Book Review – Mini Knits for Christmas

“Mini Knits for Christmas” by Sue Stratford is a collection of 40 adorable Christmas mini knitted figures and decorations to make your festive season extra special. From Mary and Joseph to the little donkey and a stable, or a show-stopping Santa’s sleigh complete with all eight reindeers, you can knit a charming nativity scene. Other Christmas accessories to decorate your home, such as Christmas crackers, baubles, mistletoe and candy canes, will make your knitted Christmas complete.

The patterns in the book are clear, simple, and easy to follow, making it perfect for knitters of all skill levels. The author includes step-by-step photographs of useful techniques, making it easy for even a novice knitter to understand. These cute, pocket-sized knits are quick and easy to make, as well as a great way of using up leftover yarn.

Not only are these mini knits great for festive gifts, but they also make cute decorations that the whole family will love. This edition includes material from two best-selling Christmas titles, “Mini Knitted Christmas” and “20 to Make: Mini Christmas Knits”, making it the perfect guide for your holiday knitting.

“Mini Knits for Christmas” is a must-have guide for anyone who wants to create charming and unique Christmas decorations that will be cherished for years to come. With clear instructions, step-by-step photography, and a wide range of fun and festive projects, you’ll have everything you need to make your knitted Christmas complete.

Next Pattern:

Tif Neilan is a known fan of herringbone stitch as a design element in her patterns. I love it, too, and have written a couple of posts about herringbone stitch and other ways to make herringbone designs in knitting.

Tif uses a herringbone stitch on the cuffs of her Ebbs & Flows sweater, a top down raglan design that also features a bit of mosaic colorwork at the hem and on the sleeves.

The herringbone bit is optional, as the pattern also includes instructions for working twisted ribbing instead, but the herringbone gives such a different textured look that I think it’s worth the effort of learning how to do it for this design.

It is worked in the round except for some German short rows for shaping after the neckline. It’s meant to hit at the high hip but you could make it longer or more cropped as you like.

The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with a finished chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 80 to 170 cm. It is designed to be worn with around 4 inches/10 cm of positive ease at the chest.

It calls for three colors of DK or worsted weight yarn, though you’ll need a relatively small amount of the contrasting colors since most of the body is worked in a solid color. Because of the different stitches used you’ll need a variety of knitting needle sizes and the pattern notes recommend having a set of interchangeable knitting needles to make this easier, but you can always use what you have.

You can find out more about this pattern and grab a copy on Ravelry. There are already a good number of finished projects in the gallery there so you can see how it works with different colors and different body and sleeve lengths (they’re meant to be long but I spy a couple that look like three quarters).

[Photo: Tif Neilan]

Easy Fair Isle Sweaters for Kids and Adults

How to Take Apart a Sweater

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply