This week, I was seduced by a quick holiday project: knitting Christmas ornaments. Actually, you knit a covering for a styrofoam ball. The results look like this:The pattern is called Balls Up! and it’s available as a free Ravelry download. It calls fro a 7cm polystyrene or styrofoam ball, but I found some at the dollar store that were 6.3 cm. I went down a needle size and everything worked out just fine.

Mine are in the order they were knitted, from left to right. The first one is leftovers of a handpainted Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn and is just plain. There’s something about this colorway that just looks festive to me—I knit Celestine out of it a few years ago.The second is in a loose ball of yarn which I think might be Rowan Tapestry (it has a slow graduation). I added a snowflake in purl stitches to the middle band of this one and some beads—the truth is that I should have used one or the other. The beads were hard to put on the yarn, because it’s a loosely spun single ply, although they are pretty.

The third is from ends of another color of handpainted Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn—I have a feeling this colour was called Monet—and I knit seed stitch on the central band of that one.

The fourth is in sock yarn and my only fair isle attempt with snowflakes in the middle band. My plan was to put a bead in the middle of each one, but I forgot that the bead ends up on the row below when you use the crochet hook method. Next time I’ll get it right.

I would have knit more, because they are fun, but I got distracted. I’d picked up some Crazy Zauberball sock yarn to try it in ornaments and decided I just liked it too much. The colorway is the green, #2136 Lenz (scroll down.) I cast on a pair of socks on those same needles, so they’ll be tucked into that project for a while. I think I’m going to knit knee socks with it, so I’ll need a second ball.

I’m convinced that, one of these days, I’ll knit some of the mini sweaters that are Chrismas ornaments. Here is one set of free patterns on the Berroco site and here’s another set of teeny sweaters. I think they’re so cute!

Have you ever knitted any Christmas ornaments?