Holiday Knits Stamps Background

The Holiday Knits stamps were released on Oct. 25, 2007. These four stamps, featuring classic winter-time imagery, were designed and machine knitted by nationally known illustrator Nancy Stahl. There’s a dignified stag, a snow-dappled evergreen tree, a perky snowman sporting a top hat, and a whimsical teddy bear.

In recent years, knitting has become quite popular again, both in the United States and throughout the world.

Inspired by traditional Norwegian sweaters and knitted Christmas stockings, Stahl decided on “something cozy” for this year’s holiday stamp. She used a computer soft­ware program to draw her original designs and convert them to stitches and rows. Then she downloaded the infor­mation to an electronic knitting machine and used it to knit her creations. The machine’s smaller stitch gauge didn’t provide quite the effect Stahl was hoping to achieve. So she transferred the designs onto punch cards and used a different knitting machine that works like an old Jacquard loom and has a larger stitch gauge. Stahl scanned the fin­ished pieces into her computer and retouched the photo­graphic images to ensure that all the stitches aligned properly. The result is a set of four colorful and “cozy” stamps that will add an extra touch of warmth to seasonal correspondence.