Merry Little Christmas Ornaments

It is our tradition, when a big project is out the door (have you seen our new website yet?!), to cast on with abandon and knit whatever we feel like. This time around, rather than casting on a sweater, I’m thinking smaller…like really small. I’m casting on wee ornaments for the Christmas tree! Each of these ornaments is a great way to use up the year’s leftover scraps while savouring a little instant gratification – a rare thing in knitting!

Fancy Balls ornaments

I love the vintage quality of these fancy little wonders. They’re the perfect project for trying out a few new techniques (pinhole cast-on anyone?), and they serve as a teeny tiny playground for wee colourwork motifs. The pattern comes with a few, but you can find a whole host of small motifs in our free Anthology pattern as well. The colourwork section of the ornament is 36 stitches, so motifs with a repeat of 2, 3, 4, 6, or 12 will fit. So grab some colourful scraps, a little stuffing, and the free Fancy Balls pattern – and away you go!

Little Socks

Next up are the classic Little Sock Ornaments. This is the perfect place to try out sock techniques on a small scale. They have all the techniques of a big sock…but super small. And they’re some real potato chip knitting – you can’t stop at just one! Pretty soon you’ll have a whole garland of wee socks to enjoy.

Freeze snowflakes

I love the Freeze pattern, and I have knit more than a few of these little wonders over the years. It’s so satisfying to see a delicate snowflake emerge from the open lacy pattern. And it’s a pretty intuitive process. If I knit a few in a row, I don’t have to reference the pattern much after the first one.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Last year I made a whole rainbow of Freeze ornaments in speckled scraps and strung them together on a crochet chain for Hunter’s bed. Of course I had to add some twinkly lights, and she loved it!

More fun ideas

For more fun Christmas ideas, check out these excellent little projects from The Petite Knitter (@ThePetiteKnitter) and Leila Raven (@Layla_Raven), as well as the newest releases from Jennifer Berg (@Native.Knitter) and Tsin Bikéé’ Knits (@tsinbikee), I’m excited to cast on and try my hand at these precious little projects!

We’ve used our little baubles to make tree ornaments, garlands, and gift embellishments, and we’d love to see the creative things you come up with. Be sure to post with #FancyBallsOrnaments, #LittleSockOrnaments, and #FreezeOrnaments – and make yourself a merry little Christmas!

~Alexa