An Array of Knit Christmas Ornaments

I was sure this was going to be the year I was going to knit a bunch of Christmas ornaments. And I guess it still could be, but at the time of this writing I’ve only done one, a cute little snowman with a knit scarf.

But one of the things that’s fun about knitting your own Christmas ornaments is that most of them are really fast projects, so we all still have time to make some. They’re also great to use as gifts, or to decorate gift bags, or make a garland to hang somewhere that isn’t a tree. Go wild!

One of my favorite kinds of knit Christmas ornaments (though really I like them all) is the genre of knit balls. They’re so fun because you can make the same basic pattern look a bunch of different ways. I did this last year with knitting machine balls, but if you want to hand knit some check out this pattern from Bizzy Bee Patterns that includes a reindeer, snowman, bird, Santa and Christmas pudding design. They use DK weight yarn and would be a great way to use up some leftovers.

You can also use a simple textured stitch to make really lovely Christmas balls, like in this pattern from Gnomes All the Way. These use worsted weight yarn and simple stitch patterns to make really pretty knit Christmas ornaments perfect for the most traditional tree.

Another favored genre of knit ornaments is clothing, and Chatty Cathy Knitting has a great set of mini sweater Christmas tree ornaments with duplicate stitch charts to add designs to the fronts of the sweaters (you can also draw your own). These call for fingering weight yarn and just use a tiny bit so they’re a great stash buster.

Stockings are sort of clothing-adjacent, and this set of mini stocking ornaments from Warm And KnittedS also gives you options for colorwork and finishing. They can use any yarn you want but it sounds like the originals were made with sock yarn.

And if you want to add extra woodland cuteness to your tree, check out Amy Gaines’ winter animals amigurumi pattern set. This pattern includes a rabbit, deer, bear, fox and mouse, and each of them also has a little garter stitch scarf. So cute! They call for worsted weight yarn.

There’s a lot to like about the Eloise Bandana from Katryn Seeburger. This cute little colorwork triangle can be worked as a bandana or kerchief size or a bigger shawlette.

It’s worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn so you can use whatever yarn you have in your stash and just make it as big as you can (since it is worked from the bottom up).

You can see the two sizes from the photo, and also two colorwork options: strawberries and lily of the valley.

But that’s not all the choices you have. In fact, there are 34 different charts you can choose from to knit onto your project. Some of the options include happy faces, a lobster, a pumpkin, a snail and a butterfly. There are cherries, peaches, tomatoes and radishes.

There’s even a blank square you can use to draw your own little design if you want to use something else. Or keep it blank and make it a plain checkerboard design.

And while both of these shawls use the same icons throughout, you could also use different designs throughout if you want. Say a fall version with a bat, pumpkin, leaf and acorn, or a summer beach theme with sailboat, fish, lobster and a bird? I keep suggesting four different icons because the larger size has four rows of squares, but the smaller has three, so you could do stripes of the same icon or alternate a couple of different ones, whatever you like.

Look through the finished projects on the Ravelry project page to see lots of different options, from rows to individual icons. There are also some projects that are smaller than the suggested size to make a smaller bandana. You could also keep going a make a bigger shawl working increases in the same way as you have been going.

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Katryn Seeburger]

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