Make this Christmas one to remember! Our joyful, festive advent calendar knit-along is filled with fun, colour and celebration. By Ann Franklin.

Knit them in yarns from your stash and create a slogan, or personalise

Ann Franklin’s beautiful throw KAL in soft Deramores Studio Baby DK

Putting the kettle on has never been so blooming exciting! This summer flower tea cosy is packed with colour…

A cute set of items that are ideal to make for a new baby.

This beautiful blanket uses a mixture of knit and purl relief and fair isle technique to create the lucky seven rows of snowflakes.

Spread the season’s greetings with these cheerful characters who can be used as individual decorations, too!

Need a little help to stay organised? An easy to knit peg bag that is not only practical but can be used for all manner of small items, from toys and stationery to haberdashery bits and pieces.

Planning a summer picnic? Pack these cuddly toys for a spot of on-the-go fun!

This traditional teddy bear has jointed limbs, made with simple strong sewing thread joins.

Bright and cheerful Christmas stockings - ready to come out every Christmas Eve to be filled by Santa!

A beautiful, soft baby blanket, sure to become a family heirloom.

This modern wreath uses knitting to mimic the trend of rag rug wreaths. The mini stockings are ‘proper’ stockings, so you can use them for holding candy canes or teeny weeny pressies, while the ‘rag’ leaves and bobbles add interesting texture and colour.

Two long legged toys, sized to make them easy for babies to hug and hold. The yarn used is a lovely, soft, stretchable cotton mix.

This colourful mat has bright, high-contrast colour patterns on one side, to stimulate your baby’s vision, and a variety of textured blocks on the reverse, which stimulate your baby’s sense of touch. This makes either side an ideal companion to your baby’s ‘tummy time’.

1 ball / Pearly Pink (shade 0302)

Sirdar snuggly DK (50g) in:

Originally published as ‘Marissa Mermaid’ this is a cute alternative to the traditional teddy or soft doll. The pattern is knitted using two sizes of needle, which helps to keep the gauges of the two different yarns correct. Knitted mainly in garter stitch and stocking stitch, the shoulder trim uses a variation on the traditional Old Shale patt...

Monty is a jolly monkey, made from bright colours and with long legs, arms and tail, making him an ideal first gift for a baby. Knitted in stocking stitch, he is a fairly simple knit, whilst the small amounts of yarn needed in each colour (less than half a ball of each of the main colours) make this project an ideal stash buster.

Bella is a sweet ballerina doll, knitted mainly in stocking stitch. The hair is knitted in two pieces, with the curls made along with the two main hair pieces by decreasing at the same time as casting off the stitches. The tiara uses a simple but effective picot cast on pattern, and short row shaping.

Three cute pumpkins, just right for Halloween. All three are knitted on straight pins, with the shaping included in the knitting pattern, but enhanced by careful (but simple!) sewing up. The main body for all three pumpkins only takes one ball of yarn, with the face, stalks, leaves etc. only needing very small amounts of yarn in five other colo...

A cute alternative to the traditional teddy, this knitted panda only requires two balls of yarn - one white and one black - so is a very economical knit!

A simple knitted Nativity which uses small amounts of yarn for each figure, making this an ideal ‘stash buster’. Tension is not vital for this project.

A set of Kindle / iPad covers, one using classic cable columns with an I-cord finish (knitted in Aran weight yarn), and the other having a fun Skull and Crossbones motif (knitted in chunky weight yarn).

A sweet knitted witch, complete with her own book of spells and broomstick. Tension is not important for this project.

A cute little pair of bride and groom mascots. An ideal wedding gift, they can be customised to match a wedding’s colour theme.

Frances is a happy WW2 land girl, knitted mainly in stocking stitch.

A fairly simple project, although it does involve a small amount of two-colour work for the collar.

A knitted koala toy, worked mainly in stocking stitch.

These chunky-knit owls are worked mainly in basic stocking stitch and garter stitch, with a small amount of short row shaping for the ears.

Finished size: 27cm or 10.5” from head to toe

A pair of cuddly snowmen, which together only use one and a half balls of yarn in the main colour, with small amounts in other colours to finish. Tension is not vital for this project.

Knitted mainly in stocking stitch, tension is not important to this project. Apart from the main colours for the wolf and the pigs, only very small amounts of yarn are required, so any oddments of DK yarn you have lying about could be used.

Also needed: 100g of toy stuffing.

Geoffrey uses a simple two-colour pattern to create the animal print effect.

Tension is not essential for this project.

16 square pattern with border uses 90g colour A and 90g colour B. Finished size of blanket is 64cm square.

Dingle Dangle Scarecrow is a lovable, dangly toy puppet. It is knitted in oddments of DK yarn, and therefore makes an ideal ‘stash buster’ project.

A pair of hand puppets from the story Little Red Riding Hood - the Wolf even comes with a removable Grandma outfit - all the better to tell the story with!

Tension is not essential for this project. The toys are knitted mainly in stocking stitch, with a little short row shaping for the owl’s ears. The ‘boat’ doubles as a storage bag for the toys.

Knitted in stocking stitch and garter stitch. Tension is not important for this project.

Knit Old MacDonald and his farmyard of animals - these cheerful finger puppets are as much fun to knit as they are to play with! They use only very small amounts of yarn, and are very quick to knit.

This cheerful chap is knitted in a combination of horizontal rib and Perigord pattern - a traditional slipped stitch pattern stitch. Tension is not vital for this puppet; whilst the small amounts of yarn needed make this an economical knit.

This cuddly Santa is 50cm tall and about the same around the waist!

A fairly simple knitted toy, using small amounts of yarn. (The largest amount for one colour being only 40g and for most colours between 10g & 25g).

Tension is not important for this pattern. Each toy takes only 45g of the main colour and 20g of the second colour, meaning that both toys can be knitted with just three balls of yarn.

Teach basic colours and counting to ten with this colourful caterpillar. Made from small amounts of yarn, this toy is not only educational but is also economical! Tension is not important for this project.