Ghostly Advent · 24 Filet Crochet Ornaments, an Advent Calendar Pattern Pack (PDF)

An advent calendar in filet crochet: twenty-four small lace ornaments, one for each day of December, each shaped like its motif and each with a Victorian story that carries a little shiver. Starch them and hang them on the tree, or in a window where the light comes through the lace.

PRE-SALE

€8.90 until 30 November, then €11.90. From 1 December the free calendar opens one window a day; the pack has all 24 charts now, so you can start before December.

A bell with goblins in its tower, Blue Beard's key, the cap Scrooge pressed down on the Ghost of Christmas Past, a pudding like a speckled cannon-ball, a snapdragon bowl, a hooded spectre, an owl, a fox, the man in the moon, and a wreath for Christmas Eve.

WHAT YOU GET

• 1 PDF in English, 52 pages, landscape A4

• 24 charts, with numbered rows and the hanging loop marked

• Every row written out, mesh by mesh, including the tops worked in parts

• 24 short Victorian stories, one for each day, each built on a real book, custom or belief

• Materials, filet basics, shaping at the edges, picot edging, the hanging loop and starching

THE FREE CALENDAR

From 1 to 24 December one window a day opens at lilacandlace.eu/advent, and that day's chart is free for that one day. The pack has all 24 at once, to print and keep, so you can start before December or take your time after it.

SIZE

From about 5.2 × 13.5 cm to 10.8 × 16.5 cm before the edging, which adds about 0.5 cm all round (13–27 meshes wide, 21–33 rows).

MATERIALS

• Cotton crochet thread size 10, white or ecru: about 600 m for all 24, so three 50 g balls

• 1.5 mm crochet hook

• Gauge: 25 meshes × 20 rows = 10 cm, blocked

• Pins, a board and starch for shaping

SKILL LEVEL

Intermediate: meshes added and dropped at both ends of a row, a few tops worked in parts.

TESTED

I crocheted test pieces of the ornaments. After testing, a few charts were made more symmetric, and every chart and its row-by-row text were checked against each other, mesh by mesh. If you spot anything, write to me: corrected versions reach you for free through your Payhip download link.

THE NAME

Ghost comes from the Old English gāst: breath, spirit, the soul. Advent is the Latin adventus, "a coming, an arrival". So a Ghostly Advent is the arrival of spirits, and at a Victorian Christmas, ghosts came to call.

This is a digital pattern, not a finished product. The first photo shows test pieces crocheted from the first draft of the charts (days 4, 6 and 7); the final charts are a little more symmetric. Images marked "digital preview" are made from the charts, not photos. For personal use: you may sell ornaments you make by hand, but please don't share or resell the PDF.