Knit a Santa Claus Christmas decoration :: Free knitting pattern

Knitted Santa Claus - Knit a Santa Claus Christmas decoration - Craft - allaboutyou.com

You will need

• 5g DK acrylic yarn in red
• 5g DK acrylic yarn in pink
• Small amount of fluffy white eyelash yarn
• Set of three 4mm double pointed needles or circular needle for magic loop
• Beads, safety eyes or black yarn (for eyes)
• Stuffing
• Tapestry needle for sewing up
• Silver thread (for hanging loop)
• A mug of mulled wine and mince pie to reward yourself afterwards (optional)

Size/Gauge

15cm (6in) from tip of hat to bottom of beard

Skills you’ll need

Knitting in the round. Increasing and decreasing. Very basic embroidery for ears and nose.

Abbreviations

Inc1 = increase one stitch by (knit through front and back of loop)
K = knit
K2tog = knit two together (knit two stitches at once)
P = purl
sts = stitches

Pattern

Santa is made by knitting from the top down and circular needles so there is no sewing up at all.

For the hat

Cast on 6 sts with red yarn

Separate the stitches onto 3 needles and join to knit in the round (this first bit might be a bit fiddly but it gets easier the more you knit)

Row 1 K around

Row 2 (K, inc1) around (9 sts)

Rows 3 and 4 K around

Row 5 (K, inc1, k) around (12 sts)

Rows 6 and 7 K around

Row 8 (K, inc1, k2) around (15 sts)

Rows 9 and 10 K around

Row 11 (K2, inc1, k2) around (18 sts)

Rows 12 and 13 K around

Row 14 (K2, inc1, k3) around (21 sts)

Rows 15 and 16 K around

Row 17 (K3, inc1, k3) around (24 sts)

Rows 18 and 19 K around

Row 20 (K3, inc1, k4) around (27 sts)

Rows 21 and 22 K around

Row 23 (K4, inc1, k4) around (30 sts)

Rows 24 and 25 K around

For the hat bands

Change to fluffy white yarn

Row 26 K around

Rows 27, 28 and 29 P around

Row 30 K around

For the head

Row 31 K around

Row 32 (K4, inc1, k5) around (33 sts)

Row 33 K around

Row 34 (K3, inc1, k3, inc1, k3) around (39 sts)

Rows 35 to 39 K around

Row 40 (K, k2tog) around (26 sts)

Row 41 K around

Row 42 K2tog around (13 sts)

Cut yarn, leaving tail as long as your arm.

Thread yarn through remaining stitches but don’t pull tight yet.

Finishing

Stuff Santa’s hat and head making you don’t overstuff the hat. Keep the point pointy!

Pull the yarn tail tight to close up the bottom and sew it into place.

Using the rest of the tail you can now embroider his ears and nose as follows:

Thread the needle and yarn through the head so it comes out on the right side under the hat where the right ear should be.

Sew around one stitch in that spot six times to create an ear bump. Don’t pull the yarn too tight with each stitch.

Thread the yarn through and make an ear on the opposite side.

Thread the remaining yarn out of the centre of the face to sew to nose.

Sew around the three centre stitches eight times to make the nose. Again don’t pull too tight with each stitch.

Using fluffy yarn embroider a beard by sewing vertical stitches across from the bottom of the head to underneath the nose.

Use the fluffy yarn to sew a few small loops at the point of the hat. You can use your finger or a pen to keep the loops open until you have secured the yarn.

Sew silver thread through the top of the hat to make your hanging loop.

Sew on the eyes.