Letters
Atlas Insider: Cozy Crafty Cottage
This is the time of year when, despite swearing a solemn oath not to knit holiday gifts for people, I come over all crafty. I start making lists: Team MDK, sewing circle sisters, and The Klatch, a group of exuberant Rhode Islanders of which I am a proud visiting member. I fall under the alluring delusion that I could make a “little something” for each of these cherished humans. Something to tuck into their tool bag or seasonal windowsill tableau—or even wear.
The company craft table at MDK World Headquarters is partly to blame. Up here in New York all by my lonesome, I’m deprived of the casual community handwork that my colleagues enjoy. This suppressed longing erupts in a year-end frenzy of stitching tiny trees, knitting tiny houses, or churning out a dozen hats. The clear sequins make their annual appearance, and fluffy stuffing fills the air. In other words: I have a fabulous time.
This year, the knitting production line is not hats, though! It’s the Sophie Scarf by PetiteKnit. This little shmattah has taken the world—and my heart—by storm. There are nearly 2400 Sophie Scarf projects reported on Ravelry.com, and frankly I think that’s an undercount. I saw at least that many at Rhinebeck. They are so stinkin’ jaunty!
Just a soft little neck wrapper—a nice change of weight from the oversized blanket-scarves I generally favor.
The Sophie Scarf is a breeze to knit, I made my first one in a few hours, over a couple of evenings and meetings.
And the design is so clever, with its integrated i-cord trim and aerodynamic shaping. I really loved making my first one, and the second one (in navy on the left) is on its way.
The best part: the Sophie Scarf is a one-skein wonder. I used Atlas, in the Seaglass shade, for my debut Sophie Scarf, and had a healthy miniball weighing 14 grams left over from the 50 gram skein.
I made the smaller of the two sizes in the pattern. To get a longer scarf that could be double-wrapped, you’d need to make the larger size—which is five more repeats of the increase pattern (following by five more repeats of the decrease pattern, of course). That would have put me into a second skein of Atlas.
Since I’m cranking these out en masse (please: no spoilers to The Klatch) I’m sticking to one skein, but I’ll add one or two more increase repeats, which should give me just enough extra length for a double wrap, plus the sweet satisfaction of using up almost every yard.
Atlas feels so good around the neck. Ahhhh.
A Giveaway!
The prize? Two skeins of Atlas, our Rambouillet pride and joy, in the winner’s choice of color(s), plus the Sophie Scarf pattern gifted to their Ravelry.com account.
How to enter?
Two steps:
Step 1: Sign up for MDK emails, right here. If you’re already signed up, you’re all set. We have a new option for texting, so when you sign up for those, you’ll get a coupon code good for 10% off your next MDK order.
Step 2: What is your favorite handmade holiday ornament or gift? Let us know in the comments. (Kay is not eligible, but hers is a dangly tempera-painted egg carton ornament she made for her mom in 1967. It is really good, friends.)
Deadline for entries: Sunday, November 20, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.
I remember my first knitted project back in the 80’s: a “gatito” (kitty) scarf,a clear “foregarment” of the beautiful Petite (a super small garter rectangle with a wide buttonhole tu tuck the end through and look…. like an embellished feline). My favourite knitted ornament is a collection of knitted mini scrappy sweaters to hang from the tree
No senate comment box so I will use reply. I honestly don’t have a favorite since I have made/bought so many over the years, mostly for my kids. But this post has inspired me to pull out the boxes and do a bit of decorating now!
Favorite ornament is kindergarten me dumping a pinecone into red paint and then glitter. Looking back, my kindergarten teacher was such a saint. Glitter not allowed in this house with two littles! I’ve been meaning to make the family stockings to hang for Christmas.. One year this will happen…
Hats for my whole family. I’ve done it many years, but not this year. My first grandchild is coming in Feb, so it’s all about the baby knitting this holiday season.
One year, long time ago when angora was an everyday item, I crocheted little angora snowmen. So cute and fuzzy.
I have been making Santa gnomes that can sit in a shelf or put in a present—it’s a free pattern, take no time to make and are sooo darn cute!
I just love my knitted Christmas ball ornaments.
One of my favorite ornaments was made with a holiday shaped cookie cutter fitted with a photo of my mom, sister and me and then adorned with velvet ribbon and glitter – always placed front and center on the tree!
This year I used crystal beads from an vintage necklace to make angels for my tree.
I’m a beekeeper and soap maker as well as a knitter; my favorite gifts to give are goat milk soaps and beeswax candles. (My knitting is my gift to myself. )
OOOOOO — I wish I were on YOUR gift list!! Goat milk soaps and beeswax candles sound absolutely LOVELY!!
A little crewel rocking horse ornament that I made from a kit my grandmother-in-law gave me 42 years ago—such fond memories when it comes out of the box every year!
I knit tiny stockings, tiny sweaters, tiny anything as gifts tucked into Christmas cards for recipients to hang on their trees.
I love to make beaded snowflakes to add to packages. When I remember to carve out the time before Chrismas…..
I make biscotti for my human friends and pumpkin peanut butter dog treats for my K9 friends!
I remember making a “stained glass” bottle for my mom in grade school: an old vinegar bottle, squares of colored tissue paper, and liquid starch. I was so proud!
When my kids were little I made a hooked rug tree skirt with cardinals around it. It was lost during a move but it was a project I enjoyed making and loved the results.
My son made my favorite ornament…..a white plastic cup turned upside down with his school picture glued to the side and lovely splotches of red and green glitter. It’s survived for 30 years and still going
For new family members I knit a vintage style Christmas stocking…it’s a great way to celebrate the holidays even if you’re doing so long distance. My grandmother started the tradition and I’ve continued.it.
I knit tiny Christmas stockings… stripes and solids.
the year we were expecting our first child my mother-in- law wove a tiny stork complete with baby bundle for our tree.
