Hello friends! I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy during this pandemic. With Christmas just about a week away, I hope you are finishing up all your last minute projects; whether it be crocheted Christmas gifts that you’re trying to finish up on time, decorating, baking, wrapping or dare I say shopping still. This year has been a little crazy to say the least. I think we all needed this wonderful holiday season and the warm, inviting feeling that only the Christmas season can bring.
I know this year I struggled to get in the mood for Christmas. Usually my nickname around Christmas time is Buddy the Elf. Yet this year I felt more like an elf from the South Pole. I wanted to enjoy the holiday and go all out, yet this year it required a little extra motivation in some aspects.
Luckily, this year being our first Christmas married, Corey helped me get lots of the shopping and decorating under control much earlier than I usually have it done. That was a huge blessing and has provided me with the chance to work on all these Christmas projects that I will be sharing with you in this post.
I only had one big order for Dishtowel Pals this year which has opened up my time to try a handful of fun projects this season. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I have a new niece and nephew that are just six days apart. Now that I have started making baby projects, I never want to stop. They are so much fun to make! So obviously they each needed a crocheted Christmas item for the season. Once those were finished, I was able to start on a fun project for myself that I’m very excited to wear for the holiday. And I even found my new favorite Christmas decor project that I will be making lots of to sell at craft shows next year (fingers crossed we will in fact be able to have more of those next year.)
So without further ado, let’s just jump right into these projects and get a dose of Christmas spirit for the day.
The first project I finished was the Mrs. Claus’ Santa Hat and Skirt outfit designed by Thoughts, Knots & Stitches LLC. My mother-in-law found a picture of this outfit and shared it with me for me to make for my niece, Alyessia. The moment I saw it I absolutely fell in love with it. After a quick Etsy search (I love Etsy SO much), I came across this pattern. This pattern was literally so much fun to work up! I have made adult Santa hats before but this one takes the cake for being my favorite. I just LOVE the bow!
This pattern uses very basic stitches that allows any crocheter to be able to tackle this project. Not only that, Thoughts, Knots & Stitches’ pattern is so straight forward and detail oriented. There are multiple picture tutorials along with very descriptive notes on how to do every part of this pattern. It came in multiple different sizes which makes it very cost effective, because you buy one pattern and can use it to make multiple different sizes of this cute little outfit. I mean in this one pattern she has instructions on how to make them for newborns all the way up to 24 months! You could make them for your little girl two years in a row, at least! I recently saw on her Instagram account that the toddler size of this outfit is now available as well!
If you want to find this pattern to create your own adorable Mrs. Claus’ Santa Hat and Skirt along with other awesome patterns that she has designed, you can find her on Instagram here. Go to her page and follow her so you can stay up to date on all her patterns. I can’t wait to keep making more of her awesome designs. But until then, I can’t wait to see pictures of Alyessia in this outfit.
The second Christmas project I completed was the Reindeer Hat for my nephew, Connor. Since I was making a Christmas project for Alyessia, I had to make one for Connor too. After asking my sister-in-law what type of hats or outfits she would like little Connor to have, she said she needed a Christmas hat for him. I looked up some ideas for baby hats on Etsy and came across some super cute reindeer hats that were different than just a normal Santa hat. That’s when I came across the Reindeer Hat with a Reindeer Doll pattern by Jocelyn Sass from Too Cute Crochet. Her lineup of endlessly cute baby hats and projects were so fun to look through on her Etsy shop.
This hat uses a single crochet stitch which I don’t think I’ve ever used for a beanie but I loved it! It gives it a whole different texture than other beanies I’ve made. Her pattern comes in multiple different sizes and has very easy to follow instructions. Like she mentions in the pattern to measure head size of the recipient, I had to add a few extra rows for it to fit him perfectly. But the sizing guide matched so close to his head size. I was impressed! That’s my fear of crocheting hats and it always makes me hesitant to make them because I’m so scared of it not fitting. But it fit him great! I also had to add a few extra stitches to the antlers to make them a smidge longer because I wanted them to be fairly tall considering I added the few extra rows for length on the beanie.
