Hello my LOVES
It’s been way too long since i’ve done a blog and so *she’s baaaaaack* to talk about something exquisite… you know it, (it could only be one thing but also the title probably gives you a clue 🙄😂) it’s LADVENT ✨
For the uninitiated, LADvent is our Advent Calendar – this is the second one we’ve done and so far both have been very different. On each occasion it’s been a *big deal* that we spend months prepping for and invest a small fortune in (cue me panic eating biscuits while composing very grown up emails and paying invoices.) Anyway…
The idea is that you open a door a day revealing your ball of yarn and work your way, day by day through a knitting project so that by Christmas you’ll have a finished make to show off to Santa. Each ball will take around 10-20 minutes to knit up, hopefully making it manageable for an evenings work and you can weave your loose ends in as you go so that it’s not a long winded job at the end.
I’ve done a few shout outs for your LADvent related questions which I will answer here and then (the exciting bit!) I’m going to run through all the patterns included in each calendar.
Side note: As someone who’s not a strong speller, I can’t tell you how much trouble I have with the word calendar – Helen’s given me a new way to remember where the A’s and E’s go though so every time you read it, think of me saying ‘Levio-saaaar, not levio-ser’ (Harry Potter fans will get me) ANYWAY…
What's in it?
Let’s start with the basics… what’s in it, what are the options & why’s it so great?
A quick summary: It’s a zero-waste, cardboard calendar with a rainbow of chunky yarn, a bunch of brilliant new patterns… and no plastic shit 👍🏼.
It’s a yarn advent calendar so each one has 24 balls of our Super Chunky Yarn in a huge rainbow of colours and a selection of brand new knitting patterns we’ve made especially for LADvent.
It’s available in two sizes, and here’s a breakdown of both:
Small LADvent Calendar
- 24x 17g balls
- 5 new knitting patterns
- Access to the Secret Shop
- RRP £107
Large LADvent Calendar
- 24x 30g balls
- 8 new knitting patterns
- Access to the Secret Shop
- RRP £164
TO THE KNITTING PATTERNS!.....
I know I said that I’d answer questions first then do the patterns but I’m overexcited SO SUE ME! We’ll do Q’s after the pattern reveals! I’m going to just quickly run through some basic info and what tools you’ll need for each pattern…
Rainbow Scarf
- 12mm needles
Colourblock Cushion
- 12mm needles
- 30 x 60cm cushion pad
Festive Baubles
- 8mm needles
- stuffing/yarn scraps
'Little Layer' Waistcoat
- 10mm x 40cm circular needles
- 15mm needles
Remnants Jumper
- 12mm needles
*this is a remnants pattern
(see below for more info)
All of the above patterns are in both the Small and Large Advent calendars.
The next 3 patterns are exclusive to the Large Calendar…
Round Cushion
- 4x 10mm DPN's
- 10mm x 60cm circular needles
- stitch marker
- 16" circular cushion pad
Top Down Jumper
- 10mm x 40cm circular needles
- 15mm x 60cm circular needles
- 2 stitch holders
- stitch marker
Remnants Cardigan
- 10mm x 60cm circular needles
- 15mm x 60cm circular needles
- 2x stitch holders
- 4x stitch markers
*this is a remnants pattern
(see below for more info)
PHEW!!!
…am I right?!
I just wanted to take a moment to talk about zero waste as it’s been a large factor in both our design process (upgrading from those dreadful plastic inserts that depressingly cost about 5% of the cardboard alternative 
) and the pattern process.
Being a knitting business we’re really invested in making eco-conscious decisions and doing what we can and it certainly extended to LADvent.
We wanted the calendars to be a complete package that you start enjoying at the beginning of December and by the end of the month you have used all of your yarn and a finished make to show off (and can fully recycle the packaging 
)
It’s for this reason that we developed the Remnant patterns and Baubles. We’ll go into more detail below but essentially if you choose a pattern to make and you have yarn left over we hope that we’ve given you enough remnants patterns to use it up entirely. You may need some more yarn to finish the jumper & cardigan for instance but all of your delicious rainbow colours will be used up and you can always make baubles out of the rest!
OK so now we know what we’re working with let’s dive into the questions and cover some talking points:
Yes absolutely – There’s 1 pattern that’s perfect for absolute beginners (the scarf) and another 2 that are great for knitters who know the basics (the Colourblock Cushion & the Baubles) I’d recommend going for the small calendar as you’ll be able to make any of those patterns and it’s a lower expense if you’re not sure you love it yet.
We always hold a space for people who want to learn how to knit or are new to knitting. There are some nice simple patterns included and a bunch of gorgeous, colourful yarn and don’t forget we have HEAPS of videos on our how-to-knit section.
Is it beginner friendly?
How many patterns can I make?
You will be able to make at least 1 pattern from either calendar and likely 2 or 3. It depends entirely on what you want to make (naturally an XL cardigan will take up more yarn than a set of baubles for instance) There’ll be a letter in the calendars to explain more.
As mentioned above in the Zero Waste chat we’ve designed some patterns especially for remnants so that you can use up all your rainbow yarn!
Absolutely! All the clothing patterns go up to UK size 28 (minimum) and you could make an XL waistcoat with the Small Calendar or a Remnants Cardigan or Top Down Jumper in XL with the Large Calendar.