My sentimental favorite is a faded glass ornament, popular in the 50s, that adorned my tree as a child. My grownup life favorites are 2 ornaments purchased for each of my children’s first Christmases: an elf flying on the back of a beautiful Christmas goose and a tiny angel in a blue dress, holding a thimbleful of stars. All of these remind me to view Christmas through a child’s eyes.
One year I knit little feathers out of yarn leftovers. I gave them to all the ladies in our church, friends, children,grandchildren, and a few strangers.
One year I made salt clay ornaments in a community 3d class. I made a Mrs Claus, baked and painted with non toxic paints. There were others as well. I lived on a lake then. It was frozen but we had little snow. my sister and her coworkers brought their clients,non ambulatory children and one her own toddler to be pulled on my inflatable inner tube on the lake. Tammy asked if I had given the toddler something to eat and showed me what she’d found. I went to the tree and retrieved Mrs. CLAUS, NOW WITHOUT FEET.
A crewel angel tree topper I made over 20 years ago. It’s on the tree every year.
One year I knitted table-size snowmen and sold them as a fundraiser at the school where I taught. I also have knit hats and cowls that I have donated to visiting Fulbrighters in Connecticut at Christmas time.
An orange studded with cloves– a classic!
My favorite handmade Christmas ornaments are the ones the children made when they were young, usually with a little photo of themselves or a handprint.
I agree. My son’s elementary school teachers always made sure the children crafted some kind of cute gifts to take home for their families.
Oh, I should make these again! Happy memories!
I have made so many ornaments over the years that it’s hard to choose a favorite. Seeing them on my dear friends’ trees is the best!
Anything made of clay from my children or grandchildren.
I still adore the googly-eyed popscicle stick and pipecleaner reindeer tree ornaments my kids made 20 years ago.
My daughter made an ornament with a picture of her in the center. It’s the first ornament I hang on the tree every year. How quickly time flies. She’s 33 years old now. She made the ornament in 5th grade.
I have one too. My son made a star from flat bubble packaging, colored it with sharpie, maybe, and placed his picture in the middle. He is 27 this year and made it in 5th grade ❤️
I have one of those too. My daughter is 36 and it was made in her preschool class. I still hang it on the tree even though it embarrasses her to no end.
I learned to crochet very young and people still sometimes used doilies. I loved to crochet tiny doilies to hang on the tree.
When I was a girl, every ornament on the tree was handmade by my mom, my sister & I. The surviving of those ornaments are treasures.
My brother made one of those too!! Set in a wrapping paper frame. Not sure where it is now but I think about it every year and smile!
My Great-aunt Francis flew across country to teach my whole Brownie Troop of 28 little 6 y.o. girls how to turn LifeSaver Candy Rolls into Christmas Ornaments with yarn arms and legs.
I remember those! What a wonderful memory to have!
My favorites are all the ornaments my daughter made while growing up. They vary from glitter balls to photo frames and they are all very special to me.
I make knitted washcloths paired with my husband’s wooden soap dishes and small soaps I collect during the year.
Knitted mitten ornaments that double as a money or gift card holder
I love using an Angel made of natural roving as a small tree topper. Also, the milkweed pod with the bit of roving, a peanut as the babe and a handknit wrap. Thank you, young Thane.
I love making Arne and Carlos ornament balls every year and giving them to my kids and their cousins as they fly off and start their own holiday traditions.
A skein of Corriedale I hand spun from my ewe’s fleece, for a friend who cared for my sheep when I was away. She in turn gifted me with a little sheep crocheted from that same skein. The sheep looked just like my ewe!
I started a family Christmas tradition about 10 years ago. I knit a pair of socks for my son and daughter in law each year and in recent years I’ve added socks for the grand babies. I use different patterns and colours and they are always excited to see what this year’s par looks like.
A red felt cardinal ornament. Gifted to me in 1977 by a dear friend and now a lovely memory of that friend.
My favorites are also made of felt – by my aunt, who was an elementary school art teacher. She probably made them in the 1950s. The felt is thick wool, and she made ornament shaped ones, a gingerbread man and an angel tree topper of white felt. There are sequins and beads on all of them. They were stuffed and a bit heavy so needed to be put on a very sturdy branch on our Christmas tree!
Every year I knit for my Bookgroup. Last year they all got Musselburgh hats in Gauge Dye Works yarn. Let’s say that was a favorite for all of them, maybe not my favorite knitting.
My favorite homemade ornaments are ones I made dozens of to give as gifts, when I was a poor college student. They were simple: an origami crane surrounded by a string of beads. But I still see them on Christmas trees of my loved ones, 20 years later, and that feels good.
My husband’s 3rd grade teacher decorated red glass Christmas balls with her student’s name in glitter and the year. More than 60 years later this ornament has pride of place on our tree.
A very nice lady once made miniature snowmen and ladies w tiny handwoven scarves, knitted hats, and wire glasses- all done on straight-pin loom and needles.
The many ornaments made by my kids and grandkids.
I have been knitting tiny sweater ornaments every year for my daughters and friends.
My favorite ornament is a hand painted Drummer Boy that my Grandma gave me.
I’ve made many mini-socks and have included them as gift tags, with a small candy cane in them. I’ve made several sets of 25 little socks to use as an advent chain:)
I have a a set of wooden angels that are from Germany. They are lightweight and hang on the tree.
“Several sets of 25” is a jaw dropper.
I have a wooden clothes pin dressed up as a wise man holding myrrh. He is in a felt robe and has a hand drawn happy face. It’s was made by a second grade teacher.
I was fortunate enough to be gifted my mother-in-law’s hand vrocheted snowflake collection and a quilted Christmas tree hanging. We take it out every year and find new creative ways to showcase it every Christmas! Then we send pics to share with our family to enjoy them as well. I look forward to passing these ornaments down to our niece and nephew one day. ❄️
I loved the snowflake/star tree ornaments we made as kids out of wooden clothes pegs 🙂
I enjoy opening the Xmas storage boxes and seeing the letters my children wrote to Santa
My favorite handmade holiday gifts are the “finger” painted holiday cards from my new grandson. Handprints for turkeys, footprints for Christmas trees, etc.
