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

It’s kind of coincidental that I recently posted about patchwork blanket knitting patterns right before reviewing a book that makes a patchwork blanket, but this one would also be a great choice if you’re looking to bust some stash and learn a lot about colorwork knitting at the same time.

Knit an Heirloom Blanket by Annah O’Leary includes charted designs for 50 colorwork blocks worked flat that can be combined to make a blanket or used in other projects. The book calls for worsted weight yarn but also offers suggestions for using fingering, DK or even bulky yarn, which will give you blocks of different sizes.

It opens with a section on materials and tips for choosing colors and maintaining contrast among blocks across a large project. There’s also information on how to read charts and colorwork basics such as maintaining tension, measuring gauge, catching floats, holding yarn and yarn dominance, among other things.

There are 196 squares (14 by 14) in the blanket shown on the cover, which, including the edging, makes for a blanket that’s about 79 inches, or 200 cm square knit in worsted weight yarn. You can adjust the size as needed by working more or fewer blocks, especially if using a different weight of yarn.

The sample was worked in Cascade 220 and the book includes the amounts of yarn used in each color so you can knit a blanket exactly as shown. Or use stash and leftovers from other projects to make a possibly less harmonious but more meaningful project.

Colorwork patterns are arranged into 10 themes: flowers, tiles, diamonds, stripes, peaks, woven, sky, leaves, lovestruck and architecture. They’re also rated by skill level on a range of 1 to 3 balls of yarn. If you’re newer to knitting or colorwork in particular, you can start with the easier squares and move up as you build more skills.

Each pattern is shown as a large black and white chart with three or four possible color variations, though or course you can also go your own way on the colors. There’s also a knit sample of each block pictured at the beginning of each pattern section.

There’s also a section to help you finish your blanket, including tips for weaving in ends, blocking, joining squares and adding a border. She also suggests different project sizes and color palettes for smaller scale projects.

In addition to the big blanket there are five other project ideas including a baby blanket made of 6 by 8 squares, a hot water bottle cover, a couple of pillows and a wall hanging. These are sure to give you ideas of different ways to use the blocks in other projects.

Knit an Heirloom Blanket includes lots of fun colorwork blocks and ideas for using them that are sure to appeal to those new to colorwork as well as those with more experience. Even if you never knit a full blanket with them, you can add these motifs to your collection to work in other projects.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 50 charts and 6 patterns. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $25.99.

Have you read?