Frankies Knitted Stuff

Gingerbread House

Every part of this Gingerbread House is covered with knitted

treasures. Traditional sweets line the snowy roof and, between the
doors and windows, are more treats as well as a snowman and a
Christmas tree. Theres even a knitted chimney how else would
Father Christmas visit?
The house measures about 13 17 cm and is 20 cm tall (thats
roughly 5 6" and 8" tall) and the structure is provided by
plastic canvas, covered with knitting.
The roof is hinged so that the house
can be used to store things, maybe
some favourite decorations or even
real sweets for children who arent
too impressed by the knitted variety.

This first pattern deals with making the actual house; all the little
things to decorate it are in 20 separate patterns. There are also four
patterns for knitted gingerbread ornaments to keep in the house.

Building the House

At the end of this pattern is a comprehensive materials list for
everything you will need to make the complete Gingerbread House
with all its decorations plus a set of ornaments.
For the actual house you will need:
Plastic Canvas
This is what gives the house its shape. It will also be used for the
chimney and the front porch. You will need one sheet (about
34 x 55 cm / 13 x 21") of ultra stiff canvas with seven holes to
the inch. This is the larger sheet size and is sometimes listed as extra
large plastic canvas. It is important to get the right size and weight.
Yarn
80g ginger DK.
40g cream DK.
I used Stylecraft Special DK (295m / 100g) in Camel and Cream.

Begin by cutting the parts of the house out of plastic canvas. You
will need seven pieces all together: a base, two side walls, two end
walls and two roof panels.
The diagrams below show you how big each piece is; count the
number of bars and then cut immediately after the last one.

35 bars
35 bars
28 bars

Base

24 bars

Cut 1

Side Walls
Cut 2

38 bars
43 bars
28 bars
End Walls
Cut 2

26 bars

Roof Panels
Cut 2

The tops of the two end walls will need to be cut into a point. To
do this mark the middle of one short side (between the 14th and 15th
bar) and draw lines from this point to the 24th bar, counting up
from the other end. Cut along these lines.
Trim the sharp points of all the right angled corners of your plastic
pieces as these have a tendency to poke through knitting.

The House

The Roof

This is what you should end up with. Now you just need to cover
them with knitting.
It is very important to get your tension right, both in this pattern
and in the ones that follow. Each finished piece needs to be the
right size to fit the plastic canvas (with a little stretching) and, if
your knitted decorations turn out a different size, they will not all
fit together on the house. Many of the decorations are too small for
it to be worth knitting a tension sample but, in these cases, finished
measurements are given.
The Base
This is knitted in stocking stitch, using ginger coloured DK weight
yarn and 3.25mm / US size 3 needles.
Tension:

12 stitches and 17 rows = 5 cm / 2".

Change your needle size if necessary until you are knitting to

tension.
Using the long tail method, cast on 30 stitches.
Work 33 rows in stocking stitch, beginning with a purl row.
Cast off.

Knit two of these pieces and then oversew them together round
three sides, insert the plastic canvas base and close the last side.
Two pieces will be knitted and then joined to cover each plastic
canvas piece; this helps to reduce the bulk at the edges.
Side Walls
All the walls are knitted in moss stitch (US seed stitch). Again,
ginger coloured DK and 3.25mm needles are used.
Tension:

12 stitches and 25 rows = 5 cm / 2", working in moss stitch.

Using the long tail method cast on 31 stitches.

Work 41 rows in moss stitch:
Every row:

K1, *P1, K1, repeat from * to end.

Cast off.
You will need to knit four of these pieces, two for each wall. Sew
them together over the plastic canvas walls in the same way as for
the base.
End Walls
Using the long tail method cast on 25 stitches.
Work 41 rows in moss stitch:
Every row:

K1, *P1, K1, repeat from * to end.

Now shape the top:

Row 1:
Row 2:
Row 3:
Row 4:

K1, *P1, K1, repeat from * to last 2 sts, K2tog.

K2, *P1, K1, repeat from * to last 2 sts, K2tog.
K1, *K1, P1, repeat from * to last 2 sts, K2tog.
*K1, P1, repeat from * to last 2 sts, K2tog.

Work this four row pattern five times; you should now have five
stitches left on your needle.
Next row:
Next row:

K1, P1, K1, K2tog (4 sts).

K2, K2tog (3 sts).

Cast off, using the double decrease cast off: sl 1 kwise, K2tog, psso.
Again, you will need to knit four of these pieces, two for each end
wall.

When you have covered all four walls and the base with knitting,
you can sew them together. To do this, hold the pieces with the
wrong sides facing and, using ginger yarn, oversew firmly along
the edge. Join the four walls to the base first and then join the
corners.
The Roof
The covering for the roof panels is knitted in stocking stitch using
cream DK yarn and 3.25mm needles.
Tension:

12 stitches and 17 rows = 5 cm / 2".

