A knitted Santa takes shape

It seems rain has been pouring down for weeks and I haven't been feeling at all Christmasy but with only five weeks to go I decided I should seek some festive cheer. I keep my Christmas books on a shelf behind the sofa so that I'm not tempted to look at them throughout the year. And so last weekend out they came. Don't you just love vintage Christmas decorations.

These old Santas must have seen many Christmases come and go. What tales they could tell.

After drooling over a few more Santas I was inspired to knit one of my own. A little fellow in traditional red and white of course, but to ring the changes I decided to make a Santa mouse who would deliver gifts to good little boy and girl mice around the world on Christmas Eve.
Out came the yarn and needles and I sat by the fire and busied myself with my festive creation.

And here he is.... just 17cm (7in) tall to the tip of his ears.

To begin with I gave him a traditional white beard and bushy eyebrows and he looked ridiculous! And so he ended up being beardless and eyebrow-less and looks a lot more mousy.

I found a small amount of hessian coloured wool in my stash and it was just enough to make a sack for the little fellow. He wasted no time in filling it and trotting off to wherever it is he keeps his gifts for good mice.

I was so pleased with him that I decided to write out the pattern which in the end took almost as long as knitting the actual mouse. You'll find the pattern in my Etsy shop. It's easy to follow (I don't do difficult) and you only require basic knitting skills.

And so now my all time favourite festive poem will never seem the same. I used to read it to my children every Christmas Eve but the line 'not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse' seems no longer relevant!