Angel Tea Light Holder

Angel Tea Light Holder by Andrew Lucas

Project Overview

The Angel Tea Light Holder is a beginner-friendly knitting decoration designed to hold a battery-operated tea light. This charming project combines simple knitting techniques with basic stuffing and assembly to create a festive decorative piece suitable for seasonal displays or gift-giving.

What Is Being Made

This pattern creates a knitted angel figure designed to sit atop a circular cardboard base (9 cm diameter) and accommodate a battery-operated tea light. The finished piece serves as both a decorative accent and functional tea light holder, making it an ideal project for adding warmth and festive charm to any space.

Knitting Techniques Used

• Stocking stitch – the primary fabric structure, created by alternating knit and purl rows to produce a smooth, classic knitted surface
• Garter stitch – used for textured sections, created by knitting every row
• Increasing stitches – used to shape the angel's body and head, expanding stitch counts at key points
• Decreasing stitches – employed to shape the shoulders and head, creating definition and structure
• Gathering – a finishing technique where yarn is threaded through remaining stitches and pulled tight to close openings and create gathered details
• Seaming – stitching row ends together to form three-dimensional structure

Stitches and Abbreviations

The pattern uses standard knitting abbreviations including: k (knit), p (purl), st st (stocking stitch), k2tog (knit two stitches together for decreasing), inc (increase), and B & T (break off wool leaving a long end, then thread through stitches and gather tightly). These fundamental stitches make the project accessible to beginners while building essential knitting skills.

Construction Details

The angel is constructed in sections. The body begins with 8 cast-on stitches that are increased to 16 stitches in the first row, then worked in stocking stitch for 15 rows. The shoulders are shaped through strategic decreasing, reducing from 16 stitches to 12 stitches. The neck is worked in beige wool over 2 rows in stocking stitch. The head is then shaped by increasing stitches to 16, working 7 rows in stocking stitch, then decreasing back to 8 stitches. The piece is finished by stitching row ends together, filling with stuffing, and gathering at both the cast-on edge and neck stitches for a three-dimensional angel form.

Materials Required

• Needles: 3.25mm knitting needles
• Yarn: Double knitting wool in five colors – cream (primary), beige, white, yellow, and black in small oddments
• Additional supplies: Small amount of polyester stuffing, battery-operated tea light, and a 9 cm circular piece of cardboard for the base

Skill Level

Rated as a beginner project, this Angel Tea Light Holder requires only fundamental knitting knowledge including casting on, basic stitches, simple shaping through increases and decreases, and basic finishing techniques. The straightforward construction and minimal color changes make it an excellent introduction to decorative knitting projects.