For handmade holiday gifts for others, I love making felted slippers!
Mittens my grandmother knit and mailed to each of us every year. My siblings and I looked forward to receiving that package every year.
Oh you sound just like me. I am already in hat production mode. These would be a nice addition to my gift giving .
My favorite ornaments are ceramic ornaments depicting the 12 days of Christmas made and painted by my best friend’s 85 year old mother.
Knitting Christmas balls.
My grandchildren expect me to make things with them when I visit. I used to take patterns and supplies. Now they have the plan and it’s a recipe we cook together. Then on Christmas a handmade gift. Love it all.
I enjoy the ornament of a carved santa.
For a while I was knitting mini mitten ornaments and embroidering an initial on them. Friends still send me photos when they decorate their Christmas trees ❤️
My husband painted a Santa lamp base with his mother. It is an adorable vintage Santa complete with his signature and dated 1956. His mother signed and dated all her work which have become treasured pieces throughout the years.
My favorites are the ones my kids make every year. Usually involve paint, glitter, and a lot of glue
Giving some handmade warmth to my loved ones makes me happy so hats, mittens and especially socks are my favorite gifts to knit. Lacking time to knit before the holidays a few years back, I gifted carefully chosen skeins and the promise of socks finished before spring. I cozied up that winter with purposeful knitting and all socks were delivered before the last snow.
Oh man, my grandson’s teacher had the kids color little measuring tapes & put them in an ornament, with a little poem about remembering them when they were small. He gave it to me for Christmas, & it got me right in the feels- I cried
A jigsaw puzzle handmade by my husband
My favourite handmade ornament is a cross stitch I made a few years ago, a little stocking for the tree.
My grandmother used to make ornaments for me each year. They were always different, but had my name and the year somewhere.
Ice Skates ornament! Made by my Nana with bits of leftover white and red yarn and paper clips for the skate blades. Wish I could include a picture-they are so cute.
Oooh! I’ve made scandinave holiday balls and gnomes. Would love a petite scarf! Happy crafty holidays to all!
My favorite handmade ornament is a counted cross stitch nutcracker. The pattern was in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens Cross Stitch and Country Crafts. It is stitched flat and then finished as a stuffed cylinder with felt circles for the top and bottom. Finishing is not particularly fun, but it is just so cute that I’ve made several as gifts over the years.
It looks like a stack of logs. It’s made from cinnamon sticks and has a little holly berry and leaf on top wrapped up with a velvet red ribbon. My heart sings every year when I come upon it in the ornament box! 🙂
I have tried Christmas ball ornaments!!!
I made a bunch of Arne & Carlos ornaments one year as gifts and kept one.
Angels made from a tuft of undyed fleece folded in half, with a thin gold cord used to make a head/neck just below the fold, with a fleece arms crosspiece through the middle and the gold cord making a criss cross across the chest and then a waist to finish, with the rest of the fleece making a poufy skirt. Made at a Waldorf holiday craft gathering when my kids were little…
My favorite ornaments are the clear balls made with my granddaughter, marbled on the inside with glitter paint. I knitted a similar small triangular neck scarf some years ago with icord loops on one side for threading the narrow end to hold the wrap.
Every year I make a new ornament for my grandchildren. Some are knitted, some are sewn. This year’s are little Santas. Last year, little snowmen. I’m always on the hunt for a new pattern and every year’s ornament is the new favorite.
Oh, my! I have a few favorites but I most especially love the little reindeer our daughter made in elementary school. Such memories.
My favourite one I received was from my nieces when they were toddlers I got footprints of their feet that my sister turned into penguins it’s was adorable!!!
My absolute favorite Christmas tree ornament is a blue and white star beaded by a Native Alaskan woman. The star is delicate yet substantial. It is unique and I love it because it reminds me of the 20 years my family lived in Alaska. Our Christmases there were magical—the full moon reflecting off the fresh white snow, the long, dark quiet, and the incredible peacefulness of a beautiful winter day. There was the Christmas day when the power went out and we finished cooking our bison stew on the wood stove. Our three-year old daughter, of course, assumed that the power outage was a part of Christmas and the next year asked “when are the lights going to go out?” It was a wonderful time in our lives.
Most cherished: wooden angel hand carved by a mischievous old gnarled man. She hovers at the top of our tree every year.
Most fun: a glass ball ornament filled with stash yarn that says ‘Break in case of Emergency’!!
I love little knitted tree, sweater, and hat ornaments. Really, any miniature knitted thing makes a good ornament. Maybe even a teeny Sophie Scarf…
Ah, we have so many handmade ornaments, and the tree wouldn’t be the same without them. My favorites are all those imperfect ones made by my once fat fingered preschoolers, and include the trio of paper plate angels that always sit a top our tree. Sloppy paint, marker scribbles, and some glitter. They are perfect to me!
The cotton thread snowflake set I made and donated to a charity auction… the bidding was so fierce and the winning bid so high, I felt compelled to make more than the set and added in a set of crocheted icicles.
Favorite holiday ornament was made by my daughter in grade one. A fine y birdhouse made of wooden matches with a picture of a Robin cut from a Christmas card pasted inside. Totally cherished.
Last year I made the family knitted hats with snowflakes and I just loved them (the family and the hats)
My favorites are the ever-growing flock of sheep, made by winding thin drifts of roving gently over a pipe-cleaner body frame.
Crocheted snowflakes for the Christmas tree. They were the second project I did in crochet (I am primarily a knitter) and they have lasted for decades.
The santa that my son made when he was teaching himself origami when he was seven. His hat is on backwards and all of his appendages are legs and he is the most perfect santa I have ever seen!!
My mom crocheted snowflakes for our Christmas tree many many years ago. They are a little wonky now, but I still hang them.
