Hello and Welcome to our universe, we are delighted that you are here!
We thought we’d compile everything you need to know about our activities in December in one blog post:
Airing times:
On December 1st, our daily podcast and Advent calendar “Sit and Knit for a Bit – Christmas Countdown” will premiere on our YouTube channel.
We will publish new episodes of our Christmas Countdown every day at 6:00 pm in Central Europe / noon Eastern / 11:00 am Central / 9:00 am Pacific. The final episode is scheduled for December 24th.
On Sundays (December 6th, 13th and 20th), we have a double treat for you, as we will publish our Christmas Countdown immediately after our regular “Sit and Knit for a Bit – Advent Special” podcast, which has been moved over from Wednesdays to Sundays and will be published at the usual time (6:00 pm CET / noon Eastern / 11 am Central / 9:00 am Pacific.)
The episodes are not live, and once they are published, you will be able to access them any time you like.
Christmas Calendar KAL:
We will reveal a new Christmas ball daily at the end of our daily podcast until December 24th and tell you the story behind each ball.
If you wish to participate in the KAL and knit the balls together with us you will need to purchase the Advent Calendar with patterns for 24 new Christmas balls. You may buy our calendar in our webshop or by clicking on the image below.
Click on the image to get the calendar
Important note for those who purchased the Calendar on November 8th:
Because so many people wanted to start early, all 24 downloadable charts are released at once, so that people can knit the Christmas Balls at their convenience. If you purchased the calendar on November 8th, there might be a problem with your 24 charts download, as some pdf readers are only able to open the first and last page of that download. So, if you are only seeing the first and last page, but not seeing the 24 charts, please contact us so we may send you a new pdf file which will be readable in all pdf readers.
Please note that this only applies to those who purchased the calendar on November 8th. Everyone else will have received a pdf file that will open in any pdf reader, as updated the downloads as soon as we discovered the issue.
Questions about materials
We have received many questions about the yarns, as it seems our recommended yarn, Rowan Alpaca Soft DK has been challenging to find. If you can’t find this particular yarn and need to substitute it, any DK yarn will do, as long as it is 100% wool or – 70% or 80% or 90% wool blended with Alpaca. If you want to explore different weights, it is possible as well, the weight of the yarn will only affect the size of the balls, so it’s not a big deal what yarn you use, as long as it is mainly in wool. Please ask your local LYS for suggestions.
For those wondering why we have gone up one size in needles for our chosen yarn in the calendar compared to the book, it is because it is a completely different yarn which behaves differently. We think that for the Knitted Balls, the correct needle for ROWAN’S Alpaca Soft DK is one size larger (3.5 mm / US 4) than the needle we used for the yarn in our book (3 mm / US 2.5)
As for the size of the Swarovski Crystals, we found the crystals in our stash, and they were given to us 20 years ago, so we have no idea about the size, as the labels are long gone, but we think they are somewhere between 2 and 3 millimetres.
Adding crystals is optional. A less expensive option to the crystals is to substitute with rhinestones made of glass, which are available in many crafts shops.
A chance to win an exclusive prize!
Take photos of the Christmas balls that you knit from our 2020 Advent Calendar, post them on Instagram and hashtag them with #arnecarlos and #sitandknitforabit.
By doing that, you will be eligible to win a fabulous prize consisting of an exclusive ARNE & CARLOS project bag, one of our books personally dedicated and signed by us as well as a bunch of Prym Ergonomic Needles and hooks! We will select two lucky winners and announce them in early January. Read our contest rules below.
Good Luck!
ARNE & CARLOS
Contest Rules:
1. Tag your images on Instagram with #sitandknitforabit and #arnecarlos, and we will select two winners. Both tags must be used per image to enter the competition.
2. Only images of the Christmas Balls from the 2020 Advent Calendar will be considered. Images of other Christmas Ball designs, including balls from our book “55 Christmas Balls to Knit”, the mini-balls from our webshop or self-designed balls will not be considered.
3. As long as you are knitting the balls from the 2020 Advent Calendar, you may use any other colours than the ones we have used. Just be as creative as you like in your colour choices!
4. The photos must be posted and tagged on December 1st and until December 31st, 2020. Images posted before or after these dates will not be accepted.
5. The more images you post and tag during the above-mentioned dates, the more entries you have, the better the chances are to win!
6. The winners will not be selected randomly. Instead, we will select our two favourite photos based on the quality of the image and the creativity of the setting and staging.
7. We will ship the prize anywhere in the world, so everyone is eligible to enter this contest.
8. The two lucky winners will be announced at the beginning of January 2021. The prizes will ship sometime in the middle or end of January 2021.
Win an ARNE & CARLOS project bag
A signed copy of “Make Your Own Idea Book” dedicated to you.
And a bunch of PRYM ERGONOMIC needles and hook.
Check out their products here:
And while we wait for tomorrow, we hope you’ll enjoy yesterday’s Advent Special, we guarantee it will put a huge smile on your face – and make you laugh!
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CLICK HERE for our Christmas Merchandise.
CLICK HERE to visit our webshop.