Julekuler

While impatiently waiting for my copy of 55 Christmas Balls to Knit, I stumbled onto  The NRK Norwegian Broadcasting website they had hosted a show featuring the authors of the book.

They had kindly given the basic directions for making a julekuler, along with a simple snowflake chart. THANKS Arne & Carlos! Now I can get my julekuler fix & so can you!

I can’t wait to get the actual book, it’s the same ball knitting recipe that they share on the site but I love the traditional look of Norwegian fair isle charts thought. What a perfect holiday knit and a perfect little gift. 

I went for an untraditional look & using sock yarn, it turned out right around 3” tall. I am thinking a good worsted wool would be perfect or some thick & bulky for a jumbo one!  It was wicked fast even with the fair isle colorwork. I am in the midst of working up another one with no colorwork just letting the lush yarn be the decoration.

I wanted this to smell so I stuffed it with a small cinnamon pinecone wrapped in wool roving.  I liked the weight the roving gave it (even with out the pincone) I also thought the roving would absorb the smell better and radiate the scent, more so than poly-fill. Next time I might just add a few drops of cinnamon or pepermint oil to the wool roving and skip the cone, it was a little bit of a beast to knit around that cone wad!

I tried a few different hang loop styles, just a few knotted strands, then crochet, but I finally settled on an I-cord hang loop and just before I finished stitching it on I slipped on two tiny jingle bells for sweetness!

Update : Schachenmayr released a Downloadable Arne & Carlos Julekuler pamphlet with complete instructions HERE!