More Fun Christmas Crafting from Red Heart

Red Heart has a 12 weeks of Christmas e-mail series that’s full of ideas for knitters and crocheters looking to make their homes a little more festive this holiday season, but they also recently released the Make it Merry ebook, which includes all those patterns — 34 projects in all for knitting and crochet.

The ebook has the patterns arranged by theme:

Red and White Christmas
Heart-Warming Decor
Cozy Holiday Home
Snowflake Wonders
For Babies and Kids
To Wear and Give

Some of my favorites include the Cheerful Holiday Penguin, which is super cute with its striped belly and little red scarf; the Santa Baby Sweater, a little red hooded sweater with white trim, of course (they also have a full Santa Baby Suit, though I didn’t see it in the ebook); and the lovely, warm Cozy Shrug, worked in super bulky yarn, making it a quick gift to knit or a wonderful warmer for yourself.

(By the way, another cute one from the 12 Weeks of Christmas e-mails that I didn’t see in the book is the Holiday Pillow with Stockings. If it were me I would absolutely find a tiny gift to stick in those little socks!)

This guide is sure to get you inspired and excited about the holiday knitting season if you aren’t already.

See anything that catches your eye? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Red Heart.]

Next Pattern:

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

Next Pattern:

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