This Pattern is Retired…but you can (probably) get it in November

I have a lot of patterns! But I also get overwhelmed if I have to deal with them all at once. So I’ve picked 12 of my favorites (the Core Collection) to keep around. Then every few months, I decide on a theme or a technique and make a handful of related patterns (the Rotating Collection) available for a little while (then they go away again).

The other patterns are retired and are not generally available. However, because I know some folks will want them, I make many of the retired patterns available for a few weeks every November. If you want me to tell you when they’re back, subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, and I’ll let you know!

• If you see the buy buttons on this page, you’ve caught it on one of the days it’s available!
• If you don’t see the buy buttons on this page, it’s not currently available.
• If you want to hear when the retired patterns are available (most likely in November), subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, or keep an eye on my instagram.

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I am concerned that if I admit how much I love these, someone will show up at my house and take away my Proper, Respectable Grownup card. Then again, I’m not sure being a proper grown up has brought me much joy, and these ridiculous things fill me with an unspeakable delight, so maybe that wouldn’t be too bad.

I strongly suspect you may find them just as irresistible!

What to do with the sweet, silly little things:

• Knit one and hang it from your christmas tree
• Knit a bunch and use them for your ornament swap
• Knit a whole forest of them and cover your mantel or bookshelf
• Add them to your christmas village
• Add them to your favorite kiddo’s play set

Your imagination is the limit here. I suspect you already have a whole host of ideas for exactly how you could use a few of these!

The pattern is tremendously detailed and gives you lots of variations (with a trunk, without a trunk, with beads, without beads) and suggestions for experimentation (add some mohair to give them a snowy look, embroider on some ornaments, fill them with something that smells amazing).

This is easy knitting (it’s nearly all stockinette in the round, and it’s about as many stitches as a good sized swatch), and you can probably make one of these in an afternoon.

The only special equipment you’ll need is something to stuff them with (roving, polyester stuffing, even cotton balls if you’re in a pinch) and some flat plastic you can cut with scissors (think the side milk gallon or the bottom of a yogurt container or the lid of a takeout container…don’t stress over this, you’ve almost certainly got something in your recycle bin or your kitchen that will work perfectly).

And just in case you’re feeling a bit nervous, the pattern includes a lengthy photo tutorial to walk you through every step of the process. There are all sorts of helpful tips on everything from what to fill them with to how to block them to how and when to weave in your ends. It’s almost absurdly detailed, but it really does mean you can totally make these!