My favorite handmade Xmas gift is the Arnie and Carlos crochet hanging bird feeder I made for my son in Tennessee.
In the early 70s my grandmother taught me embroidery. I made dozens of embroidered felt ornaments from a Vogue pattern and still have a few. She also taught me to crochet and quilt (the quilting did not stick).
My other favorite…the classic “bell” ornament fashioned with a styrofoam cup covered in aluminum foil made by my then-4 yr old. ❤️
The yello construction paper star with smears of glitter made by my daughter in kindergarten for the top of our tree.
my mother crocheted a poinsettia many years ago.
My favorite ornament is a felt kitty that looks like one of my cats.
My favourite ornament is the scented gingerbread ornament my daughter made in kindergarten (almost 40 years ago. It lost its scent long ago, but the short sparkly garland on a length of green yarn is on the tree every year.
Crocheted snowflakes made by my Nana (who also taught me to knit) . These are in different sizes and are over 30 years old. A treasure!!
I knit my first pair of socks for my grandmother when I was 14. The first sock was gifted at Christmas and the 2nd at New Year’s!
My favorite ornament is a clay picture frame with my son’s picture in the middle. He made it in 2nd grade; he is now 44 years old and that ornament still gets a special spot on my tree every year.
A nativity ornament that my youngest sister made from toothpicks and and a Christmas card.It is always hung near a light so the sun shines through.
Angels made from old lace handkerchiefs.
My favorites? (Gosh, I love this pair!) Two strings of little wooden balls — each string about 10 feet long, so definitely long enough to represent a garland — one the color of cranberries, the other the color of popcorn. I love natural elements so much! And now I have a smile on my face just thinking about seeing these precious garlands again. ;0)
I like the Sheldon turtle toy. My first one had a droopy neck due to under-stuffing, but since then they’ve been successes.
Every year my MIL gives me a silver Gorham snowflake ornament. We all love them. They catch all of the lights from the tree and sparkle. I have been picking up the older ones on ebay… I will have the precious.
The Arne and Carlos knitted Christmas balls!! I have made a whole tree full. It was a great way for me to conquer my fear of DPNs. “Conquer” may be a stretch but I am no longer intimidated by the very thought of casting on with them. Progress, I would say, right?
I love the dough art ornaments my children made decades ago, even though the octopus has only 4 legs left.
My mom’s elaborately sequinned/beaded styrofoam balls from the ’50s
One of my favorite ornaments — I know that wasn’t the rule but there are SO MANY — is a popsicle stick reindeer made by my son in preschool. Every year as I take it out to hang on the tree I rejoice at the gift of a little boy now a 34-year-old, inspiring and kind man.
Anything made by my children or grandchildren!
One of my favorites is a needlepoint Santa from a very dear friends mum.
My favorite changes with the times. I love knitting things for my coworkers each year. From cup cozies to ponytail hats to full on blankets and new baby sets! I often gift things right off of myself when out and about. Love it!
Decades ago (under 10 years old) I made a bird ornament using a pine cone. It has withstood the test of time. Another favorite is the paper Christmas Tree from our son’s kindergarten class – his picture at the top and a piece of gold glitter landed on his smile making it look like he has a gold tooth. We all laugh every year.
Every year I unroll the two little banners my children made when they were tiny – wreaths made of their handprints in green paint. My kids are now 35 and 37, so these banners have seen a few Christmases!
A quick hat is my favorite holiday knit.
I’ve got two favorite handmade ornaments…first are the handprint ornaments that my kids made in preschool, and second is the ceramic Santa ornament that my grandmother painted in ceramics class in the 70s. I can’t wait to get my tree out this year; I love it when it’s up and I can look at the memories.
My favorite ornament is one made by my husband’s great aunt before he was born. It’s a sweet little Santa named Oswald (it kind of rhymes with our surname). It was made for the future baby as my mother in law was about 8 months pregnant that Christmas. That Santa is now 65 years old!
I’m doing Sophie scarves and coffee cup holders. Happy holidays to everyone!
A crochet tea cup, ready for high tea with a duchess.
A Mr and Mrs Christmas Snowman set made by the mother of my longtime friend. My friend’s mother had passed away before my friend was married. She and her family are Jewish so I was honored with this special memory of her mother.
Many years ago I made my mom a counted cross stitch angel tree topper with a Battenberg lace skirt. The angel never quite sat up straight but that made her all the more special!
The hand-painted Christmas stocking my grandmother made me. It’s out of some kind of fabric that has absolutely no give and she misspelled my name, either because she didn’t remember Jennifer has two n’s or she ran out of room on the stocking front.
My favorite ornaments are the remaining 1950s ornaments from way back,when my older sister and I decorated the little Tennessee cedar tree my father had chopped on the old James farm on Blue Creek.
Hard to pick a fav—we have some dandy ornaments, but as an exuberant Rhode Islander, misplaced in western Massachusetts, I do rather like the Del’s Lemonade needlepoint lemon (backed with some really cute lemon Liberty fabric) I made one year, in a fit of homesickness…
A very small pair of socks
My favorite handmade gift from my “boys” is a coffee mug that as teenagers they basically bought a white mug and wrote in black sharpie , “world’s greatest mom” on and proudly presented to me under the tree. Some would call it panic, I went with “out of the box” thinking. It is the thought after all. Haha.
Since my sister had a stroke several years ago I have knit her a sweater every year for Christmas.
Two (by now cracked) eggshell ornament my mother made almost 60 years ago. The shells were pierced at both ends, then the contents were blown out of one and using a straw. Then a display window was gently cut into the shell, and blue crayons (wax way back then) were melted and poured in to coat the inside for strength and color. A layer of cotton at the bottom, tiny detailed cutting from holiday cards were glued to stand up on the cotton, and all sorts of trim and tiny baubles to cover the edges, holes, and to make the loop to hang them. Still beautiful, even cracked.