The directions were so easy to follow and read. She uses a lot of pictures explaining everything you need to know to make this reindeer come to life. I’m so happy with the finished product and so is my sister-in-law. This hat is sure to keep little Connor warm all winter long. This pattern also comes with a little reindeer doll that I’m sure to make at some point, just ran out of time before Christmas with all the other projects I have going on. If you’d like to make your own reindeer hat or doll, check out her pattern here.
The next thing I crossed off my Christmas crochet to do list was these amazing Christmas trees that I ran across on Instagram from MJs off the hook designs. It’s called the Bobble Tree Sweater pattern. I always am on the lookout for things that work up quick, that are easy to make a lot of and can be used as decorations. Some of the things I’ve sold the most of have been little pumpkins at my craft shows over the years. As soon as I saw these I knew this would be my “pumpkin” project for Christmas time. I bought the pattern and got to work. Another awesome part about these is that it’s a great stash busting project of any size six yarn you might have lying around. The colors you can make of these are endless!
I’ll be honest, working in the round can sometimes intimidate me. But this is not one of those patterns. Once you start working on it, you get in such a routine with this pattern and it becomes so much fun to work on. I even found a YouTube video for the pattern that she made for any visual learners out there who have trouble reading patterns. This is a great beginner project for learning how to work in the round. Not to mention it uses very beginner stitches and the one special stitch in the pattern she gives very detailed notes about it in the written form and on the video.
All around this is an awesome pattern. I wish I could have come across it earlier in the year so that I could have busted out a big tree farm of them to sell at my craft show. But that just means I can start now for next years shows! That is that the world is back to normal by then.
If you would like to make some festiveness for your house, check out the pattern on her blog here. She explains in her post about how she uses cones made out of foam to help the trees hold their shape. I was only able to find one of those in stock because I went to the store just a few weeks before Christmas. But I’m excited to be able to snag some more cones after Christmas to make them sturdy to be on display at my craft shows. However, for just around my house, they stand up very well without it.
Last but not least, since I do love the Christmas season, I had to make something for myself. I found A Crafty Concept’s pattern for the Crochet Christmas Light Headband and instantly became obsessed with it. I am a radiation therapist for my day job. I give cancer patients their daily radiation treatments and get them set up for their treatments. In the past, we have been able to wear festive headbands for holidays and all I could think about when making this headband is how much this would make my patients smile so much on Christmas Eve when I wear this.
This pattern was so much fun to make! It is such an awesome stash buster because I literally went through all my yarn stash and grabbed any color of regular acrylic yarn I could find that I thought would look good as a lightbulb. Not to mention I am not able to get to my polyfill (long story short: Corey and I hit a deer in my car, my car is in the shop for weeks now, my polyfill is in the back of my car from a trunk or treat we did in October, thus I can’t get to my polyfill), so I grabbed a fluffy type yarn that I really don’t like working with. I chopped that yarn into a bunch of little pieces and used that to stuff my light bulbs. It worked like a champ and I almost got rid of that annoying skein that’s been lying around for years!
Just like the Christmas tree pattern, this pattern comes with a YouTube tutorial explaining everything you would need to know to make this pattern. Also, the written pattern on her blog had so many “pro tips” that made it even easier to make. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and I don’t think I’m ever going to take it off my head. I even thought about using this light bulb pattern and making some garland out of it for future Christmases. Keep stash busting my acrylic yarn lying around and keep making more and more fun, festive Christmas decor in the process!
If you would like to make your own Crochet Christmas Light Headband, you can find the pattern and everything you need to know here. Trust me on this, you will not be disappointed! I can’t wait to wear this to work and Christmas parties and Christmas craft shows next year and for many years to come.
Well my friends, that’s all the new Christmas projects I’ve been working on the past couple weeks. I hope that you get inspired to start crocheting them all and spreading Christmas cheer with each and every stitch you make. If you are still looking for more last minute Christmas projects, check out the rest of my blogs. I have a quick headband pattern and a quick scarf pattern that you could make within a couple hours.
This year has been a little crazy to say the least, but it’s also been filled with so many blessings. I hope that your holidays are overflowing with love, joy, peace and happiness and I pray the new year finds you with a renewed spirit. Read Luke chapter two in the Bible to be encouraged and filled with peace and joy. Truly He is the only true Joy to be found.
Happy crocheting my friends! I hope you all have a merry Christmas filled with so many blessings.
