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Valentine Candle in a Mug

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Valentine MugWe previously made some personalized mugs for Christmas presents and I was thinking they would also make wonderful valentine candle gifts. Creating a candle in a mug is the same as using any other container.

Shown here is one my daughter created for her Grandma. I’m sure she won’t mind designing a couple more and I will melt the wax for them.

You can find pretabbed wicks everywhere now that will stand up on their own. You don’t have to worry about your wick falling over or looking crooked. Village Candle Supply is where I usually get my wicks. My mom brought me there on my birthday and I could have stayed and looked around for hours.

For another fun valentine candle idea, check out Homeschool Zone’s family project with heart shaped cookie cutters.

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Krampus Sweater Knitting Pattern

Santa and Saint Nicholas generally get all the good press, but Central European kids know you don’t want to just be good so you get presents from St. Nicholas; you also want to avoid the ire of Krampus. (He’s depicted as a human-like figure with horns and usually hairy or furry who gives birch rods instead of gifts to kids who are bad.)

If you’re the type to embrace the naughty side (or you just want to scare the children into good behavior over the holidays), maybe you’ll want to knit a Krampus sweater.  

This one, from Sofie Amalie Laulund, is a top down circular yoke sweater with Krampus faces at the top and cavorting Krampuses further down the body, with some traditional Scandinavian snowflakes thrown in for fun. 

Because of the large motifs there’s not a lot of room for adjusting the fit, but it is available in five sizes (the Ravelry page doesn’t say what the sizing is, and it says its worked with no ease but the photo looks like the sweater has a bit of positive ease, so if you decide to make this one just check the measurements and your own comfort level for ease when picking a size). 

It also uses five colors, but there’s very little red and brown so you can probably use scrap yarn for those parts. It calls for DK weight yarn. You’ll want a background color that helps the creatures stand out. You could also work the snowflake bands in different colors if you want to mix it up. 

The pattern is available in both English and Danish, and you can find it on Ravelry. This is the designer’s first pattern, which kudos to them because it’s such an ambitious (and fun!) project I’m happy to add to my collection of whimsy-filled knits. 

[Photo: Sofie Amalie Laulund]