Last year, I was part of Knit The City and took part in the Nutcracker Knitmare Before Christmas piece. As the Nutcracker features Christmas presents which come to life, I wanted to make something which echoed traditional toys. I decided that the Nutcracker Prince’s soldiers should be brightly coloured toy wooden soldiers. But a bit more textile based.

I loved how they came out and realised that they’d make a brilliant decoration, so I made some more for a Secret Santa. And I loved them and wanted to share them.

The pattern requires scraps of red and black yarn and also required the following to complete the soldier

• dolly peg
• black paint
• felt tip pens
• gold fabric paint
• glue
• scrap of metallic thread