Martha Stewart's Baby Sock Advent Calendar
Invite little ones to count down to Christmas with this charming treat-a-day calendar.
Wonderful things come in small packages. This hanging Advent calendar assembled from baby socks is full of great things, and it's the perfect way to mark the season for a baby or an older child. A collection of stray socks or a mix of new ones in festive colors looks adorable dangling from a ribbon along a mantle or railing. Stuff each mini stocking with an age-appropriate toy. Then, starting on December 1, take down one sock a day, and let your child pull out the surprise inside (clip socks back onto the ribbon after gifts have been removed). The 24 days before Christmas are sure to sail by.
Tools and Materials
24 socks
Ribbon
Number stickers
Round stickers
Pushpins
Mini clothespins
Calendar How-To1. Gather 24 socks -- singles or 12 pairs -- in colors that go well together (vary the sizes, if you like). Lay them out in the order you want to hang them, leaving spaces in between.
2. Cut the ribbon to the desired length; to find how long it should be, measure across the row of socks and add 12 inches (ours was 72 inches).
3. Use number stickers to label each sock. If one has a busy pattern, place the number on top of a solid round sticker so that it's easier to read.
4. Tack the ends of the ribbon to a railing or mantle; if you like, you can fasten the ribbon in several places to make a few swags.
5. Use mini clothespins to clip the socks to the ribbon; overlap them if you need to save space.
6. Tuck a gift inside each. If the item is heavy, use a larger clothespin to secure the sock.
Note: Gifts must be small enough to fit in tiny socks but safe for your child's age. Choose bath toys, pacifiers, or blocks for a baby; pencils, notebooks, and toys for an older kid.
For the warp, cut 1-inch-wide loops from the bodies of one or two tees (we found a boy's large worked best on our 33-inch hoop), removing the hem and stopping at the sleeves. Ideally these loops should all be the same color; we used two colors for clarity in our photographs. You'll need a total of 11 loops. For the weft, cut at least 50 loops from the remaining shirts. Save the unused sleeves for the basket project.
Stretch one warp loop over the hula hoop, as shown.
Add and secure a second loop, perpendicular to the first.
Repeat, filling in the spaces, until all 11 loops are in place.
Push together two warp loops at the top of the hula hoop, as shown. This creates an odd number of warp spokes in your wheel, which allows the overunder pattern of the weft to alternate with each new row.
Secure the first weft loop to the center of one of the warp spokes (we chose the doubled spoke from step 5) by wrapping it around the warp and then looping it back through itself.
Begin weaving the weft over and under the warp spokes, forming a tight spiral. For now, treat both parts of each warp spoke as a single unit, weaving over or under the two together. As you work, push the weft material toward the center of the hoop and keep it just snug. If you pull the weft tight, the rug will develop lumps or bends. When you reach the end of the piece of weft, add a new loop by threading it through the end of the first and back through itself.
When your rug is about 8 inches across, begin treating each warp spoke as two individual strips instead of a single unit, weaving over or under each strand instead of going over or under the doubled spoke. This increases the number of warp spokes, improving the structure of the project. When you get to the two warp spokes that you pushed together at the top of the loom, separate them. Treat one of the spokes as two individual strips, but continue to treat the other as a single spoke. This maintains the odd number of warp spokes.
When the rug is the size you want, but no closer than 8 inches from the edge of the hula hoop, snip open your weft loop.
Tie the ends around a warp spoke, and tuck the ends into the rug.
Tie the ends in pairs, then trim them to make a fringe or tuck them back into the rug.
