Create an Ugly Christmas Sweater for Pentatonix

Ever since the Stevie Nicks shawl callout (did you see the winning design, by the way? Amazing.) I’ve been getting e-mails from TalentHouse, and I saw another fun one that I thought knitters might be interested in.

This one is to design an ” Ugly Christmas Sweaters” for a member of the acclaimed acappella group Pentatonix. (The only problem with knitting a sweater is that the guidelines don’t indicate sizes, but it looks like the group covers a range of sizes.)

They’re releasing a Christmas album and the winning sweater will be worn by a member of the group in a music video that will be shared right before Christmas with their e-mail subscribers and on YouTube. The winning designer will also get a $1,500 prize and a shoutout on the video and in social media.

Entries must be in by December 1, and the person who gets the most votes during the selection period (the first week of December) will also receive $250 an a mention in the e-mail from Pentatonix.

This sounds like such great fun! If any of you go for it, I’d love to know about it!

[Photo via TalentHouse.]

Looking for more Christmas themed Knitting patterns? Check out some of our favorite Knitting patterns on Etsy and

These Christmas Knitting Pattern Books on Amazon

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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