Christmas toy garland

For a long time, I hated Christmas.
I grew up in a strict southern fundamentalist family and as a result, Christmas was a very dour affair. Don't get me wrong: they're wonderful in many ways, but at Christmastime, when the focus is on Jesus-and-Jesus-only, things were always less fun and more serious. That is, until I spent Christmas with a lovely family of atheists in the tiny Lorraine village of Marat-la-Petite. Atheists, as it turns out, really know how throw a Christmas. Two days of endless eating, dancing, gift-giving, gift-receiving, game playing, and eating again, and again... afterwards, it occurred to me that there are a lot of things about Christmas that are really great. So the following year, I challenged myself to give it my all and to try and really like Christmas. That means the whole shabang: stockings, wassail, wreath, tree, and a knitterly (and crochetty, too) garland for said tree.

This garland is knit using primarily Red Heart yarn in a variety of colors, and using size US6 dpns. When crocheted, this is done with crochet hooks in sizes G or H. Some crocheting can be avoided and replaced (such as in the Wreath), but not in the way that I have made the Snowman or the Gingerbread bits. Each independent part of the garland is somewhere around 5" tall, more or less, and took me about 1-2 hours to construct (most pieces took 1 hour or less, actually, while the Snowman and Gingerbread House took an entire movie apiece). For a 10'-long garland, the components are as follows:

1. Lightbulbs (12 total)
2. Snowmen (2)
3. Candy Canes (3)
4. Wreaths (3)
5. Gingerbread Folks (2)
6. Gingerbread Houses (2)

(24 pieces, spaced at 5" apart = 120" = 10 feet)

LIGHTBULBS
I used Red Heart in black and Caron Simply Soft in bright colors for Kimberly Chapman's simple, fast, and gorgeous design, which can be found here: http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/knit-patterns-christmaslights.html



SNOWMAN(crocheted)
NB: I used the Sliding Loop technique to begin , which feels easier and tidier to me.
Materials

• Red Heart in white (body), black (hat & eyes), orange (just a tiny bit for the nose), and blue (or whatever color you want, for the scarf)
• Crochet hook, size H
• Knitting needles, size US6 (for the scarf)
• Tapestry needle
• Small amount of Poly-fill

Lower Body.
Let's start Mr. Snowman by increasing from the bottom up for three rounds:
rd 1: dc 10 times into the sliding loop. Join with a slip st and tighten loop. (10 st)
rd 2: ch 3. *dc 1 into next st, then dc twice into following st. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st. (18 st)
rd 3: ch 3. *dc once each into next two st, then dc twice into the third st. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st. (23 st)
Begin decreases:
rd 4: ch3. *dc once each into next two st, then hdc the third and fourth st together. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st.
rd 5: ch3. *dc once each into next st, then hdc the second and third st together. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st.
NB: Now is an excellent time to stuff the lower body with Poly-fill.
rd 6: ch 2. hdc in all st, join. (8 st)
Begin Frosty's head by increasing:
rd 7: ch 3. *dc 1 into next st, then dc twice into following st. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st. (14 st)
rd 8: ch 3. *dc once each into next two st, then dc twice into the third st. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st.
Decrease again:
rd 9: ch3. *dc once each into next two st, then hdc the third and fourth st together. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st.
rd 10: ch3. *dc once each into next st, then hdc the second and third st together. Rep. from * until end of round, join with slip st.
Stuff head with Poly-fill.

Hat Brim.
rd 1: Switch to black, form Sliding Loop and dc 10 times into loop.
rd 2: *dc once into st, dc twice into next st. Rep. from * to end of round. Break yarn.

