Frankie's Knitted Stuff
The first of the four gingerbread decorations to go with the Gingerbread House is a five pointed star. It is about 9 cm / 31/2" wide and can either be embroidered or ‘iced' with more knitting. The star is knitted in ginger DK weight yarn on 3.25 mm needles. Tension: 13 stitches and 26 rows = 5 cm / 2"2, in garter stitch. You will need about 5g of ginger yarn for one star, 10g for both versions. If you are making the iced star you will also need about 3 - 4g of cream 4 ply. I used Sirdar Country Style DK (155 m / 50g), shade 611, Butterscotch for my stars and Sirdar Country Style 4 ply (226m / 50g), shade 411, Cream for the icing.
The Embroidered Star
Cast on one stitch and knit into the front and back of it (2 sts). Next row: Kf&b, K to end. Repeat this row until you have five stitches on your needle. Next two rows: Knit. Next two rows: Kf&b, K to end. Work these four rows once more (9 sts). That's the first (top) point knitted. The next two are worked together. Use the cable method when casting on stitches. Next row: Cast on 7 sts, K16. Next row: Cast on 7 sts, K to last 2 sts, K2tog (22 sts). Next row: K to last 2 sts, K2tog. Repeat this last row until you have 12 stitches on your needle Now start the last two points of the star. Next row: Kf&b, K to end. Repeat this row until you are back up to 20 stitches. The tips of these two points are worked separately. Row 1: Kf&b, K5, (K2tog) twice, turn (9 sts). Row 2: Sl 1 pwise wyif, K to end. Row 3: Kf&b, K4, (K2tog) twice (8 sts). Cast off loosely, slipping the first stitch purlwise and knitting the rest. Re-join the yarn to the remaining 10 stitches and knit to the end. Now repeat Rows 1 - 3 to complete the second point. Darn in the ends along the edges of the star. Use the tail of yarn between the two last points to pull them together slightly with a few small stitches. Knit another star to match.
This is done with cream DK yarn. I used Sirdar Country Style DK, shade 411. First work the main lines, one for each point. Bring your needle up in the centre of the star and then down, before the tip of each point. Don't go right to the edge.
Then add the small stitches, three pairs for each line. Bring your needle up halfway along a line and down again halfway to the star's edge, making an angled stitch. Make a matching stitch on the Other side of the line. Now add another pair of stitches, a little shorter, halfway between the last pair and the top of the line. The final pair of stitches should start halfway between the first pair and the centre of the star; they should be the longest. Each pair of stitches should be parallel to the other two pairs.
Embroider both stars in the same way and then sew them together. Hold them with the wrong sides facing and oversew all round the edge, stuffing lightly before closing the seam. Using cream yarn, sew right through the centre of the star a few times to pull it in. Then add two 10 mm / 1/2" cream buttons, one on each side.
The Iced Star
For this version you will need to knit two ginger stars following the pattern above. Then knit two more stars, this time using cream 4 ply yarn and 2.25 mm / US size 1 needles. Tension: 16 stitches and 32 rows = 5 cm / 2"2 in garter stitch. Using cream thread, sew the cream stars to the ginger ones, stretching them to fit evenly. Then sew the two stars together and stuff them.
Use red yarn to pull the centre of the star tight and then add two 15 mm / %" red buttons. Finally, add tiny green star buttons to the points of the star, sewing them on with green thread. My green stars came in a ‘Dress It Up' pack called ‘Christmas Garland'. You can crochet loops to hang your stars from or wait until you have knitted all four gingerbread decorations and then string them together into a garland.
Abbreviations
st / sts stitch / stitches K knit kf&b knit into the front and back of the stitch K2tog knit two stitches together sll pwise wyif slip one stitch purlwise with the yarn held at the front Frankie Brown, 2014. My patterns are for personal use only and should not be used to knit items for sale. Please do not use them for teaching purposes without my permission.
