My First Advent Calendar

Have you purchased a yarn advent calendar from an independent dyer?  I have never purchased one and didn’t really know what they were until a few years ago.  I know all about Advent and Advent calendars but it took me a while to figure out what yarn had to do with it!

Advent Calendars for Knitters

As you know, an Advent calendar is something that counts down the four weeks until Christmas – or in popular culture, the 24 days before Christmas.  Being raised in the Catholic Church, I was always a bit confused about getting small gifts on these days (and we never did this), as Advent is taught in the Church to be a very solemn time of reflection leading to Christ’s birth.

The knitting community decided to make its own calendar for adult knitters… Most of these calendars give you individually wrapped mini-skeins of yarn for all 24 days and then one full skein of yarn to open on Christmas Day.  Some dyers have slight variations but the general idea is the same.

Mystery Skeins

Most of the fun of these advent calendars is the surprise of beautifully dyed yarn in mysterious colors.  Some dyers have themes for their calendars, like “White Christmas” or a photo….but some do not.

As I’ve said before, I’m always a bit hesitant to purchase something that I haven’t seen.  But, after seeing so many people open so many advent calendars last year (mainly The Suburban Stitcher and Knitting Vicariously), I decided I would buy one this year.  And, being OCD, I found some patterns on Ravelry to justify my purchase.

October House

When I got the email from Robin at October House this week, about her very first Advent Calendar, I was sold. I love Robin’s soft, creative palette of colors.  I know other dyers have listings for the calendars already but for some reason, Robin’s was the one I couldn’t pass up.

Because who can pass up such a gorgeous watercolor?