My sister-in-law is a beautiful artist and gifts a handmade ornament each year – usually some fanciful, elaborately stitched holiday animal creation. Each is a work of art that we treasure.
Any ornament from my grandchildren – usually included a sweet picture of them. Christmas is love and for children – this encompases both.
I love fsl machine embroidered angels. and snowflakes
The year we were waiting for our oldest son( now 44 ) to arrive
I keep busy embroidering and stuffing felt Christmas tree ornaments which are still much treasured.
My fav handmade ornament was made by my niece Emily. It was an orange studded with cloves hung by a loop of ribbon, made in elementary school, and it hung on my tree for 20 years. Every year it dried out more and became smaller and smaller. Eventually I think it just disappeared
My very favorite is a tiny knit sweater my knitting teacher made for my tree. Tiny and perfect!
Painted ceramic ornaments my grandma made in 1983, the year I was born!
Many, many years ago, my sister and I made felt camels and wise men for the tree. Lots of felt, sequins, beads, and giggles went into the process. Nothing has ever come close to that much fun.
My favorite holiday decoration is always a gnome, hand knit of course! Then there is the flying crow with Santa on his back.
When I was in highschool, our English teacher required us to make an ornament representing something we had read that semester. With my Dad’s help I made an Excalibur sword out of wood complete with wood burned detailing. I love that ornament and hang it up every year.
I love the painted ornament that my grandson created for me which features a simple nativity. . .second runner up would be the tiny hand knit sock ornament one of my knitting friends just gifted me with. . .it is also a beautiful work of art and I can’t wait to see it on my tree.
Little felt fruit and vegetables my mom stitched when first married. I’m happy now to be their caretaker. Also, a wool granny square blanket made by my Grandma in the 60s or 70s that is now used for our tree skirt.
My husband carved a tree-topper from wood – an angel flying with a star in her outstretched arms. It’s beautiful and unique. My daughter is getting married later this year and in the Christmas box I give to her at the shower, there will be her own carved angel, (with two handknit stockings, of course!)
I can’t wait to see all of the ornaments my daughter made as a little one when we open up the bins & start decorating the day after Thanksgiving. And she’ll have her own collection from her daughter who started preschool in September. ♥️
To give: A simple batch of sugar cookies that I add decorative icing to.
To receive: Anything made by my grandchildren.
A pair of felted mittens made by my SIL. She felted cashmere found at a thrift store and sewed mittens for my husband and two kiddos. They were so snuggly and kept my hands remarkably warm as I pushed my son’s stroller to my daughter’s school in the mornings. I wore them for years, until they were too threadbare to repair anymore. Best handmade holiday gift ever❤️
I finished my first Sophie yesterday and started on my second. I have 3 special girlfriends that I want to gift these scarves for Christmas. It’s the perfect gift. Also great for TV knitting!
My daughter (then 8 yo) became smitten with needlepoint gingerbread cookies. Smitten enough to learn to needlepoint. The tradition contines and she’s now in her 30s. Those esrly ones are the best!
I have a tine crocheted wreath pin that belonged to my great grandmother, and I was so charmed by it that in high school I taught myself enough crochet craft t make gifts for my friends.
When my 2 children were quite young they made a creche and figures of Mary, Joseph, a manger with Baby Jesus, sheep covered in shredded cotton balls as wool, a large camel, and 3 wise men out of modeling clay. It is now kept out all year to be admired.
A lovely set of small stars and bells crocheted by my dear friend forty years ago.
My favorite ornaments are the swans my father made in the 60s using cardboard, glitter, and blown-out eggshells.
Either the needlepoint mailboxes that will contain grandparents gift of money in Christmas morning, or the stockings that vary by generation. Love to see them all hung together!
When my son was a toddler, my dad and I spent several nights at the kitchen table painting wooden ornaments. I treasure the ornaments and the memory.
When my son was 7, he was home sick for a day and he made a bell with sparkly stars all over it. It always goes on the top of the tree. I love it.
One of my favorite ornaments was made by my husband’s aunt. It’s a miniature bird feeder made out of a clear pill bottle filled with bird seed, a tiny cardinal, and parts of a pine cone.
Before I knit, I always gifted tiny knit stockings…personalized!!
Crocheted snowflakes!
The Christmas stockings I knit for my husband and myself, many years ago.
My Mom made 3 characters from a tv show popular with kids out of felt and stuffed with fiberfill years ago for her grandkids (who are all married with kids). I hope they still have them to hang on their trees. What sweet memories.
Favorite ornaments are the ornaments that my kids made in school that have their pictures on them. I also love the cross stitch mouse ornament I made with my Stitch & Bitch group when we were all mothers of young kids.
My favorite knitted gifts are socks!
My favorite ornaments are those made by my now adult children in preschool: a paper ice cream cone stuffed with cotton balls and stapled together with all the staples the teacher had, a blue satin ball with a glittered name on it, a reindeer that held a long gone peppermint.
When I was growing up, we had next to nothing. I remember my mom crocheting these dainty little snowflake ornaments for our Christmas tree. She made them in gold and white with tiny little colored beads on some. I was always amazed that she made them off the top of her head. And now that I can knit (and sometimes crochet), I’m even more amazed at the skill that took!! Here we are MANY years later, and those ornaments are still employed on her Christmas tree. I can’t imagine the holiday without them.
My favorite is a counted cross stitch ornament of a bear with a red scarf, designed by Pawleys Island cross stitch. I stitched this in 1985 while waiting for my baby who was having open heart surgery. She is a happy mom of a glorious two year old now. Small ornament, lots of memories.
Team orange with cloves stuck in….yeah.
My favorite ornament is a little beaded counted criss stitch sleigh that my mom made for me. But I am very sentimental about anything handmade ornament I’ve been given. The knitting side of me….I have my woodland tree that I’ve knitted small animals for, that our grandchildren can take off and play with.
Favorite ornaments are ones my mother did in needlepoint over the many years of her life. She was a gifted knitter too !!
