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Wednesday 18 November 2015

Handknit Christmas Tree Angel ...

Coming up to Christmas the world divides into two camps. There's the angel camp and the star camp. And me? I'm firmly with the angels. I wouldn't dream of putting a star on top of my Christmas tree.

No siree; it's an angel for me!

But here's the thing: when I trotted off to the shops for a tree-topper the only angels on offer were the plastic-fantastic variety that were all decked out in frills and cheap lace and frou-frou. And I'm even less into frills and cheap lace and frou-frou than I am into stars on the top of my Chrimbo tree. So I've knit myself an angel. She's comfortably padded, smiles angelically and wears woollen evergreen underpants: totally my kinda' winged wonder. What do you think?


I've knit her from worsted weight yarn (Sublime Extra Fine Merino Worsted) and she's really not difficult to make. Just read on for the pattern:


Materials:

You'll need:

  • 50 yards of skin-coloured wool to knit her body. I used Sublime Extra Fine Merino Worsted in Wicker (shade 0061), but angels come in all colours, just like us folk down here below, so chose whichever skin-colour makes you happy.
  • 90 yards of dress colour. I used a golden colour called Sunday, shade 0349 with a raspberry trim that was actually called redcurrant with shade number 0017.
  • 20 yards of gorgeous, shade 0283 for her very gorgeous evergreen pants
  • 20 yards of mole, shade 056 for her hair
  • Toy stuffing
  • Some white card 
  • A small bag of marabou feathers for her wings. You can buy marabou feathers on eBay. There are a whole bunch of sellers there who'll sell you a bag for two or three pounds in whatever colour takes your fancy.
  • Some golden floristry wire for her halo and some more to wrap around her midriff and fix her to the tree 
  • Some embroidery thread to give her pink cheeks and a smile
  • A pair of safety eyes, which may not be totally safe for the very tiny fraternity, so please don't give her to toddlers who are still exploring the world using their brand new teeth (yes, I've been there too with our own little guy)
  • 3mm / UK size 11 needles. I should explain that I have a firm preference when it comes to knitting toys for going down on the needle size to get a nice tight tension so that there isn't any unsightly stuffing sticking through the spaces between the stitches. Worsted weight wool would normally work well on 4.5 mm needles, but, as we all know, angels aren't normal - so I suggest that you drop down to 3 mm needles. On this sizing my tension comes out at 25 stitches x 30 rows on a 10 cm x 10 cm / 4" x 4" stocking stitch swatch.
Now, let's get to work with the knitting, and then we can move on to the wings and the halo.

Starting with the left foot:

Cast on 6 stitches in black using 3 mm/ UK size 11 needles.
Knit 2 rows in stocking stitch i.e. knit the first row and purl the second, and carry on knitting the odd rows and purling the even ones. 
Row 3: Knit into the front and back (kfb) of each stitch across the row – at the end of this row you will have 12 stitches on the needle.
Row 4: Purl.
Row 5: *k1, kfb*. Repeat from * to * across the row –increasing the number of stitches to 18.
Rows 6 to 12: work in stocking stitch, starting with a purl row on row 6. 
Row 13: *Knit 1, Knit 2 together (k2tog)* across the row, decreasing the number of stitches to 12.
Row 14: Purl.
Cut the black wool and continue in the skin-coloured wool.
Rows 15 to 38: work in stocking stitch. 
At the end of row 38 cut the skin-coloured wool and join the green wool. We’re going to carry on in green to knit the right leg of Ms Angel’s evergreen underpants. 
Rows 39 to 42: work in stocking stitch using the green wool. 
At the end of row 42 cut the yarn, and leave the stitches on a spare needle or a stitch holder, while you knit the second leg.

Now knit the right foot and leg to match the left one, but when you've finished row 42 do NOT cut the yarn.


Row 43: knit across the row, and then carry on knitting across the stitches of the left leg, so that the two are joined together in a combined row of 24 stitches. 
Row 44: purl.
Row  45: *knit1, kfb of next stitch*. Repeat from * to * across the row to increase the number of stitches by 12 to 36 i.e. at the end of this row you will have 36 stitches.
Rows 46 to 48: work in stocking stitch. 
Row 49: *knit 2, kfb of next stitch*. Repeat from * to * across the row to increase the number of stitches by 12 to 48 i.e. at the end of this row you will have 48 stitches.
Rows 50 to 64: work in stocking stitch. At the end of row 64, cut the wool and join the golden wool for the bodice of the angel's dress. 

Rows 65 to 76: work in stocking stitch in the golden yarn.
Shape the shoulders.
Row 77: *Knit 2, K2tog*. Repeat from * to * across the row, decreasing the number of stitches by 12 and leaving you with 36 stitches.
Rows 78 to 80: work in stocking stitch. 
Row 81: *Knit 1, K2tog*. Repeat from * to * across the row, decreasing the number of stitches by 12 and leaving you with 24.  
Rows 82 to 84: work in stocking stitch. 
Row 85: *Knit 2, K2tog*. Repeat from * to * across the row, decreasing the number of stitches by 6 and leaving you with 18.
Rows 86: purl.
Row 87: K1 *Knit 2, K2tog*. Repeat from * to * across the row to last stitch. K1. This will decrease the number of stitches by 4, leaving you with 14 stitches.
Rows 88 to 90: work in stocking stitch.

Cut the wool, and join the skin-tone wool to knit the neck and head.  


