Wallace. It's a free pattern, and the outline design works so well it almost seems a shame to use it on mere pot holders. I'd be inclined to use the design to make pillows or a child's sweater.

The Snowman Hat for an Ice Princess, by Ewenique Yarns, is so cute it makes me smile. It would be perfect for a child. This pattern is available for $5.00(USD).

This snowman comes with his own little ice cave. The Snowman Diorama Ornament pattern, designed by Katie Startzman, is available for $4.50(USD).

I absolutely love this Mr. Abominable pattern, by Katie Boyette. You can hug him and love him and squeeze him and love him and he will be your very own and you can call him George! This pattern is available for $6.00(USD).

Flags Xmas Story

In this video, made by YouTube user Yatamimation as an advertisement for a clothing business in Tokyo, when the young couple plan what to get each other for Christmas, they think in terms of crocheting and knitting. Hope you enjoy seeing what they decided to give one another.

Adventures in Advent Knitting

For this week's guest blog post for LoveKnitting.com, I wrote about knitting your own Advent calendar.

Spiked Egg Nog and Christmas Sweaters Don't Mix and Other Knitting Fables

Phil and Hil firmly believed that the family that sweats together stays together. Or at least saves enough money on yarn to partially pay for the counselling that their children Will and Lil would need further down the road.

Peter was thrilled to have found the perfect sweater to wear for his favourite Christmas tradition: his annual viewing of Aristocats with his three wittle fur babies.

Annabelle had finally figured out the perfect way to get the attention of that hot new company sales rep at the office Christmas party.

Unbeknownst to Annabelle, Chuck from the mailroom had similarly been planning to get her attention.

Candy had finished knitting matching Christmas sweaters for herself and Lolly just in the nick of time for the holiday season. Now, she thought, it was time to begin on their Valentine's Day and St. Patrick Day outfits.

The perfect sweater for the leg lamp owner whose partner accidentally broke it. Though this sweater might up getting accidentally shrunk in the wash.

The perfect sweater to gift along with that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Alien DVD box set.

Tim saw a Christmas sweater as only the beginning of his look and pulled out all the stops of his God-given ability to accessorize.

Sometimes when Christmas sweaters combine with too much spiked eggnog, it's all too much of a good thing.

"Merry Freaking Christmas to you too, pal."

Knitting All Angels

Now that we're into December, I can start doing some Christmas posts. (You can see all my other Christmas posts here.) I could have started doing them earlier, but I am one of those sticks-in-the-mud who likes to get Halloween and Remembrance Day well over with before I get into the whole Christmas mode. This post is a selection of angel-themed patterns. I may not believe in angels, but they certainly are very pretty.

The first pattern, pictured above, is the Snowflake Angel, by Alan Dart. This pattern is available for download for $5.00(USD) and would make a good tree topper if your Christmas decor style runs towards the cute and craftsy.

The Angel Mittens design, by Jorid Linvik. This pattern is available for $6.00(USD). Doing them in a not specifically Christmas colour like the blue and white here will make them more wearable for the post-Christmas winter season.

I don't usually post too many dish cloth patterns, but the A Wing and a Prayer Angel Cloth design by Amy Marie is so simple and striking it could be used as a block design for an afghan or cushion. This pattern is available for $4.00(USD).

The Part-Time Angel toy design by Frankie Brown. This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download.

The Amelia angel dress, by Jenny Wiebe. This pattern is available for $4.00(CAD) and is sized from preemie to child's size 4.

This is the Gift of Angels Blanket, by Pauline Bilodeau. This pattern is available as part of a kit from Mary Maxim Canada and Mary Maxim U.S.

Here's another angel baby blanket, the Weeping Angels Blinky Blanket, by Jillian Cameron. This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download. I'd be inclined to replace the "don't blink" text from the centre with another weeping angels motif.

The Dishcloth Angel with Stars/Spüli Sternenengel, by Mamafri, is another dishcloth or potholder pattern that would make a great afghan block. This pattern is available for free.

This design is definitely my favourite of this post. The Forest Angel Chart, by Melanie Nordberg, is available as a free Ravelry download and is a chart rather than a pattern. I see it as an afghan or a wall hanging. If you rug hook, making a rug is an option.

How Knitted are Thy Branches

Yes, that's a knitted Christmas tree, made by the members of Poulton-le-Flyde Methodist Church as well as other members of the same community in Lancashire, England.

The plan is to take the tree down after Christmas, and stitch the leaves into blankets, which can then be donated to charity.

Merry Christmas everyone!

What Not to Knit For the Holidays

Christmas sweaters always get such a bad rap. Bostinno.com has assembled a slideshow of holiday sweaters that will help you understand why.

