I came up with this Christmas Advent Calendar design because I love the idea of having a personalised advent calendar that I can use every year.
At the moment, I have made one for me and one for my partner, but the great thing about homemade advent calendars is that you can make as many as you need, either now or in the future! Remember you can also make advent calendars for your pets and fill with their favourite treats.
Now it’s time to think of some fun treats to put into the pockets!
The pattern is available for free below.
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What you will need to get started:
- Paton’s Fab DK 100g yarn in Green (shade 02341)
- Sirdar Supersoft Aran 100g in White (shade 0830)
- John Lewis Merino Blend Chunky 50g in Red (shade 302)
- 5mm hook for the advent calendar
- 4mm hook for the letters to create your name
- 1 Darning needle to weave in yarn ends
- 1 thread needle to sew on decorations
- Decorations
- John Lewis Wooden Penguin Stickers
- John Lewis sticky backed felt sheets in red and white
- ‘Have A Cool Yule’ Paper Toppers from John Lewis
- Jesse James Jolly Holly Embellishments
- Jesse James Iced Gingerbread Embellishments
- Groves Christmas Ribbon in Red, Silver and Green
- Groves Premium Trim Collection – Reindeer and Snowflakes
Other:
- Fabric Glue
- Pencil
- Scrap paper
- Scissors
- Measuring tape
- Thread (Coats Metallic 200m in Silver)
- Crochet locking stitch markers
- Squared paper
How to make:
Instructions for the Advent Calendar base and pockets
Advent Calendar Base:
Take your 5mm crochet hook and your red yarn to begin.
Make a slip knot
Ch 60 plus 1 to turn (61 in total)
Skip 1 and DC in each chain (60)
Measure your work at this point – your work should measure 17 inches across (43cm)
Ch1 at the end of the row before turning your work
Turn and continue to DC in each stitch
Continue with your rows of DC in each stitch and ch1 to turn for each row until your work measures 17 inches tall (43cm).
Cut off your yarn and secure the last crochet stitch, leaving a long enough tail to weave into the back of your work. Use your darning needle to weave your beginning and end loose yarn into the back of your work. Please see my website if you need guidance on how to do this for a nice tidy finish.
You will then have a 17 inch by 17 inch DC square. The DC stitch will give you a nice strong and solid background to then work your advent pockets and decorations on to.
Advent Pockets:
There are 3 different sized advent pockets to make.
20 Pockets (10 green yarn and 10 white yarn)
To make one of these 20 pockets, use your 5mm yarn. You can start with either your green or white yarn, but remember you need to make 10 in each colour.
Make a slip knot
Ch 8 plus 1 to turn
Skip the first stitch and then DC in each stitch (8 DC in each row)
Ch 1 before turning
Turn your work and DC in each stitch
Continue until you have a total of 8 rows
Cut off your yarn (you only need to leave the tail long enough to weave into the back of the pocket) and then secure your last crochet stitch
3 Pockets (2 White and 1 Green)
Make a slip knot
Ch 12 plus 1 to turn
Skip the first stitch and DC in each stitch (12 DC in each row)
Ch 1 before turning
Turn your work and DC in each stitch
Continue until you have a total of 8 rows
Cut off your yarn (you only need to leave the tail long enough to weave into the back of the pocket) and then secure your last crochet stitch
1 Pocket (Green)
This pocket is for day 24 and the biggest pocket on your advent calendar
Make a slip knot
Ch 12 plus 1 to turn
Skip the first stitch and DC in each stitch (12 DC in each row)
Ch 1 before turning
Turn your work and DC in each stitch
Continue until you have a total of 18 rows
Cut off your yarn (you only need to leave the tail long enough to weave into the back of the pocket) and then secure your last crochet stitch
The DC crochet for the pockets is a nice tight crochet stitch so that your treats will be well hidden so that each day is a surprise!
Now you can open up your decorations and choose one decoration per pocket (23 pockets) and 3 decorations for your large day 24 pocket.
Green pockets:
Sew your decorations onto the bottom right-hand corner of each green pocket. In order to make sure your decorations stand out, it is best not to put any green decorations onto these pockets (save your Holly decorations for the white pockets!).
White Pockets:
Sew your decorations onto the top left-hand corner of each white pocket. In order to make sure that your decorations stand out, it is best not to put any white decorations onto these pockets (use your snowman and snowflake decorations for the green pockets!)
Number your pockets:
Take a sheet of squared paper to draw out your number templates. You will need to create templates for numbers 0 – 9. Please refer to the diagrams below for guidance.
Then take out your sheets of sticky backed felt (1 sheet of red and 1 sheet of white).
Numbers are created on the felt by using each number template, turning it the back to front, place it on the paper side of the sticky backed felt and then using your pencil to draw around the template. Please refer to the diagram below for guidance. Your number should look back to front on the reverse side of the felt but this means it will come out the right way round on the front of the felt. Cut out each number, and then remove the paper backing and stick to the pocket. I have included a diagram with a suggestion on the pocket numbering for guidance.
Create numbers 1, 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 and 21 on red felt. The red felt numbers should be placed on the right hand side of the white pockets.
Create numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16, 20, 22, 23, and 24 on white felt. The white felt numbers should be placed on the left hand side of the green pockets.
Once you have your 24 pockets (12 green, 12 white) in the sizes above, with decorations and numbers on, you are ready to begin temporarily positioning them on your advent calendar base.
This process is to enable you to position your pockets onto the base evenly and to adjust them so that you are happy with your work.
I left a 0.5 inch (1.3cm/13mm) gap at from the bottom of the advent calendar for the first row of pockets. Begin by securing the largest pocket onto the advent calendar base with a 0.5 inch (1.3cm/13mm) gap at the bottom and 6.5 inches (16.5cm) on each side of the pocket. Secure in place with a crochet locking stitch marker. Continue to temporarily secure the rest of the pockets onto the base. Please refer to the diagram below for guidance.
After securing the pockets with your stitch markers, you should have 4 1/4 inches (11cm) of red advent calendar base from your top row of pockets to the top of the work. In this area you will be able to crochet your preferred name and add come Christmas Crochet Appliqués for your final decorations.
Once you are happy with the positioning of your pockets, you can begin securing each pocket on to your calendar base. Begin with the bottom left pocket. Remove from the base. You will then need to add 1 Treble Crochet (TRC) in each gap. You will need to add 3 TRCs in the second from last gap on each side and 2 TRCs in the first and last gap of the bottom of the pocket; this will create nicely shaped corners for your pockets.
This additional side stitch will help to lift your pocket off of the base to enable you to comfortably put your advent treats in. Please follow the diagram pattern below for guidance.
Then cut off a long tail of yarn (this will be used to sew the pocket onto the advent calendar base) and secure off your last crochet stitch.
You can then sew your pocket onto the base using your darning needle. For a neat finish, try not to darn through to the other side of the advent calendar base, so that the back of your work remains red and does not show the green or white yarn from the pockets.
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Name/Letters:
Crochet your chosen letters; you can then darn these onto the top part of your advent calendar base.
I made my letters with simple chains and then darned them onto the base in the shape of the desired letter. I will post a guide on how to do these as soon as possible 🙂
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