My favorite handmade ornament is a little Christmas stocking, made by my third grade teacher. She made one for everyone in the class, and gave them to us with a candy cane inside. I wonder every year if any of my classmates still have theirs.
I love to knit accessories such as cowls and mittens for Christmas gifts. My favourite decoration is the advent mitten garland (free pattern on Ravelry) and I just have to wind my skeins to get started… I was thinking of knitting this as an advent activity this year but we’ll see how that goes with the three jumpers I decided to gift knit this year
Felt bell-shaped school photograph ornament with glittery adorning
In high school, I remember cranking out a lot of stars using a pair of tin snips on circles cut from a soda can. Very sparkly, but the edges were sharp! Definitely would not be approved for use today (and it’s possibly why none of them seem to have survived in the family holiday stash).
My favorite gifts are hats, they are quick and always appreciate.
My favorite handmade holiday ornament are tiny handknit stockings. I’ve given them to the nieces and nephews with money of a gift card tucked inside and then I tie it to a box of candy.
I learned to knit in third grade, and shortly thereafter was determined to make holiday gifts for everyone. But what to make for my father? Of course, what do all Dads need? A Tie!
Think of this as a Sophie, gone vertical.
And vertical… and vertical. Oh…It could have been used as a jump rope, as it grew in length, the minute my patient father put it on to wear to church!
In gold acrylic, it was only seen in public this once, but I still remember how proud I was of my crafty self!
I often stitch wool applique ornaments to tie on packages, but I love knitting mittens, scarves, or socks if I can get my act together in time.
The best handcrafted thing I receive is home made English toffee. My mom used to make it before she died in 1968 a nd my daughter uses her recipe. One year I fashioned a small crocheted stocking, just big enough to hold a lip balm on a key chain, for a very long term friend’s retirement lunch in December. It is a crocheted 5-sided granny folded in half, then single crocheted up the bottom of the foot/back/around the top and Chris 10 to make a hanger( in Ravelry, free pattern under my name,). I have now made hundreds, not just singles, but also as garland items. Hope you enjoy making a few!;
Auto correct . Not Chris, but chain!
Tiny mittens with a tiny I-cord to attach them. Teeny thumbs and all!
Wool felt Christmas stockings with a few sequins and our names.
Paper pieced quilted ornaments with funny pictures of my husband on one and different color ways for my son and another for my daughter with a cute picture of each in the center. They are not perfect but they make us smile and the kids will remember and smile long after I am gone….
Made daughter knit a tiny sweater that hangs on a tiny hanger. I love that ornament and it holds a special place on my tree every year.
My favorite ornament is a beaded bell crafted by my dear Grammy. She was a craftswoman extraordinaire! Each year I look forward to placing this on the tree.
I LOVE this scarf, Kay! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve always treasured the macaroni angel made by my son when he was in elementary school. He’s 41 now, and it has survived all these years.
My favorite is an angel tree topper from my first married Christmas. Her wings are made from piston rings (husband is a mechanic) covered with white panty hose (I’m a nurse).
The Sophie Scarf is a brilliant idea for gift-giving! Thanks for the idea!
My favorite ornament is the angel that I needlepointed that sits on the top of our tree. She’s been on top of our tree for over 45 years. One of my fondest holiday memories was chairing my son’s grade school holiday sale. Forty years later I still have the handmade ornaments from that time. I made soldiers out of clothespins, counted crossstitch ornaments in tiny frames, tiny angels, bread dough ornaments and many others that still find a home on our tree. I remember my Mom making a beautiful Goldilocks doll and the three bears that we raffled with the book. (She made and donated all the Christmas teddy bears for the sale.) Such Happy Memories.
When I started knitting I tackled knitting a Christmas stocking for a grandson. I relied heavily on our lys for instruction and encouragement. When it was done it was longer than the grandson way out of gauge. He still loves it, says it holds a lot more goodies!
I still have all the crocheted white snowflakes my grandma made for me. I treasure them.
My mother, who is now 95 and has dementia, knitted a Santa years ago. I treasure it so, and display it every year.
When I was first beginning to knit, I knit garter stitch scarves as Christmas gifts for practically everyone I knew. They were awfully simple, but I was very proud!
I saved every ornament my boys – now 34 and 36 – made for me while they were in preschool. But my mother holds the prize – she has a clay ornament my brother, who is now 64, made for her while he was in preschool!
A Christmas tree made of festive cloth with very small pompom ornaments
My favorite ornament is an angel made from various types of dried pasta that our neighbors made for us over 20 years ago.
Christmas stockings!
Well of course anything my daughter made for the tree. But I think my favorite is a droopy ear donkey she made out of clay, a homely little thing, to replace the fine china one that broke from my mom’s nativity set. Beautiful all white china set and mom proudly displayed the little donkey with the rest of the nativity every year.
I have a Christmas tree skirt my grandmother hooked that I can’t wait to bring it every year
I once made a needlepoint ornament for a coworker’s baby’s first Christmas, sort of designing it myself from supplies I had on hand. I used blank needlepoint canvas and a cross stitch pattern (which I had found in a magazine) of a Teddy bear holding a candy cane in each paw. On the other side of the ornament I had needlepointed the baby’s name and the year. I wrapped the gift in a gold box, which was left over from a quarter pound of Godiva chocolates. Many years later I was in the rehab section of a hospital the morning after having had a total knee replacement. A nurse walked in and I recognize her name which was on her name tag. It was the mother of that little baby! We got to talking and she reported to me that that little baby boy was now a 34 year old lawyer, that the ornament had been cherished over the years and remained in mint condition!
My mom made me a bunch of beautiful, crocheted snowflakes many years ago, and I hang them with love and pride each year on my Christmas tree.
My favorite knitted ornament is a tiny sweater with an initial stitched on, hanging from a tiny wire coat hanger!
Knitted mini Christmas trees
Ballband Warshrags are my all-purpose gifts; for ornaments those wee sweaters from a old free pattern – Bernat I think.