Using the long tail method, cast on 40 stitches.

Work 31 rows in stocking stitch, beginning with a purl row.
Cast off.

Make four pieces like this and sew them together over the plastic
canvas roof panels.
Join the two roof panels along one long edge. One half of the roof
will be stitched to the house but leave it separate for now so that
its easier to sew things on to the walls.
Roof Ridge
This covers the join at the top of the roof. It is a mixture of knit
and purl rows, using a row counter will help you keep track.
Using the long tail method cast on 40 stitches.
Row 1:
Row 2:
Rows 3 5:
Row 6:
Rows 7 & 8:
Row 9:
Row 10:

Knit.
Purl.
Knit.
Purl.
Knit.
Purl.
Knit.

Row 11:
Rows 12 & 13:
Row 14:
Rows 15 17:
Row 18:
Row 19:

Purl
Knit.
Purl.
Knit.
Purl.
Knit.

Cast off knitwise.

Put the roof on the house and then pin the ridge in place. Sew to
the roof with small running stitches, working just above the cast on
and cast off edges. Then sew the ends down to the roof, joining the
loose section at the top with a short vertical seam.
Frankie Brown, 2014.

Abbreviations
st / sts
K
P
K2tog
sl 1
kwise
psso

stitch / stitches
knit
purl
knit two stitches together
slip one stitch
knitwise
pass slipped stitch over

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.

Gingerbread House Materials List

Plastic Canvas
One large sheet (34 55 cm / 13 21") of ultra stiff, seven bars
to the inch plastic canvas.
Yarn
You will need to buy 100g balls of ginger and cream DK weight
yarn. Other than this, only very small amounts of the other colours
are used, normally less than 5g. At the end of this pattern is a list
of the colours I used, obviously you can substitute other colours of
your choice, depending on what yarn you have. Anchor tapestry
yarn will knit to the right tension and comes in small skeins of
about 5g so that might be another option.
All the yarns I used were either Stylecraft Special DK
(295m / 100g) or Sirdar Country Style DK (155m / 50g); if you use
other yarns, try to get a similar weight as this will help to get your
tension right.
You will also need a small amount of thin 4 ply for the snowmans
scarf. I used My First Regia (105m / 25g) in blue (shade 1887) but,
of course, you could use any colour.
Sewing Thread
This is used for attaching beads and buttons and also for sewing all
the things on to the house. You will need the following colours:
Ginger (to match the house)
Cream (to match the roof)
Dark Green (to match the Christmas tree)
Black

Pipe Cleaners
These are used to stiffen and shape a few of the decorations. You
will need three thin 15 cm / 6" pipe cleaners or two 30 cm / 12".
Beads and Buttons
I have tried to keep these to a minimum although you could add
any festive buttons that you like. This is what I used:
Three 4 mm black seed beads for the snowmans buttons.
Gingerbread People buttons.
Itty Bitty Cut Out Cookies Buttons.
Tiny Primary buttons.

- for signs
- for signs
- to decorate the tree

These buttons are all Dress It Up buttons, easily available online.

Gingerbread Ornaments Materials List
There are patterns for two sets of gingerbread ornaments. One set
is decorated with cream wool embroidery, the other has knitted
icing and buttons.
Embroidered Ornaments
20g ginger DK yarn.
A small amount of cream DK yarn for the embroidery.
I used Sirdar Country Style DK (155m / 50g) for both, Butterscotch
(shade 611) for the ornaments and Cream (shade 411) for the
embroidery.
You will also need eight round cream buttons, four 10 mm and
four 18 mm (" and ").

Iced Ornaments
20g ginger DK yarn.
15g cream 4 ply yarn.
I used Sirdar Country Style DK (155m / 50g) for the ornaments
(shade 611, Butterscotch) and Sirdar Country Style 4 ply (226m /
50g) for the icing (shade 411, Cream).
You will need four red 15mm / " buttons and four green 18mm /
" buttons.
The ornaments are decorated with tiny red and green hearts and
stars. These are Dress It Up buttons and come in a pack called
Christmas Garland.
If you string the iced decorations together you will also need some
pony beads, eight each in red and green.

Frankie Brown, 2014.

Gingerbread House Shade Cards

Stylecraft

Sirdar

Walnut

530, Chocolate

Camel

611, Butterscotch

Saffron

394, Amber

Cream

477, Mink

Spring
Green

411, Cream

Bottle

617, Kensington
Gardens

Fondant
Pomegranate
Lipstick

610, Village Green

397, Periwinkle
471, Pansy
395, Anthracite

Stylecraft Special DK (295m / 100g).

Sirdar Country Style DK (155m / 50g).

Frankie Brown, 2014.