Knit in the New Year

December 16, 2014 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

I’m not sure there’s a lot of call for knitting things to commemorate the new year, but if you’re hosting (or attending) a New Year’s Even party it might be fun to have something stitched up — like a washcloth or cup cozy — that has the new year on it for a bit of extra handmade fun.

A search on Ravelry didn’t reveal any patterns worked with 2015 yet, but it’s simple enough to change the last number on a chart to make it correspond with the coming year. Here are a few projects you might want to add to your holiday stitch list.

This little 2009 cloth form Kris Knits is really cute and relatively simple, with a seed stitch border and garter stitch numbers. It’s 5.5 inches square, so it will knit up really quickly, just remember when you change the numbers that the chart shows them worked backwards (you could also just redraw the chart and have them facing the other way, if you’d like).

If you like an iced coffee throughout the year, this extra large cup cozy, originally worked for 2011 by Sandy Davis, would be a great choice. It uses five different colors and says KH for “Knitting Help” (because it was knit for a Knitting Help New Year’s Eve Party) but you could easily change that to your initials, leave that part blank or repeat the little ball and needles design that’s also featured.

For 2012, she also worked up a simple stitcher’s wallet or pocket to hold tools. Again it includes KH on one side and the year on the other, but you could easily change it up in any way you wante.

One Crafty Mama worked a 2012 dishcloth (which she also updated for 2013, and a 3 is almost a 5) that’s super simple and would be great to use all year.

Lisa Millan had a 2008 New Year’s dishcloth in her store that includes the year and a pair of clinking champagne glasses. If it’s still sold, it runs $2.

Have you ever knit something that marked the new year? I’d love to hear about it.

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Christmas Stocking Knitting Patterns for Your Pets

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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