Oh, Deer

A reader named Karen (thanks Karen!) enlightened me as to the existence of a fornicating deer motif pattern on Ravelry. It was designed by Anne Rutten, and is available as a free download here. It has really added considerably to the joy of my holidays to see that, as of this writing, the motif has or is being used in 1380 projects on Ravelry. Most of the projects are hats, but there are also socks, scarves, and a few sweaters. Here are a few pictures.

I especially love that there are Christmas stars shining down over the deer in three of these.

If you don't celebrate Christmas but procreating animals are your thing, you might want to check out some of the other naughty animal motifs on Ravelry: there are cows (for the Black Angus farmer convention), kangaroos (for that trip to Australia), elephants (for that relative in Africa), penguins (for that expedition to the South Pole), bunnies (for Easter), and unicorns (for that friend of yours who really likes unicorns).

A Run of Christmas Stockings

The Christmas stocking in the Tangled Holiday 2012 issue that I reviewed yesterday made me want to do a Christmas stocking post. There are loads and loads of knitted Christmas stockings on the web (a search for "Christmas stocking" produced 30 pages of hits on Ravelry alone), so I'll just post a selection of a few of the ones I like the most.

These fair isle stockings are pretty and striking, and would be a great way to use up odds and ends of yarn.

After ten minutes spent scrolling down through a lot of very similar stockings, these really popped out at me. The designs, from Judy Tollefson, are beautiful and original and yet still look Christmassy. They are by far the best designed stockings of any I've included in this post.

These are eye-catching and fun and colourful, and the kind of thing a child will love, and yet are still attractive to adult eyes.

Contemporary Holiday Decorations design by Other Metro Etsy

I like the simplicity of these ones, but if you make a set for your household, you might want to put names on them to avoid potential hair-pulling arguments as to whose stocking is whose early Christmas morning.

A simple and classic pattern from Red Heart. Though the shape does look a little rough.

One thing to remember if you're going with patterns like these is that you don't have to make it in the usual Christmas colours. The snowflakes and the fact that it's, you know, a stocking hanging from your mantlepiece in December, will keep it looking Christmas-appropriate. This could look good in any contrasting colourway, and two colour-stranded knitting like this is a good chance to pair some self-striping yarn with an ivory or a cream.

These are cute. I can imagine a whole array of these for the family, because you could put a different Christmas symbol on each one: an angel, a candy cane, a Santa, a snowman, etc.

Love the subtle colourways and great design of these Scandinavian stockings.

Very pretty snowflake stocking. This must be the first time I ever actually liked anything knitted with glitter yarn.

Really clever design on this one: a classic Scandinavian pattern adapted to include holly berries, and the colourway is non-traditional yet still very Christmassy.

Very pretty holly stocking.

After all the above, I'm rather abashed to be saying that my own handmade Christmas stocking is not knitted, but needlepointed from a kit I bought at Value Village for $6. The knitted stockings tend to look droopy when empty and bulge out of shape whenever they have anything in them, while the needlepoint, being stitched on canvas, holds its shape. Alas, it will not stretch to hold more goodies the way the knitted stockings do, but then my stocking is purely decorative anyway. I live alone and Santa skips my house.

Have a Ball!

Knitted Christmas tree baubles seem like such a great idea. They're a good way to recycle scratched glass Christmas tree baubles, or alternatively, if you wanted to just stuff them, they'd be child-safe. They'd be a good way to use whatever odds and ends of yarn you have lying around. They could be knitted up so quickly and they should be quite durable. And there's so much scope in their design. You can make them in any colour or style you like, and add beads, lacework, Aran cables, argyle or fair isle patterns, Christmas symbols or phrases or whatever you please. Here are some examples, with links to patterns when available. It would be pretty easy to take the basic pattern and adapt it to achieve whatever look you wanted.

The photo above is of the 7 Colorwork Christmas Ornaments, designed by Meg Hollar. The pattern is available for $5(USD).

This is the Luxury Christmas Ball, designed by Daniela Johannsenova. The pattern is available for free.

These designs are the Julekuler patterns, by Arne & Carlos, and are published in their book 55 Christmas Balls to Knit: Colorful Festive Ornaments.

This is the Deck the Balls design, by Sonia Ruyts. It's a free pattern.

This Sheep Balls pattern, by Dona Carruth, is simply too cute. It's a free pattern.

The Deck the Balls with Aran, by Kelly Jensen makes each ball look like it's wearing its own little sweater. This pattern is available for $6(USD).

The Knitted Lace Ball, by Judy Gibson, is delicately beautiful and doesn't even require an inner bauble. It's a free pattern.

The Fuzzy Christmas Baubles design, by Fran Welch, give us a good way to use up some leftover kid mohair. This is a free pattern.