I have two: the dishcloths that I give to *everyone* (during Covid lockdown/ recuping from appendectomy I even made one for each work colleague) and the cross-stitched ornament I made for family in the US when I was a pre-teen and which made my heart feel soooo good to see it lo these many years later on a visit. And I love the clean Nordic simplicity of Sophie’s scarf too, the clean i-cord edges make it lovely.
My favorite is a pearl and wire angel ornament handmade by my Godmother.
It has to be my latest gnome frenzy!
Oh my gosh! Over the years I have made several. My favorite was the year I crocheted all those little angels from a Leisure Arts book. They looked so pretty hanging on trees or wherever the recipient decided to hang their angel.
Too many to list but my favorite might be little pasta angels my mom and I made way back in the 1970’s !!
My mother made little yarn reindeer and Santa Clauses. When I was very small I was fascinated to watch them develope. Magic. When we were older, the 3 of us “helped” when she couldn’t deter us.
Glass ornaments that belonged to my grandmother. Probably close to 100 years old.
Wow! Look at all these comments! I just finished knitting Arne and Carlos’ Advent sweaters for my granddaughters. They are all filled with little surprises and boxed up, ready for their house next week. That was quite a project. Last year I knitted mini hats from Jodi Brown’s Hatvent patterns. They are adorable and I think I’ll use them s gift toppers.
Scrappy fingerless mitts are a favorite gift. I have used the Squad Mitts pattern many times and they are well received!
My now 39 yr old daughter made an angel out of pasta that is spray painted gold when she was in kindergarten. Still have it, still love it.
Washcloths, people request new ones every year!
Love the Arne and Carlos Christmas balls
The reindeer cookie cutter we used when I was growing up. It now has a red ribbon on it and a place of Joy on my tree each year.
Favorite handmade gift is my mothers fudge that comes through the mail every holiday season!
tiny black and white mittens ornament, made on size 0 needles, complete with braid to hold them together. Purchased.
I have all the ornaments that my four kids made in school . They are all my favorite. My tree is mostly all handmade . I think the one that makes me smile every time I hang it is a dough candy cane one granddaughter gave me to put on the tree when we picked her up from preschool. When my daughter came to pick her up she showed it to her and my daughter said” don’t you want to take it home and put it on our tree?” She said “No, it’s for memaw” That still touches my heart.
Christmas tree ornaments made with flash bulb cubes by my granny
My favorite handmade ornament was a sequin reindeer which I made in 1970 or 71 but was lost over the years. It was a small styrofoam reindeer covered in bright red sequins attached with pins that killed my fingers! As an adult, my favorite is the knitted and stuffed snowman family I made a few years back.
Many, many years ago I made a set of the Mill Hill bead ornaments. They beautifully reflect the lights on my Christmas tree and give it a very special sparkle. I have since passed the collection on to my daughter and she loves them just as much as I do.
As a small child in England we used to press the shiny foil milk bottle tops over our lemon squeezer to form them into simple fluted bells. Inexpensive and colorful since the tops came in different colors according to the type of milk or cream delivered(!) to our front door.
Years ago my boss’s Finnish wife crocheted a small bell ornament. It appears to be starched to hold its shape and it still looks nice.
My favorite ornaments I have made were the cross-stitch ones I made for my daughter and her 2 children when they were born. Each had their name and year on them. This will be the 41st Christmas that my daughter’s has been on my tree.
One of my first knitted gifts was a throw that I made as a wedding present. I don’t remember much about making it, but what I DO remember was a year or so later when I actually SAW the throw being used by the recipients. My feeling of, ‘They’re actually using this!’ was the best feeling in the world. That started me down a long path of giving knitted items as presents that continues today.
My favorite holiday gift is something I knit for my family members.It is Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Moccasin Socks.I have made so many pairs of this pattern for gifts that my son has dubbed them “Marnie’s Sockies”.He ‘s a grown man and he adored receiving them.
We received a large finger-painted star from our toddler grandson last Christmas. It has a year round place of honor on the kitchen wall – it is just too special to put away!
Tiny felt mitten that doubles as a bookmark.
From the time my eldest was a toddler (and painted a wooden Mrs. Clause) from a kit, I made ornaments for my children each Christmas. When each married, I gathered their ornaments for their Christmas trees. It is my joy to see those ornaments on their trees each Christmas. I love the tatted snowflakes.
My sister in law collects wooden cigar boxes from a cigar company and dazzles them up. Very creative. I love mine.
My favorite ornament is one that my sister made when we were children. It’s 2 Styrofoam balls glues together with toothpicks stuck in a line down the back. An odd little punk rock snowman!
My knitting group had a theme of Christmas bulbs – we all made our riff on the theme, exchanged and made a garland that I proudly display all year round.
My grandmother made white crochet stars which she gave me when I was in high school. They still hang on our Christmas tree 60 years later.
Snowflakes are my go to motif for holiday items. Coasters, ornaments, bookmarks, hot pads, and more.
When I was in college and cross stitching was the thing, I made two framed versions of Hummel figurines for my beloved aunt who was very elegant and an excellent needlewoman. She loved them and hung them right away as proof. Now they are back with me and I love them because they remind me of her and the large part she played in raising me.
For over 10 years a friend has made a crazy quilt ornament for each person in our small group. A highly embellished sleeve over a foam ball with a thread tassel. I leave them up year round . I can’t imagine the time and love in each one.
I loved making the Sophie scarf! Highly addictive – need to make another in Atlas for sure. My go-to gift is (surprise) the Gaptastic Cowl. I make cowls for my kids’ various teachers every year and word has gotten out … recess cowls/hats are kind of expected now (and teachers are my very favorite people to knit for, so I’m happy to do it.)
When my kids were little they glued photos of themselves, cut into circles, to the lid rims of mason jars, and attached a string. To this day those ornaments remain my favorites!
