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!
I knit so slowly and for such short durations now – everything I do in life is very hands based and repetitive plus my connective tissue is garbage and cranky about it – so I get discouraged and haven’t been knitting at all. But maybe this year is the year I finish the legwarmers my mother requested two…three…who’s counting years ago.
I have too much yarn to stop knitting!
Super excited about this because I’ve been looking for a winter project. Thank you for all the fun ideas!
Looking for some advice: i want to gift beginner knitting and crocheting kits to my teen nieces. I’ve looked online, but as I don’t craft myself i find the choices overwhelming. Does anybody have a good recommendation?
I’m finishing a baby sampler for someone who’s arriving soon to this world. Very fun stuff, but that means there’s no hope to finish the holiday ornament kit that I snagged at the same time. . . .
@Muse of Ire:
Long time reader, first time poster but I love talking crafts!
If you’re based in the UK, how about Toft?
https://www.toftuk.com/home.aspx
They have a fun range of kits for beginners to experienced knitters and crocheters. They categorise the kits as e.g. “complete beginner” or “easy” etc. The kits can be on the expensive side but they are high quality.
I made myself a crochet Santa’s hat and it turned out just like the picture in the pattern. I’ll be wearing it at my work’s Christmas function 🙂
https://www.toftuk.com/PD.aspx?product=clothing/crochet_hats/-Crochet_Santa_Hat
No recs for beginner kits. Look for a local yarn store to see if they carry something.
I am also a slow knitter, so will keep cranking on an Ishbel shawl, pattern by Ysolda.
Any recs for easy/beginner crochet patterns? Would fingerless mitts be a beginner crochet project? Thanks!
@Brooke
I have done a fingerless knit project (crochet) and found it to be pretty easy. I would call myself an adventurous beginner at most.
This is the result, though I went off a written pattern instead of the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAhhPbFL08w
I’ve also made a couple hats, amigurumi and a cowl. I find shorter patterns easier as a beginner because I can see the results faster, which helps with frustration. Ravelry is a pretty good resource, though it can be a bit overwhelming. I use advanced filter, click ‘free’ and easy for level of difficulty.
A lot of yarn websites also have patterns- Hobbii.com, lionbrand.com, yarnspirations.com
@Lauren
Thanks so much! I especially appreciate the hints for Ravelry!
@Muse of Ire. If they are lucky enough to have a good yarn store nearby, I would recommend a beginner’s class. They also often host “stitch and bitch” times where crafters get together and help each other out. I learned from books, but people frequently find videos on YouTube to get started. Their age, general location, and interest level are important to know in order to provide helpful advice.
@muse of ire @brooke cannot second strongly enough both Ravelry as a resource and the notion of finding a friendly local place to drop in for help with projects. I am not a social person and I have known how to knit and crochet since I was five (and absolutely have learned new skills from books and diagrams and videos, of course it’s doable) – but even so. Especially as a beginner, when frustration over an un-noticed dropped stitch can wreck a project, but could be readily fixed by someone more experienced, or problems in tension or technique can be diagnosed before one diligently drills bad habits.
There are plenty of snotty and gatekeeping crafters, of course, just like there are snotty and gatekeeping librarians, or idk, gardeners, but I find they are relative rarities. The fiber arts peoples ime are typically so incredibly fantastic. Genuinely inspiring community. That support is a big part of what keeps everyone engaged and rewarded over the years, more so than the (delightful) end results or even the (wonderfully meditative) process.
@muse of ire: Elyse and Shana have some suggestions for you. First, a lot of the kits have terrible yarn, per Elyse.
Both recommend We Are Knitters, which may be closed now, Wool and the Gang, and Knit Picks.
Elyse adds, “For Crochet I would do a beginner level Wooble. They are overpriced IMO but they have really good instructional videos you access with a QR code that are awesome for learning
Otherwise Google if there is a little yarn store close by as many do learning to classes that include the basic items needed.”
I learned to knit from a childrens’ knitting book, Kids Knitting, and refer to it often because the illustrations are large, clear, and work really well for my brain.
I think your ideal move is to find a local yarn shop near them, but barring that, if you go to your local, they might be able to help you put together a kit with good instructions.
I think that’s an awesome gift and your nieces are lucky to have you!
I’m working on a picture of the Acropolis that I started shortly before I went to Greece a couple months back. It’s detailed, but coming along nicely, and I’m almost halfway through. I also found some beautiful patterns that are these cozy scenes of young women reading that reminded me of reading in my room as a teen/young woman, so I have those in the pipeline. I think they’ll make nice companion pieces.
Thanks for all the recommendations. I’ll look into whether there’s a good yarn store near where they live.
I would love to learn to cross-stitch! BTW there’s a new show in the UK called Game of Wool and it’s a competition knitting show and the person who loses each week is “cast off”. Hosted by Olympian Tom Daley. It’s delightful.