Holiday Ornaments

Holiday Ornaments

I took a little time over the past few days to make up some holiday ornaments. These are so much fun.  For these ornaments you need some fabric (jelly roll strips, left over scraps, or fat quarters),
2 1/2 inch Styrofoam balls, and a million little straight pens.

You know what they say about potato chips... you can't eat just one...

Well, these ornaments are JUST like that.  They are so fun to make and so great looking that once you start, you can't make JUST one.  So.... you have been WARNED in advance.

I might keep one of these to go with the ornaments I made last year.
I might give one of these away as a gift.
Most of these will be hung on the Christmas tree at my local yarn shop (Yarned & Dangerous in Canon City, Colorado).  All the ornaments given to the shop are put on a tree and shoppers can donate a minimum of $10.00 for an ornaments; the proceeds go to the local Humane Society.

Here are the ornaments I made up this week.  You can click on each photo to see the detail a bit better.












Here is a link to a YouTube video you can watch if you'd like; the video will show you everything you need to know to make these ornaments:  https://youtu.be/fV_XtQ_tJ_A

Fabric Ornaments

Fun Christmas Ornaments: No Sew



I had busy, busy time making pillows for my Etsy Shop between Halloween and mid-December.  I had one weekend where I made 25 pillows.  When I got a few more orders after that weekend, I decided to close up my Etsy Shop and take a well needed break.  I was in full "Pillow Burnout!'

Over the next few weeks before Christmas, I had a blast making ornaments for holiday decorations.   I still need to add some ribbon so that these ornaments can be hung up on my Christmas tree, but I kind of like the look of the ornaments in a pretty crystal dish.




These ornaments are fun to make.
Video Tutorial for ornaments above: Click on link HERE.

***

I also was wanting to try to make this Fabric Star Ornament.  I made just one.  I found it to be a little tricky and I needed a video tutorial for a little more instruction.






Here is a blog post with instructions for making the Fabric Star. Click HERE.

Emergency Knitting Ornaments

Emergency Knitting Ornaments



I wish I could take credit for this super cute Christmas ornament idea but this is a project idea I saw on Ravelry.  The pattern instructions can be found here (Ravelry link HERE).  It's very simple.  I made some mini-skeins of yarn and tucked them into these glass ornaments.  On my computer, I printed out a sheet of paper with the words "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS".

These ornaments are on the Christmas at my great local yarn shop called "Yarned & Dangerous" located in Canon City.  The ornaments are all available for a minimum donation of $10.00, with all proceeds going to our local Human Society.  Yarned & Dangerous has a great Facebook page.  The shop owner, Ann, is always posting photos of projects completed by the shop's customers, as well as great patterns from all over the Internet. I encourage you to check out the Facebook page and follow along.  Even if you don't live in Colorado and might not ever set foot in the shop, I guarantee you fill find some creative inspiration on the Yarned & Dangerous Facebook page.  Here is a LINK for you if you are interested (click HERE for the Facebook page)



For the mini-skeins, I used left over sock/fingering weight yarn.  I used a hard plastic quilting rectangular shaped quilting ruler which measures 6 inches x 12 inches. I wrapped the yarn around the ruler (around the 12 inch length) about 15 times and then tied the yarn together.  I got a little more instruction on how to wind the mini-skeins from watching a YouTube video which you can find HERE.  One thing to keep in mind when making your mini-skeins is the narrowness of the ornament opening. I made some of my mini-skeins a little too large and really struggled to get them through the ornament opening.



Pretty cute, right?

Mini Mitten Mania

Mini Mitten Mania!

Finding a little bit of time to knit... here and there...

These are a few of the pairs of mittens I've made in the past few months... some were gone before I could snap photos...

It takes nearly an hour to make one little mitten.... but they are so much cuter in pairs, don't you think?

 

All of these were knit with left over bits of sock yarn on small 2.75 mm needles. 

I like how each pair has their own "personality". 

Happy Knitting!

"Dansk Hjerte"

 



 

 

"Dansk Hjerte":  I think this translates to Danish Heart.  This is a cute little knitting pattern in the 2012 edition of "Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts" magazine.  The pattern designer indicates she made the hearts as a child out of red and white paper.  The top of the heart is open so one can insert a small gift or some candy.  I made my heart out of left over bits of Plymouth Encore Worsted (a wool & acrylic blend).  I like little projects like this but the finishing and sewing at the end always drives me nuts.  I muck up nice knitting with sub par sewing.  It looks pretty good in the photo; just don't look closely.

