It’s Christmaaaas!!
Well not yet of course, but time is marching on!
I’m actually later than usual with my annual Christmas crochet pattern this year. Blame the summer heatwave which slowed me down. Crocheting a woolly blanket on my lap was just not possible during those hot weeks. I can’t believe I’m saying that, here in Scotland!
July is the month I normally work on my Christmas project, write the pattern in August and publish it in September, but here we are in October already!
I know I’m late with the pattern, and with all the other projects we crocheters take on at this time of year, you might be feeling that time is running out to have the blanket finished in time for this festive season.
However, I’m a firm believer in the joy of crocheting a Christmas blanket around actual Christmas time, not months in advance. What could be better than sitting peacefully by the Christmas tree on a cold winter’s day and working on your blanket with these gorgeous festive colours? Then in January when you finish it, you can tuck it away to bring out next Christmas, and love it all over again!
I did that a few years ago, working on the Touch of Frost blanket during Twixmas, and I think it’s been my favourite Christmas blanket for that reason.
Anyway, it’s here at last, and I’m delighted to introduce the Festive Memories Blanket…
For 2026 I have gone back to traditional festive colours, warm and cosy shades of reds and greens, with touches of gold and cream. They just speak Christmas, don’t they?
I had to get my husband to light the gas fire in the living room for the photo shoot, and the blanket looked amazing in front of our old cast iron fireplace. It really put me in the mood for winter, although it was only August – and rather hot 🤭.
I began to fantasise about dark winter afternoons after a crisp walk in the woods. A mug of hot chocolate ( what am I saying? I don’t even like hot chocolate😂) OK, a mug of tea and a mince pie, curled up under the blanket by the fire. The tree lights twinkling and stirring up festive memories of all Christmases past.
But the name I chose – Festive Memories – alludes to something else too. This is my seventh Christmas blanket, and for 2026 I decided to revisit some little memories of past designs.
Those of you who know my blankets already should be able to pick out some familiar motifs.
So these are my Festive Memories!
I ‘m sure you’ve noticed that this blanket is made up of stripes of different motifs, rather than rounds worked out from the centre. Which makes it a rectangular rather than square shape, measuring 60 ins x 49 ins.
There is a wide border of stripes which echo the colours of the blanket, to finish it off.
Now, to get down to the practical stuff –
The pattern comes in two versions – UK crochet terms and US terms. When you purchase it on Etsy or Ravelry you will receive both versions as separate .pdf files and you can choose to download whichever one you prefer.
This is officially my longest pattern – 32 pages of instructions and photo tutorials. But don’t be alarmed. It’s not because it’s a complicated pattern. Far from it, all the stitches are simple and beginner friendly. It’s just because there are lots of different stripes, so you won’t get bored!
And there are some Video Tutorials on my You Tube channel as well.
The yarn I used is Yarnsmiths Create DK and the list of all the colours is in the pattern.
As usual though, I’ve listed two other yarn options in matching colours – Stylecraft Special DK and Scheepjes Colour Crafter DK. The latter could be a good choice for anyone in the EU who wants to avoid import duties.
I used thirteen different colours and 16 balls in total.
Here is the Yarn List :
As ever though, the wonderful Wool Warehouse has made up Yarn Packs of the Yarnsmiths Create option. I’ll pop the link below.
I’m sure you know by now of the brilliant reputation that Wool Warehouse has for customer service, fast dispatch and reasonable shipping costs. They are a firm favourite with the American followers of my Facebook Group who all tell me they get faster delivery from Wool Warehouse here in the UK, than many US websites.
So yes, Wool Warehouse will ship worldwide and they have even navigated the complications of the US tariffs so you don’t have to.
The pattern itself is available in my Etsy shop and my Ravelry store. Wool Warehouse also sells the pattern on their website, separately from the Yarn Packs.
Again I’ll put all the links below.
Please don’t be put off by what you might hear on social media about fake AI patterns flooding platforms like Etsy. Granted there are far too many, but the real crochet designers are still there too. I think it will be easy to tell that my patterns are real – I’ve got AI disclaimers plastered all over the photos! I wish I didn’t have to, but that’s the time we are in I’m afraid.
As for Ravelry and Wool Warehouse, they wouldn’t touch anything with a bargepole that had even a whiff of AI input. Ravelry has the tools to pick out even the tiniest amount AI use.
So I think I’ve covered everything now.
Here are the links –
PATTERN IN MY RAVELRY STORE HERE
Yarn packs in Wool Warehouse – Link will appear here From 10am (UK time) October 15th.
Join my FACEBOOK GROUP HERE. It’s called Colour and Crochet with Woolthreadpaint. Lots of advice, help and encouragement from the loveliest bunch of people you could imagine. It’s a private group (to keep out the trolls) but there are a couple of simple questions to answer just to make sure you’re not a bot, and then you will be made very welcome.
There we are. The Christmas Blanket pattern for 2026 has landed!
Happy crocheting,
