Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Knit Skate Ornament

I recently found the most adorable crochet ice skate ornament at Suzie's Stuff and I loved it so much that I decided to make a knitting pattern for it.

First I tried making the skate out of a single layer of stockinette stitch, but it wanted to curl up when I hung it on the christmas tree. I made the ornament lay flat by knitting a mirror image of the first layer and seaming the two layers together. Suddenly the skate became 3 dimensional and had much more bulk to it so it fit in better with the other ornaments on the tree.


Materials:
  • White, sparkly worstred weight yarn
  • US Size 5 needles
  • Jumbo paper clips
  • Scissors
  • Tapestry needle

Terms used in this pattern:
PSSO: This stands for Pass Slipped Stitch Over, and it is a left-slanting decrease. To do it, insert the left needle into the front of the slipped stitch on the right needle, then pass the slipped stitch over the last knit stitch and slip it off the right needle. (It is basically like binding off one stitch.)

Skate Side 1:
Cast on 11 stitches
Row 1: knit
Row 2: purl
Row 3: knit
Row 4: purl
Row 5: slip 1, knit 1, PSSO, knit 9
Row 6: purl
Row 7: bind off 4, knit 6
Row 8: purl
Row 9: knit
Row 10: purl
Rows 11: knit
Row 12: purl
Bind off, leaving a big loop when you bind off the last stitch. That loop is what you'll use to hang the skate on the Christmas tree.

Skate Side 2 (Mirror Image):
Cast on 11 stitches
Row 1: purl
Row 2: knit
Row 3: purl
Row 4: knit
Row 5: slip 1, purl 1, PSSO, purl 9
Row 6: knit
Row 7: bind off 4 purl-wise, purl 6
Row 8: knit
Row 9: purl
Row 10: knit
Row 11: purl
Row 12: knit
Bind off purl-wise

Finishing Touches:
  • Weave in the ends.
  • Place the two sides of the skate flat on a table (right side up) with the bottom edges of the skates touching each other. Line the stitches up with each other and seam those two edges together using mattress stitch.
  • Slide the jumbo paper clip onto your work right where you just seamed it. You should now be able to fold the two sides of the skate up like a sandwich, and the paper clip will be at the bottom of the skate where the skate's blade would be.
  • Sew the rest of the edges of the skate together using mattress stitch.

This little skate looks good on a Christmas tree, but it's small enough that it also works well for fancy gift wrapping, see?


I hope you have a great time knitting this little guy!  As you know, ice skates are near and dear to my heart.
xoxo
Laura

2 comments:

  1. I love this! It is so life like.

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  2. Hi Laura,
    Our daughter,age 10, is a figure skater and when I came across your skate pattern I couldn't believe! I showed Angela and her eyebrows went up in surprise and she grinned. We're going to try it out today. Thanks and happy skating:)

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