Rows 91 and 92: work in stocking stitch.
 Row 93: *k1, kfb*. Repeat from * to *, increasing the number of stitches by 7 to 21.
Row 94: purl.
Row 95: *k1, kfb*. Repeat from * to * until last stitch, k1, increasing the number of stitches by 10 to 31
Row 96: purl.
Row 97: *k2, kfb*. Repeat from * to * until last stitch, k1, increasing the number of stitches by 10 to 41.
Row 98: purl.
Row 99: K1 *k2, kfb*. Repeat from * to * until last stitch, k1, increasing the number of stitches by 13 to 54.
Rows 100 to 116: work in stocking stitch. 
Row 117: K1, *K2, K2tog all the way across to last stitch, k1, reducing the number of stitches by 13 to 41.
Row 118: purl.
Row 119: K1 *k2, k2tog*. Repeat from * to * across the row, decreasing the number of stitches by 10 to 31.
Row 120: purl.
Row 121: K1, *k1, k2tog*. Repeat from * to * all the way across, decreasing the number of stitches by 10 to 21.
Row 122: purl.
Row 123: k1, and then k2tog across the remaining 20 stitches of the row, decreasing the number of stitches by 10 to 11.
Row 124: purl.
Row 125: k1, and then k2tog across the remaining 10 stitches of the row, decreasing the number of stitches by 5 to 6.
Row 126: purl.


Cut the yarn and draw it through the remaining stitches to cast off, pulling it tight and using the end to sew up the head. 



Arms (both the same)

Cast on 6 stitches
Row 1: kfb each stitch, increasing number of stitches by 6 to 12.
Rows 2 to 10: stocking stitch
Row 11: * k1, k2tog*. Repeat from * to * all the way across the row, deceasing the number of stitches by 4 to 8.
Rows 12 to 24: stocking stitch
Row 25: Change to colour trim for the sleeve (redcurrant in my angel's case) and work rows 26 and 26 in red.
Row 27: Change to the main sleeve colour (yellow here) and work rows 27 to 34 in stocking stitch.
Row 35: k2tog all the way across the row, halving the number of stitches to 4.
Row 36: purl.
Cast off.

Skirt
(made in 2 halves, which are then sewn together along the side seams)


First half:
In contrasting colour (redcurrant in my case) cast on 188 stitches on 3mm needles.
Row 1: k2tog all the way across, halving the number of stitches to 94.
Row 2: k2tog all the way across, halving the number of stitches to 47. 

Now cut the contrasting yarn (red here) and join the main skirt colour (yellow) and work in slip stitch rib as follows:

Row 1: *k3, slip 1 purl-wise (i.e. bring the wool around as though you were going to work a purl stitch, and instead of purling, slip the stitch from the left needle to the right needle)*. Continue from * to * across the row to last 3 stitches: knit 3.
Row 2: k1, *slip 1 purl-wise, k3*. Continue from * to * across the row.

Carry on (repeating rows 1 and 2) knitting in the slip stitch rib until the skirt is 11 cm long, ending with a Row 2 row.
Cut the main colour yarn and attach the trim colour for the waistband.
Next row to shape the waistband: K2tog all the way across to the last stitch, k1. You will now have 24 stitches left on the needle. 
Work 4 rows of stocking stitch, and then cast off knit-wise.

Now make the other side in exactly the same way,  and sew the two sides together, stitching up the side seams as you go. 

Stuff your angel with the toy stuffing, and sew up.

When it comes to the angel's face I put the stuffing in temporarily and mark where the eyes will go with pins. I then take as much of the stuffing out as I need to in order to attach the safety eyes where the pins have been. Then I stuff it again, and sew it up to do the embroidery on the stuffed head.


You may want to stitch her skirt to her body to hold it in place, but I found, with the amount of stuffing that I'd used, mine was a sufficiently snug fit to stay in place without the need for anything more.

Next sew the arms on and embroider her pink cheeks and smile. The trick with embroidering her face is to not pull the thread tightly, otherwise you'll distort her features into an unattractive pucker. She just needs a few stitches directly down below each eye for her pink cheeks, and a little running stitch smile.

I used the brown (mole) wool for her hair, attaching it using a 3 mm crochet hook. Here's a picture I made to explain how to do it with my Ms Witch doll.


Lace the lengths of the brown wool through her head with the crochet hook to form her hair. It's best to start at the top and work your way down her head until you get a hairstyle that you like. You can always give her a trim if you're not happy with her initial look. I laced a double length of the wool through, each time, and then pulled the ends through the loop as shown in the photo below so that it holds tight. Don't pull too tightly or you'll distort her head: gently does it.

Next up are her wings. I drew a template:


And then placed that template onto my white card and drew around it so that I had an outline of the wings on the card. I drew around that outline with a pencil so that it was a bit clearer to cut out with scissors. 

Then I spent a merry hour or two gluing marabou feathers to both sides of the white card - and everything in the kitchen. I used a clear-drying wood glue for strength, and left the wings to dry out overnight.



And then stitched them on the next morning using the same colour wool as the bodice of her dress.

If you didn't want to go down the feathers and glue route you could use a floristry butterfly for wings. These are made for adding to flower arrangements, and you can buy them for a couple of pounds on eBay. They come with a crocodile clip at the back which you could use to attach them, and that way you'd be able to detach them again for storage after Christmas. All you'd have to do is snip off the butterfly antennae and head, neither of which would work with angel wings.


And last of all we need to make her halo. I used a length of gold-coloured floristry wire, which I bent around in a circle, and then bent down into a pin to attach it to her head. The circle of the halo was wrapped in the yellow wool that I'd used for her dress, but you could use some marabou feathers twisted through the wire, or even some tinsel.



And ta-dah! Happy Days! We've made our angel.


All the best for now,

Bonny x

PS you might also like some of my other Christmas tree decorations:- 

Union Jack Christmas Tree Ball


Christmas Tree Christmas Tree ball





Cinnamon stick Christmas tree decorations








1 comment:

  1. She's totally adorable. We do the "Star" thing on our tree but I like your angel very much.

    ReplyDelete