A Handmade Holiday

Oh! How long has it been! How are you? I had a bit of a craft funk for awhile, but I think I’m coming out of it. As the temperatures in my corner of the world have been dropping, I’ve been furiously knitting. I’m working on a wonderful sweater that I hope to share soon and a bunch of ornaments for a handmade ornament exchange organized by my CFF Denise.  Each project is linked to my Ravelry project page (no account needed to view), and from there you can check out the patterns if you are so inclined.

First up, sweater ornaments! These were quite fun and definitely the quickest sweaters I’ve ever made! (That’s funny because it usually takes me like a year to make a me-sized sweater. Which is why I don’t do it very often.) I used leftover sock yarn for the red and Knit Picks Stroll for the white. The pattern is written flat, but I hate seaming more than anything, so I converted it to in the round.

I’m really please with how they turned out! But I get bored easily, so I moved on to another pattern. I decided I was going to make two of each ornament type to keep it interesting.

Next up: Ball ornaments! And more ball ornaments! I really enjoy stranded colorwork, it’s one of my favorite techniques. Mostly because I get to show off my mad two-handed knitting skills, lol. These two ornaments are from two different patterns (linked above), and they have slightly different shaping. The one on the top has a rounder shape due to where the increases and decreases are placed. Both patterns work, but this shaping was more pleasing to me. The ornament was less lumpy and maintained its round shape when I filled it with stuffing.

Next we have my favorites of the bunch, Stjärna. I loved the pattern immediately but was a little intimidated when I read through how it was constructed. But it ended up being super easy and quick!  The stars are knit from the outside in (points to center) using cleverly placed decreases. The outside edge stitches are then picked up and the knitting is repeated for the back half of the star.

It’s important to knit at a tighter gauge so the stuffing doesn’t show through. I used bits of worsted weight yarn that I had found in my stash and knit the stars on US4 needles.

Finally, we have these cute little hats. These were the last ornaments I made and I needed something super quick! So I grabbed some thick worsted weight yarn and a US7 circular needle and cast on these hats. I didn’t use a pattern for the general shape or construction, so quite frankly, I’m amazed these turned out as well as they did! For the hat on the top, I used a small chart from the Balls Up! pattern I used for one of the ball ornaments.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these handmade ornaments as much as I enjoyed making them and sharing them! They have been sent off to their new homes and I have a new collection of handmade ornaments hanging on my tree now. Thanks to Denise for organizing such a fun exchange!