Good morning and happy Friday to you. I hope this summer is treating you well and that you are finding joy in creating beautiful things in spite of the heat!
This week I would like to tell you about my 2022 Yarn Advent Calendars. Quite a few of you have reached out to see if I’m doing yarn Advent calendars this year and when I plan to have them available, so I decided to start a little earlier than usual.
If you have been around these parts for awhile, you have probably noticed that I have made several colorways inspired by various parts of The Lord of the Rings. In fact, if I were going to be stuck on a deserted island and happened to have some advanced notice of that fact, I would surely toss Tolkien’s great trilogy in my backpack to come along and keep me company.
It only made sense, therefore, to base this year’s yarn Advent calendars on Tolkien’s masterpiece. Rather than basing the yarn on characters as I have often done in the past, we’ll be journeying together with Frodo and Sam through the three books. The colorways will be inspired by the different places and events that take place along their path. I had to work hard to narrow the colorways down to just 24. I chose them based on importance within the series as well as the visual imagery of each event.
We’ll start out with the birthday party at Bag End and end at the Grey Havens. I’m not going to tell you all 24 right now because that is part of the surprise, but I will give you one more spoiler. I love the character of Tom Bombadil and hate the fact that he is always left out of every adaptation, so the scene that takes place in his home will definitely be part of the set.
The yarn colorways will be based on the books themselves and not an adaptation, but if you are like me and enjoy listening to audio books while you knit, crochet, or weave, there is a great BBC audio dramatization of The Lord of the Rings available on Audible. Our family has listened to it during many trips.
This will be the 4th year for my Advent calendars, and each year my goal is to create something completely different than the previous years and something that will bring you joy and a little respite in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Here is a collage of the last three years of Advent calendars:
Many thanks to Shirley, Gayle, and Amy for sending in photos of their beautiful completed shawls!
For the 2022 yarn Advent calendars, I’ll be using the rich earthy colors that befit The Lord of the Rings. Most of the colorways will be completely new and created just for the Advent calendar. They are intended to work as a cohesive set, and the vast majority will be variegated colorways.
The kit will include 24 individually wrapped 20 gram sock-weight mini skeins. Each mini skein has 80 yards, so the whole set will include 1920 yards. I’ll be using Silken Sock, a 2-ply yarn made of 80% superwash merino and 20% mulberry silk that is so very soft and luscious.
Each mini skein will be packaged in a small box that will be named and numbered, and the idea is to open and use one mini skein every day starting on December 1st and ending on Christmas Eve. I’ll also be including a small gift for Christmas Day.
The kit will also include a knitting pattern by Ambah O’Brien called the Radvent Wrap. It’s a unique pattern that is knit from the center out, which I thought would fit so well with the journey theme of this kit. You will receive a paper copy of the pattern as well as a code to download it from Ravelry and store it in your library there.
By the way, the Radvent Wrap calls for 80 yards per mini skein, and that’s exactly what this yarn base has. Just to be sure, I checked with Ambah, and she said she leaves at least an extra 10%, so there will be no need to play yarn chicken.
Of course if you prefer to crochet or weave with your kit, you certainly can. There are lots of wonderful crochet patterns for Advent yarn, and all the minis would be enough to weave a nice big shawl or cozy blanket.
Please do keep in mind that this is a preorder. I will be dyeing the yarn and packaging it in time to ship these Advent calendars by early November so they arrive in plenty of time for December 1st.
You can learn more and preorder yours right here. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
New in the Shop this Week
In addition to completing all the plans for this year’s Yarn Advent calendars, I’ve dyed up some colorways this week. They include Paris, Javert, and It’s Complicated as well as Kingfisher for the first time in several years.
I especially love the way It’s Complicated looks on Feather Sock. Instead of distinct speckles, it’s more like an Impressionist painting.
I think that’s everything for this week. See you next Friday!