Knit Advent Day 13
This sweet little pinecone is just a series of knitted tabs, with a bow on top. The pieces rely on the felt as a foundation to hold them in place. Without it, this would just be a pile of knitted pieces.
Knit Advent Day 12
Garter stitch pinwheels are fun to knit. Short rows provide the shaping, and the squareness of the garter stitch/ridge makes the math easy. The plastic wrapper is what turns this pinwheel into Christmas candy.
Yes, with pinwheels, we’re back to pi times diameter. But you don’t have to know about that, because you can knit a pinwheel without a pattern. All you have to know is how far across you want the circle to be, and how many “slices” you want to divide it into (multiples of six are best).
I explained it all in “Round and Round with Garter Stitch,” INKnitters, pp. 78 ff., Vol. 3, No. 11, Winter 2003. Bonus information in this issue: turning pinwheels into ovals and hearts. And a Valentine heart pattern, knitted with Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece. In the issue before that, I wrote about garter squares, and how to knit quilt-ish motifs without a pattern. You may be able to find issues of INKnitters online at eBay or etsy.
Knit Advent Day 11
The red bow gives a nice accent to the mosaic knitted teddy bear for Day 11.
Knit Advent Day 10
It was so satisfying to knit this drum. The top of the drum (light beige) gives it its shape, using increases and decreases. It was the only way to get the look I wanted for the rim. All the rim and body stitches are on top of each other (no color jogs), giving the impression of a truly rounded rim and body.
I suppose I could have added darker reds at the drum’s edges to make it even more dimensional, but one has to draw the line somewhere! And that line is well short of perfectionism.
My ten-year-old, Eva, made our family proud this week (in 2005). She won first place in the University Interscholastic League Art Recognition contest, held among five school districts in our area. The contestants have been studying a packet of about 45 paintings. Fifteen paintings were chosen for the contest, and each student had to write the title of the painting and the artist. She scored 59 of a possible 60 points. Hurray for Eva!
The original Knit Advent stories were posted in 2005. TextileFusion.com was resurrected in 2021 after a catastrophic hack/virus/fail. I’m slowly recreating the blog. Since I use the knit Advent calendar every year, it seemed appropriate to post it mostly how it first appeared, but dated 2021.
Knit Advent Day 9, Mosaic and More Mosaic
Mosaic knitting is a kind of slipped stitch color knitting. Barbara G. Walker made it famous. She charted and published all kinds of patterns and motifs. Once you figure out how to chart mosaic patterns, you can make surprisingly representative patterns, like this mosaic pear.
Here’s another example of mosaic knitting, inspired by one of my daughter Eva’s drawings. She was seven years old when she drew the picture in 2003. The knitted version is a bathroom rug.
I teach a 3-hour workshop where you can learn how mosaic knitting works, and how to create your own charts. You never know when you might need to knit a child’s drawing! Find this and more of my knitting workshops here.
Speaking of mosaics, my husband and I love mosaic made of glass, stone and tile. We want to include several mosaic pieces in our new house, so he suggested that I might like to take a week-long mosaic workshop. When? In February. Where? Italy, of course! Why Italy? Because it’s the land of Roman and Byzantine mosaics. I’m all signed up and have airline tickets. This is another reason I needed fabulous new shoes (see Day 5).
Knit Advent Day 8
It’s all in how you sew it together. This horn is just a long strip of garter stitch, with a couple of stitches extra at the beginning for the mouthpiece, and several extra at the end for the bell of the horn. The bow is another long stretch of garter stitch.
As I sit here posting this message (in 2005), I hear thumps and bumps from the carport. Three raccoons are trying to eat the catfood. The chicken broth I gave the cats earlier today is frozen solid, so they’re having a hard time. Raccoons are such rascals.
Knit Advent Day 7
This intarsia gingerbread needed the embroidered icing outline to give him better definition. I would design him differently if I were doing it again. He’d be smaller for sure, but I might even just knit a gingerbread man shape, instead of a square with a picture of a gingerbread man in it.
Since the paragraph above was posted in 2005, I have been thinking about releasing these patterns again. The gingerbread person will definitely get a redesign.
Knit Advent Day 6 and an Old Bedspread
Worked on the bias, with a true curve in the top, this candy cane ornament required some heavy thinking and experimentation. Once again, thank goodness for high school geometry. If your kids ever ask “Why do we have to do geometry? What possible relevance can this have to real life?” just show them this post (and the wreath post, three days ago).
I could not pass up this hand-embroidered bedspread at an estate sale last month (November 2005). It cost fifty cents. Lucky me!
I’m thinking that the center panel would make a pretty curtain, maybe for a bathroom. It also has embroidery at the top. What a treasure!
Knit Advent Day 5 and New Shoes
Day four’s ornament is an intarsia angel with embroidered hair. My angel’s hair is blond, because I have a blonde daughter, but you can make the hair or skin any color you want. Boy angels wear robes too, so the color-change chart should work fine for a boy angel.
Yesterday (in 2005) I was a volunteer greeter at a beautiful home in the Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council Christmas Tour of Homes. The attire had to be Christmas-y, so a few days early, I pondered my wardrobe. The truth was shocking. My shoes looked old and ratty. They were old and ratty!
The inevitable could not be put off any longer. I bought two pairs of shoes. Here’s the remarkable pair, which I wore with black jeans, my pink sweater, a pink shirt, and a necklace I made. Who says plump, middle-aged ladies, with long, straight hair, who wear no makeup, have to be frumpy?
The Advent wall hanging and its knitted ornaments were originally published on my blog, December 1-24, 2005. I’m posting them on Twitter @textilefusion and Instagram @suzannthompson, too. Hope you’ll follow me to see all 24 ornaments. You can also find them by searching #KnitAdvent.
INKnitters magazine gave patterns for all 24 ornaments and the calendar wall hanging in issues 7, 8, 9, and 10, Winter 2002 through Fall 2003. The project isn’t particularly difficult, but it is time-consuming.
Knit Advent Day 4
Knit Advent Day 4 and Garter Intarsia
Garter intarsia is a little different. Changing colors on the right side is normal. But it’s when you’re working on the private side of the work (otherwise known as the wrong side), that changing colors is odd. Since in garter stitch, you knit every row, you must bring the old yarn forward between your needles to drop it. As usual, pick up the new color yarn from underneath the old. In order to continue knitting, take the new color back between your needles to the other side.
This gift ornament is garter intarsia, and the bow is knitted separately and sewn on.
The Advent Calendar with its ornaments was the last big project I designed and finished before my youngest daughter was born. We lived in England at the time, and I remember sitting in our American La-Z-Boy, in our English living room, with the gas fire burning—very cozy. I was sewing, sewing, sewing the felt pieces onto the ornaments. I had to finish before the baby came!
The instructions were published in INKnitters, Nos. 7, 8, 9, and 10 (Winter 2002 through Fall 2003 issues). You may be able to find these issues online. Now, nearly 20 years since they were first published, I am thinking about reissuing the patterns, with some changes and improvements. Let me know if that’s a pattern set you might be interested in buying. Email me at knitandcrochetwithsuzann@outlook.com.
The Advent Calendar is for intermediate (and beyond) knitters with patience. Techniques include intarsia, lace, i-cord, sewing, stranded color knitting, and slipped-stitch color knitting. If you are willing to follow instructions, you’ll do fine. It is a time-consuming project, so pace yourself.