advent calendar. day seventeen. Elsa.

OK, it is fair to say that Elsa doesn't have a lot to do with Christmas but I was out of ideas for fun Christmassy ornaments and I knew that my kids would appreciate an ornament that was special to them (The two boys' ornaments were even less Christmassy!). Luckily one little girl in this house was over the moon to see an Elsa on our advent tree (although it actually spent most of its time being removed from the tree and carried all over the house....). I have no idea how long the Elsa obsession will continue so by next year I may be making something else but it sure did make her happy this year!

Materials

Size 3 double pointed needles
Lightweight (weight 3) yarn (I used this for her hair and face and this for her body)
Black embroidery thread
Polyfill stuffing
2.5" turquoise wired ribbon for her train.

Abbreviations

k knit
kfb knit front and back
k2tog knit two stitches together 

Head and Body

Starting at the head cast on 6 stitches in white and transfer onto 3 double pointed needles (2 stitches per needles). Join and work the round.

Round 1 kfb in each stitch (12 stitches)
Round 2 knit
Round 3 (k, kfb) repeat to end (18 stitches)
Rounds 4-7 knit
Round 8 (k, k2tog) repeat to end (12 stitches)
Round 9 knit
Round 10 (k, k2tog, k) repeat to end (9 stitches)
Round 11 knit
Round 12 (k, kfb, k) repeat to end (12 stitches)
Round 13 (k, kfb) repeat to end (18 stitches)
Round 14 (k2, kfb) repeat to end (24 stitches)
Round 15 (K3, kfb) repeat to end (30 stitches)
Switch to turquoise yarn
Round 16 Pass 6 stitches to a spare needle, k9, pass 6 stitches to a spare needle, k9 (18 stitches)
Rounds 17-20 knit
Round 21 (kfb, k5) repeat to end (21 stitches)
Round 22-25 knit
Round 26 (kfb, k6) repeat to end (24 stitches)
Rounds 27-30 knit
Round 31 purl
Round 32 (k2, k2tog) repeat to end (18 stitches)
stuff firmly
Round 33 knit
Round 34 (k, k2tog) repeat to end (12 stitches)
Round 35 knit.
Cut yarn, finish any remaining stuffing, thread yarn end onto yarn needle and close hole tightly. 

Arms

Move the 6 arm stitches onto 2 double pointed needles and on a third double pointed needle pick up two stitches under the arm (8 stitches)
Rounds 1- 5 - knit
Round 6 (k2tog, k1) on both needles with 3 stitches, knit on the needle with 2 stitches (6 stitches)
Round 7 knit
Round 8 k2tog repeat to end (3 stitches)
Cut yarn, stuff arm firmly, thread yarn end onto yarn needle and close hole tightly

Repeat with other arm.

Hair

Cut 12" lengths of yellow yarn, thread 1 strand at a time onto a yarn needle and pull each strand through a stitch on the head, along the hairline and parting. Pull each strand through halfway and tie with a knot (there is a good tutorial on how to do this here) . When the hairline and parting have been completed gather the hair together and plait. Trim to desired length 

Finishing

Darn in all ends.
Embroider eyes according to the picture

For the train, I was lucky enough to find this ribbon at walmart which was perfect, sparkly, sheer and turquoise!.

I cut a 5" length of ribbon and wrapped it AROUND her body (so the wire is at her neck and feet), I had to make a number of pleats at the neck. Then I hand-sewed it into place around the top using some cotton thread. I didn't do anything special to the raw edges of the ribbon, just bent the wire over 1/4".