A Little Christmas Sewing...

I can't believe I forgot to post about this.  I had this done before Christmas but did not want to put it on my blog for fear my son might look over my shoulder and spoil the surprise.

For Christmas, I made this fleece blankie for my son.  It's a big piece of rather bright dark blue fleece and I added a fleece border.  It's hard to tell in the photos, but the fleece border is very similar to the color of tennis balls.  That wonderful bright yellow-green color.  My son is a tennis player and this was one of his Christmas gifts.  I cut the fleece into five inch strips and sewed the strips together.  I folded the strips in half lengthwise and then pinned and stitched down the border going through all three layers.  I also ended up going around and around the border with a big zig-zag stitch.

The blankie is far from perfect but I love how excited my son was when he opened it.   I love that every night he brings the blanket into bed with him and I love that every morning, when he wakes up, he brings his blankie out to the living room so he can be cozy while he watches some TV.  The blankie is five feet wide and six feet wide and my tall boy loves that he has something to cover his toes.

And I love that my son loves and appreciates a gift I made for him.

Mini-Mitten Ornament: Free Pattern

New pattern: Mini-Mitten Ornament

I've decided making up my own knitting patterns is my NEW favorite thing.

I'll put it here so it's official... my goal for 2013 is to be creative and make up my own knitting patterns. Folks on Ravelry have been so nice each time I have uploaded a pattern. It's fun!



We had a White Christmas! My first EVER. Can you tell I took this photo on fluffy, beautiful snowflakes?

I enjoy making miniature ornaments each year for my Christmas tree. This year, I made miniature mittens following a number of patterns I found on Ravelry. The tiny size of the mittens and the length of my double pointed needles made me feel I was "all thumbs" while knitting, especially the mitten’s tiny thumbs. Ironic! I actually went so far as try to knit on wooden tooth picks and it seriously would have worked if it weren’t for the fact the tooth picks splintered easily. I learned bits and pieces from each pattern I tried and I incorporated what I’ve learned from making full-sized mittens in order to come up with my own pattern which is quick and easy to knit.

The pattern is offered for free on Ravelry and the pattern link is HERE.
You can also download a PDF file HERE.

Here are the other mitten ornaments I made this week, while trying various patterns and while trying to make up my own pattern.  As you can see, I also made two mini-stockings and one mini-sweater. The mini-sweaters sure are time consuming but I can whip out the mittens in no time at all.  It's funny using left-over tidbits of yarn for these ornaments. I think of the original project... the pattern, who received the item, or what was going on in my life while working on the project.  A little walk down memory lane.

Christmas is coming....

Every year, when I decorate my six foot tall Christmas tree, I think to myself... someday I would like to decorate my tree  with homemade ornaments only. 

That will take a lot of work. 

This year, I have a small table top tree with some ornaments I've been working on and I wanted to share.

This little sock is my favorite.  I am using up leftover bits of sock yarn. 
This is from mittens made earlier in the year.

This is my favorite sweater.  It was from a little sample of yarn from the Sock Summit
(sock yarn from Hazel Knit's booth). 
The sweater was knit from the top down and the yarn was a dream with which to knit.

The sock on the left is more yarn from Hazel Knits
and the sock on the right is Crazy Zauberball yarn
(leftover from socks I made for my dad).

A little cardigan (needs buttons!)

A pullover...

And another pullover. 

I am sure a few more ornaments will find there way on my tree between now and Christmas.  I like how making each ornament reminds me of the projects I made with the yarn originally.  Little memories... little keepsakes.

Seasons Greetings...

For "Operation Holiday Stockings" in 2011.

For "Caps for Good"
(caps for small birth weight babies in developing countries).

Just for fun! 
My mom sent me this cute mini-sock blocker kit with pattern for Christmas.  What a fun project.  I whipped up this little stocking in one sitting after a busy Christmas day. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day as well. 
Happy Knitting!

Christmas Ornament

I took a few more photos of my latest sweater ornament. 

Look, it's got a hood!

I just couldn't resist!  Silly, huh?

For this ornament, I used left over yarn from my first pair of socks... made with Red Heart sock yarn with aloe.  The dye lots don't match... can you tell?