You Still Have Time to Knit Christmas Ornaments

It may feel like Christmas is right around the corner, and it is, but there’s still time to add to your handknit holiday collection with the addition of some knit Christmas ornaments.

The great thing about ornaments is that most of them are small, so you can knit them up in an evening or two. They don’t use a lot of yarn, and you probably have something in the house you can use.

And if you haven’t gotten to all of the gift knitting you wanted to do, you can knit an ornament for everyone on your list and use it to decorate the gift bag with the store-bought gift inside for a little handmade sweetness.

There are tons of free knit Christmas ornament patterns on Ravelry, and this is almost a random sampling just to give you some ideas of the variety that is out there.

Carolyn Kennington has some great little Santa hat and Christmas tree ornaments in her Christmas decorations pattern. Or try the sweet Santa Hat for the tree from the Natural Suburbia blog.

Becky Kibblewhite made a lovely knit version of Christmas tree candles you can check out on her blog.

There are so many great Christmas ball patterns, including a collection from Mary Ann Stephen’s Two Strands blog (PDF), Nadia Majid’s pretty blue Christmas Bauble, a sweet collection from MillaMia Sweden, and a collection of stars and balls from Red Heart, to name just a few. Paton’s has a pretty diamond-shaped “ball” as well. Or try a Christmas Pudding Bauble from Amanda Berry. So cute!

Amalia Samios can help you spell JOY in knitting on your tree, while Ginny Sturdy spreads love with her holiday hearts. And there’s always Minutia, the annual collection of tiny Christmas sweater ornaments from Berroco.

And while they don’t necessarily have to go in the tree, Rebecca Danger has a great collection of little critters — an elf, a snowman and a couple of Christmas monsters — in her free Knit Picks collection A Very Danger Christmas. I also love the little Christmas elf peg dolls from Knitted Toy Box.

That should certainly get you started! Have you ever knit ornaments for the holiday tree? I’d love to know what you’ve made or what you’re working on now.

Looking for more Christmas themed Knitting patterns? Check out some of our favorite Knitting patterns on Etsy and

These Christmas Knitting Pattern Books on Amazon

One of my favorite things to make on a circular knitting machine is scarves, because they’re a great way to use leftover yarn and certainly faster than knitting by hand.

But if you pay attention to the colors you’re using and how you are using them, you can make fun knitting machine scarves that look like something different when you roll them up.

One of the first versions of this I saw was the sushi scarf, are there are a lot of variations on this one. For example this one from Flower and Anchor that uses five colors of yarn, or this one from Three Threads NE that uses four. These generally are made to look like California rolls, but you could change up the colors to make them different things if you like. Just make sure the outside of the “roll” is black or green to indicate the nori. I found another version on Pinterest if you’re looking for a free pattern, but there’s no image of it rolled up.

Another popular variation is making a scarf that rolls up to look like a mug with coffee, tea or another fun beverage inside. This collection of three mug scarf circular knitting machine patterns from Idaho Cottage Creation includes green tea, a pumpkin spice latte with whipped cream and a candy cane colored confection (which honestly reminds me of the Grinch since it has a green mug!). Again you can change the colors of the mug part and the drink part. The little handle looks like it’s crocheted on these, and it doubles as a loop you can thread the scarf end through when you wear it.

Again there’s a version of the green tea scarf on Pinterest with crocheted elements. I also found a latte done with a striped yarn and a red mug that’s pretty cute and gives you an idea what a different beverage would look like.

I also love this pumpkin pie scarf designed by Jodi Favish Saunier. It has a bit of crocheted edging to give it a fancy crust but you can omit that if you don’t crochet. These are all on Facebook but she also has a watermelon and lemonade pattern that are super cute.

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