This pattern is retired and not usually available. However, I make many of my retired patterns available for a few days twice a year, and this is one of those times! It will be available from now through some time on Monday, December 2. Then it will go away again.

In the summer of 2022, I realized that I found maintaining a back catalog of hundreds of patterns overwhelming. I couldn’t do it and still release new things. So I took my old patterns down so I could keep doing new work.

A few favorites have come back, and lots of new things have come out! But the vast majority of the old patterns are retired and are no longer generally available.

However, enough folks have asked about old favorites that I make many of the retired patterns available for a few days twice a year (usually in early summer and around Thanksgiving).

• 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, then it’s not currently available.
• If you want to hear when the retired patterns are available, subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, or keep an eye on my instagram.

Nestled verb settled snugly or comfortably

There really are only two responses to these. Either you’re thinking ‘huh, folks sure do knit some odd things’ or you’re thinking ‘holy smokes, get out of my way, I must make some of those right this very second.’

If you’re in that first group, I get it, go find whatever knitting makes you happiest and do that instead. But, if you’re in that second group…we should totally talk!

Before we start, I should warn you, these are hard to put down. Both in the sense that they’re hard to stop knitting and in the sense that they’re hard to stop holding once you’ve knit a few. They really are more charming than they have any right to be!

What to do with the sweet, silly little things:

• Knit a whole bunch of just the leaves and make them into a wreath or a garland
• Hide them where someone who could use a smile will find them
• Give one to your favorite kiddo and see what sort of clever games they come up with (just make sure you’re only giving it to folks who won’t put them in their mouths!)
• Use them as party favors or place card holders at your next party
• Use them as table decorations for you holiday table
• Use the leftover yarn from a baby sweater to make a toy the kiddo won’t grow out of

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 possible variations to experiment with. You can make the leaf in two different sizes and two different textures, and there are three different cape shapes and three ways to finish the tip of the hood.

It’s quick knitting (each leaf or cape takes a few hours). And it’s almost all stockinette or ribbing with just a little bit of shaping to make them dangerously cute.

The only special equipment you’ll need is the peg dolls, and you can find them at most any craft store (and at a lot of toy stores). Mine are between two and three inches tall. You may also want some pipe cleaners if you want to hold the stems or the points of the hoods in just the right shape.

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 where to get the peg dolls to how to block the pieces to how and when to weave in your ends. It’s almost absurdly detailed, but it really does mean you can totally make these!

These are perfect for you if:

• You really just need something you can start this morning, finish this evening, and call a win…because some days you just need a quick win
• You find yourself gripped with plans…plans to put one of these at each place setting on your Thanksgiving table, or one in each grandkids’ Christmas stocking, or in a care package for a special someone, or just to hide them around your house for no good reason at all

They’re not for you if:

• You don’t like charts (the pattern uses charts)
• You are looking for a proper, serious, grownup sort project to impress strangers with