Hat Top.
rd 1: Form Sliding Loop and dc 10 times into loop. This is the top of the (top hat's) hat top.
rd 2: Now to go 3D and begin the walls of the hat! Twist the work so that you are creating the hat top-down; when you join this round, you should have a bottle cap shape. ch 3 and dc once into each st on the rim, join with sl st.
rd 3: ch 3 and dc once into each st on the rim, join with sl st. Break yarn.
Stuff hat with Poly-fill. Join to the hat brim and to the Snowman's head, simultaneously, with tapestry needle and black yarn tails. Face.Nose: Attach orange yarn to a stitch in what you want to be the middle of Frosty's face. ch3, tie off, cut tail short (but not too short!).
Eyes: Affix strand of black yarn onto one white stitch, draw the ends through the body so that they don't show.
Scarf.
Switch to dpns and knit. You don't have to knit it, I suppose, but I think the knit/crochet contrast is nice.CO 4 st.
rows 1-2: K across all st in Garter st.
rows 3-x: Continue in Stockinette st until scarf measures about 7" long.
last 2 rows: K two rows in Garter st. BO and break yarn.Add fringe if you want. Tie scarf and affix on tail to Snowman's body. Done!

CANDY CANE
Knit as an i-cord.
Materials:

• 2 dpn, size US6
• Red Heart Super Saver Solids, Red & White
• Tapestry needle
• Small amount of Poly-fill

CO 8 st with white.
row1: P
row2: [switch to red] K
row3: [begin i-cord] K
row4-5: [white] K as i-cord
row6-7: [red] K as i-cord
Repeat rows 4-7, stuffing with poly-fill as you go, until the end of 9th section of white, at least. Break yarn, leaving at the top a fairly long tail for both colors, around 5" long.
You should now have a peppermint stick measuring roughly 5", if you have the same gauge as I; let's curve the top so that it becomes a cane:
Using a tapestry needle, use end of red yarn to snug up the 'back' of the i-cord in a mattress stitch motion, moving down the body of the cane. As you move down the seam, pull the working yarn as tightly as possible; this will cause the tip of the stick to curve down. When it has curved sufficiently, knot the tail to the body of the cane to fix the yarn with all its tension. Now insert the needle up through the interior of the cane, drawing up the yarn until it comes out the uppermost curve of the cane; this will form part of the loop that it used to attach it the garland.
Use the white tail at both ends to close up the tips of the cane. Once the upper end has been closed, pull the needle with top end of the white yarn through the interior of the cane in the same fashion as you did with the red yarn; this forms the other half of the loop.

WREATH
NB: The body of the wreath is knit as an i-cord, while the bow is crocheted in red.
Materials:

• 2 dpn, size US6
• size G crochet hook
• Red Heart Super Saver Solids, Green & Red
• Tapestry needle
• Small amount of Poly-fill

Wreath.
CO 8 st in green with your 2 dpns.
row1: P
row2: K
row3: Begin i-cord.
Continue as i-cord, stuffing with Poly-fill as you go, until piece measures roughly 8-9". Bind off and break yarn, leaving a long enough tail to seam together two ends to form a ring. This doesn't have to be done terribly neatly, because we'll be covering this join with our red bow.

Bow.
Using crochet hook, ch 4.
row1: sc across (4 st)
row2: dc once in each st (4 st)
rows 3-6: Repeat row 2
row 7: Wrap around join area on wreath, and sc together the two ends of your red strip, forming a ring.
First tie strip.
row 8a: ch3, then dc into the very first st, and dc into the next st. (3 st)
rows 9a - Whatever: Repeat row 8 (with 3 st per row) until this strip (along with another) would measure long enough for you to be able to comfortably tie them into a bow. (NB: for me, this was around 10 or so inches, and it wasn't super easy to tie the bow.) Break yarn.
Second tie strip.
row 8b: Go back to the bottom of the red ring joined to the wreath, where you started the first tie strip. There will be two unoccupied stitches, and into these 2 st is where we will: ch3, then dc into the very first st, and dc into the next st. (3 st)
rows 9b - Same-Number-of-Rows-as-You-Used-for-the-First-Tie-Strip: Repeat, as with first tie strip.
Tie bow, and ta-da!



GINGERBREAD FOLKS (crocheted)
Materials:

• size G crochet hook
• Red Heart Super Saver Solids, Brown & White
• Tapestry needle
• Small amount of Poly-fill
• 2 buttons

Head.
row 1: ch3. sc across into all 3 links. (3 st)
row 2: ch 3, dc twice into first st, dc once into second, dc twice into third st. (5 st)
row 3: ch3, hdc into first 2 sts, dc into 3rd st, hdc into 4th & 5th sts (3 st)