Pascal the Parsnip

After the success of last years sale’s of Kevin the Carrot, Katie and the children, Pascal the Parsnip was the new addition to the Christmas plush toys on sale at Aldi supermarket.

Shoppers queued up on the date they were going to be in-store (22nd November) and they all sold out that day! On the Aldi advertisement Pascal the Parsnip is Kevin the Carrots arch enemy – it was a tense time to see Kevin’s family captured by Pascal – but it was no challenge for Kevin- he went into action and the wicked Parsnip was knocked off balance and fell down, ‘Right in the nuts!’

Nicola Riley created a knitted pattern for those that missed out. You can grab it on Ravelry for £2.50.

[Photo: Nicola Riley.]

Santa and Saint Nicholas generally get all the good press, but Central European kids know you don’t want to just be good so you get presents from St. Nicholas; you also want to avoid the ire of Krampus. (He’s depicted as a human-like figure with horns and usually hairy or furry who gives birch rods instead of gifts to kids who are bad.)

If you’re the type to embrace the naughty side (or you just want to scare the children into good behavior over the holidays), maybe you’ll want to knit a Krampus sweater.

This one, from Sofie Amalie Laulund, is a top down circular yoke sweater with Krampus faces at the top and cavorting Krampuses further down the body, with some traditional Scandinavian snowflakes thrown in for fun.

Because of the large motifs there’s not a lot of room for adjusting the fit, but it is available in five sizes (the Ravelry page doesn’t say what the sizing is, and it says its worked with no ease but the photo looks like the sweater has a bit of positive ease, so if you decide to make this one just check the measurements and your own comfort level for ease when picking a size).

It also uses five colors, but there’s very little red and brown so you can probably use scrap yarn for those parts. It calls for DK weight yarn. You’ll want a background color that helps the creatures stand out. You could also work the snowflake bands in different colors if you want to mix it up.

The pattern is available in both English and Danish, and you can find it on Ravelry. This is the designer’s first pattern, which kudos to them because it’s such an ambitious (and fun!) project I’m happy to add to my collection of whimsy-filled knits.

[Photo: Sofie Amalie Laulund]

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