Elyse is here to share what knitting patterns she’s loving for holiday gifting this year – and I’ll follow up with cross stitch gift ideas for readers, too!
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Mariah Carey has defrosted and announced “It’s tiiiiiiiiime” which means it’s time for me to fill my Santa mug with a seasonally appropriate coffee flavor and get to my holiday knitting.
Sorry, I have to…
Anyway…
I’m trying to be more frugal this year and use my stash to make a lot of Christmas presents, which means I need to get going like now.
So what patterns am I making?
My go-to this holiday season is going to be the Sophie Hood for a lot of great reasons.
First of all, this pattern has been really popular on Ravelry because it uses worsted weight yarn, knits flat, and is perfect for beginners.
Also you can hold that worsted (or DK) weight with a nice fuzzy mohair or use something like Miss Babs Billow, which is a cotton/ baby alpaca mix, to really make this luxurious.
I love this pattern because I live where it’s really cold in the winter. My sis and her wife live in the country and have a HUGE driveway to plow, so this is great for adding on over a hat and wrapping the ends around your face for even extra warmth.
For my cat-loving friends, I’m making The Stare.
If you’ve never done colorwork, this is an easy introduction using only two colors and DK weight yarn. It’s great for stash busting since you’re not going to use an entire skein of either color.
And if you like this pattern she’s got mittens to match!
My husband is a barista and that means during the winter he’s sometimes passing drinks out of the drive through window and it’s chilly. This year I’m making him fingerless mitts to keep him warm.
My husband is also a big gamer and loves Call of Cthulhu (he ran a game for a bunch of us at SBTB and my favorite quote was “I’ve run this module a bunch of times and I’ve never had a group just try to blow everything up with dynamite before.” We get things done, sir).
I’m going to make him these The Pact mitts because they remind me of CoC.
If you like the idea of fingerless mitts but not the colorwork I highly recommend the Full Fathom Mitts. I’ve probably made ten sets of these over the years and they knit up quickly with DK weight yarn.
Ed. note: as the recipient of a pair of these mitts, I must tell you that I adore them.
I’m a big sock knitter and Christmas is when I break out my colorwork skills for adorable holiday socks. This year I’m going with a holiday treat theme.
I absolutely love Stones Knits patterns (and her kitty makes appearances on her social media and in her books) and she’s got some really cute socks and mitts based on yummy holiday goodies.
This year I’m making her Cup of Hot Cocoa Socks and her Christmas Pudding Mitts.
I’m also in love with these I’m the Gingerbread Man socks by Nicola Furey.
Lastly, if you need a gift STAT, this Fusilli Beanie is made with chunky weight yarn, has a nice texture to it, and knits up real quick.
All you need is a detachable pom.
Sarah here, with some cross stitch patterns that might make nifty gifts! And if you don’t think you have time to stitch them yourself, you can easily make a kit with the PDF pattern, some floss, needles, thread snips, and some aida.
I’ve downloaded this pattern and am very excited to start it:
The Cat Cross Stitch Pattern, PDF download, Etsy – $3
The size depends on what aida or fabric you’re stitching on, but this only uses two colors. Easy to travel with while you’re working!
This designer, The Colourful Coven UK, has patterns for tarot cards for “The Stitcher,” “The Knitter,” and “The Hooker.”
The Stitcher Tarot Card PDF Pattern, Etsy – $5
I’m also working on this pattern right now – it’s been my travel kit for fall travel and it’s very fun:
The Reader PDF pattern, Etsy – $5
And if you like the Reader tarot pattern but want to try embroidery techniques, this kit from PNW Embroidery Co comes with thread, cloth, and you can add on scissors and a needle minder!
The Reader Embroidery Kit, Etsy -$22-47 depending on add-ons
Tip: if you add things to your cart but don’t check out, often Etsy sellers will send you a coupon. And, post-purchase, there are often coupons as well, so if you see something you like, you can get it. Woo!
Genre Reader 10 Pattern Bundle, Etsy – $8
Lots of choices in that one!
Your Anxiety is a Lying Hoe PDF pattern, Etsy – $5
Folks in the reviews for this pattern report that they’ve customized the colors for the cats and the books in different versions of this pattern to match their cats – very cool.
Cats and Books Pattern PDF, Etsy – $8
Please note that the above image is computer generated, and I typically don’t share patterns unless I see an actual-factual stitched version. The reviews and the sidebar images on that page have many variations in the photographs showing completed projects.
And of course, Etsy has needle minders, kits, and patterns for every phrase that you can think of, and many, many for book lovers.
What are you crafting this holiday season? Please share links and patterns if you’ve got them!