We’ve got you babe!
Are the patterns size inclusive?
What do I need for the remnants patterns?
So these patterns are designed to use up your left over yarn (remnants), the patterns talk you through how much remnant yarn you’d need but you could do the Remnants Jumper sleeve with as little as 50g (it would just go into your main colour sooner) and again the Cardigan pattern can be worked with 100g/200g/300g etc of remnants.
You’ll need more yarn with both projects (the amount of yarn will depend on how much remnant yarn you have to use – which will be determined by which other patterns you make), but as I guide I’d suggest 2 balls of yarn for a cardigan and 3-4 balls for the jumper.
P.S You could also knit the cardigan just from your large advent calendar if you want it all rainbow!
No, we wanted to give you items you can wear or use all year round so it’s our Super Chunky yarn in a mix of our stock colours and Limited Edition colours made into a rainbow.
– More details will come with the calendar but if you open it in order you’ll have a rainbow or if you want a random selection then open the doors out of order!
Are the Colours Christmassy?
When will you despatch them?
We’re planning on despatching all pre-orders the week beginning November 7th (sending international orders first) and after that we’ll send them as and when the orders arrive.
There isn’t really a cut off unless they sell out. We ordered lots of them thinking that we would be able to sell them next year but thanks to your support I’m not sure we’ll get that far.
Unless they sell out we’ll send them out for as long as you want them babes – while they are designed for Advent, they are also a gorgeous selection of yarn and patterns (… you know when you open 10 doors of a chocolate advent calendar at once and scoff it all… that but for knitting.)
When's the cut off date for ordering?
Do I need all the tools listed on the LADvent product page?
No, the tools on the LADvent listing cover ALLLL the patterns. I’m hoping that sharing them with you early will mean you can decide what you want to make and ensure you have all the tools you need in time.
We don’t. We’ve discussed this in depth both recently about the calendar and previously about other products but research shows that payment plans are (on the whole) unethical as they can encourage overspending and while I’m sure you’re gorgeously responsible we don’t want to be irresponsible to our customers especially at the moment when times are so hard.
Do you have a payment plan option?
I've ordered the small, can I swap for the large
You can indeed. We can’t swap it over so we’ll have to cancel your order and you’ll need to reorder the large but we can do that no problem.
We’ve been LOLLLING in the studio because when I was first working it out I did an instagram poll and asked if you’d rather a small with less yarn or a large with more and the majority said Small but now it’s here we’ve sold about 90% large and the poor small are just sitting there like 🙋🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️
Some special shoutouts...
I just wanted to give some special shoutouts to Team LAD (who absolutely won’t read this anyway) because the LADvent has been a huge team effort and these mega babes have literally made it all possible…
Chloe: Thank you for working so hard on the design and making all the tiny amendments I cluelessly threw at you (‘could it look more knitted’.) Thank you for trying it in a hundred different colourways and keeping your patience when I wanted to see another. Thank you for your endless talent behind and in front of the camera, showing all the patterns off to the absolute best and wading through an embarrassing amount of notes and changes, you somehow manage to cut through the shit and just make it look great. You are pure gold.
Sally: How do you thank someone for losing their fingerprints from winding so many balls of yarn!? Thank you for tirelessly and enthusiastically endeavouring to make this work, even when we realised we’d made way too many Small and not nearly enough Large and you had to do it all over again. Thank you for the winding, the packing and for the upcoming posting which I know you’ll attack with an absolute ferocity… don’t worry – I’ll be there to pass you things! 🤪 You are an absolute rock (the best and shiniest kind!)
Helen: Thank you for all of the testing, reading and correcting patterns until you practically went crosseyed, the constant swapping of one pair of glasses for another never goes unnoticed. Thank you for letting me run wild then helping to make sense of it all, writing listings and sending emails, you always get it right but then… you couldn’t possibly ….be…. wrong. You are the steady glow of the moon, ever-present and grounding, but you also sing Taylor Swift with me and make me laugh until I wet myself so you’re probably even better than her moonship (if that’s possible!)
Claire: Thank you for so willingly doing all the building, making, packing and shlepping. For working out how the bloody hell to build the fuckers to driving to and from the storage unit with them, unloading in all weather, just so we have space to move. For supporting and cheerleading and test knitting and trying out anything that falls into my mind. Thank you for your willingness and eagerness and for sticking up for me when our HR department picks on me 🤪 Thank you for the support and for the joy <3
Charlotte: Thank you for figuring it all out from afar, for adapting to the many many changes, for promoting it beautifully and for reeling and captioning and werking. You seem to make sense of it all even when I don’t think it makes sense at all. You’re magic and I don’t know how we functioned without you!
It’s funny when I write things like this because I really wonder what I actually did haha. I’m sure there was something…. 😂🤪
I think that's a wrap...
I think that’s literally all the information in my brain so I hope it’s helpful! If you have any other questions please do send them our way.
I really reallllly hope you love the calendars. Thank you for investing in them so far without even knowing what was in them. I honestly ADORE you and I’m so grateful you trust us. I hope we do you proud and you love them, I know we’ve given them our all so I’m confident they’re well good… which is a great start hey?!
Thank you LAD’s
Take care & speak soon