I knitted a hat for my son-in-law in baby yak that I gifted him on Christmas Eve. It was so big on his head, and so much so that I got up early on Christmas morning to make it right by unravelling the crown. I then turned the remaining knitting into a cowl for him that I am told it is his favorite.
A picture of my kids at 6, 8, 10, all circled in a wreath of baker’s clay. The clay, even where it was painted gold, has now suffered many incursions, but it’s a keeper.
A friend of mine who passed away a couple of years ago,used to give me an ornament every year. She used the clear plastic balls you can get at a craft store and fill it with little bits of dyed wool —sometimes with a little ribbon or glitter mixed in. They’re all unique and very special to me.
A little cloth angel that goes on the top of the tree, a gift from my late mom
I have inherited a hand made Santa ornament. It was made by my aunt in 1945 and she gave it to her sister (my mom) that Christmas. I display it in a China sleigh each December.
My mom was an avid ceramic crafter. She painted a dozen Christmas ornaments for the tree. I look forward to hanging them every year.
My favorite holiday gift is a scarf- marled or striped- made from yarn leftovers.
A reindeer made by a coworker- from a dog biscuit with pipe cleaner antlers!
My favorite handmade gift is a smocked Christmas ball. The design was a ring of little trees. What makes it special is I was in labor to deliver my daughter (she was due on a January Super Bowl weekend but decided to make an appearance a week before Thanksgiving (our little turkey weighed less than a roasting hen). The trees, as you can imagine, have a great variety of tension in them.
The angel that has always adorned the top of our Christmas tree was handmade from thick paper, has a blown egg for its head and steel wool for its hair. I ❤️ it!
I really need to try a Sophie scarf! My mother definitely needs one! My favorite handmade ornament is a lace Angel ornament I made for my husbands grandmother many years ago.
One year I made tatted Christmas trees for each Christmas card. I fixed them on the front but they could be peeled off to hang on the tree
The Christmas stocking I am knitting for my first grandchild. I knit stockings for my family and it’s so exciting to continue the tradition for my children.
My favorite, although the source of gentle ribbing from my family, is the very old and slightly listing angel that sits atop my tree patiently holding her candles.
Paper Mache dove and felted cardinal, neither by me!
I love my most recent gift. A circular radial hinge book by Kit Davy. Looks of teeny handiwork but so worth it.
The snowman ornament that my son made at daycare when he was about 3 or 4. The googly eyes are set one above the other. Vertically. To this day (he’s 23 now) he loves a good googly eye.
I love knitting little slippers for gifts!
My favorite handmade gift is a cowl I made for my daughter, step-daughters, and granddaughters one year. It worked out really well because all of them were completed, wrapped and under the tree for Christmas.
My fav is are the Holly + Jolly socks I’ve been working on for months. They are so stinking cute and really fun to make. That said, I’m working on my final sock of multiple pairs which is slow going because I have two sweater projects with a strong Siren song.
Wingspan shawlettes are quick and easy gifts.
Each of the kids, spouses, and grandkids gets a pair of socks in their stocking each year.
My favorite handmade ornament is the
( moldy now) shellacked dough handprint of my husband when he was a child!
I made a vest for my dad last Christmas that he wore every day until spring. He said it was the warmest vest he ever had.
Right now I am making color work sweaters for 4 nephews and niece. Same pattern, different main color. So fun!
Christmas stocking for each grandchild
Table top angels made from magazines, pipe cleaners, spray paint and a styrofoam ball. Oh, and yarn hair. Such fun making these with my mom!
Our family Christmas stockings, designed by Shepherds Bush, hand cross stitched, embellished and finished (including the fabric covered cording!) by yours truly.
Although I am today an addicted knitter, my favorite is from a time in my life when I had a children’s custom sewing business, and did a lot of smocking. I did a lot of smocked ornaments, and they are some of my favorites. With the exception of the things my kids made in preschool, of course!
A star I made in the 4th grade with plastic beads and a sparkly red pipe cleaner. My 10 yr old self thought it was stunning.
I must say our hand knit Christmas stockings are my favorite. I hang them the mantel as soon as I get out our Christmas decorations.
Small angels made from folded paper lace doilies
I’m having trouble deciding on an ornament for Christmas trees that I can make. It’s going to have to be for next year, though. This year people are going to get cowls! I hope they like them as much as I do. Last year it was crocheted dishcloths and scrubbiest.
a Small white paper house that lights up (well, it used to light up). Very sweet
One year I made mini sweaters and stockings for my friends and a few for the Christmas tree. Adorable!!
I’ve knitted ornament-size Christmas stockings for coworkers- they’re easily personalized and can be packed away and displayed on office name tags
My great aunt Mary made several ornaments that she gave my family that I always thought were beautiful. I believe they were styrofoam balls wrapped in ribbon decorated with pins that stuck pearls and other beads on rows that segmented the balls and topped with a ribbon to hang them. I’ve tried to replicate them but have never come close. I fear my memory had made them more magically beautiful than they actually were but I choose to continue to remember them that way!
I knit several star ornaments in bulky yarn last year that make fun decorations or gift tags. But my “favorite” is really an ornament I made in art class in early elementary school. The teacher had cut old cards into stocking shapes and punched holes along the edges. We used yarn and “sewed” the edges. I am not sure where that ornament ended up but I can see it perfectly in my mind.
My mom traced around the baby hands of me and of my two sisters on wrapping paper. Then a paper clip to hang them on the Christmas tree. They were too poor for other ornaments; we carefully preserved them each year and hung them on the tree until we went away to college.
Favorite handmade holiday gift – probably my ONLY handmade holiday gift – the cowl made from leftovers for my daughter’s mother-in-law. Each color was a different stitch pattern. It was gorgeous! Wove the ends in riding in the car to Christmas Eve dinner at their house.
My favorite decoration is my set of Christmas trees made with the pattern in the second book by Ann and Kay. I did a tree for each day of advent.
Cookies, more cookies, then more cookies, then lotsa cookies! There is flour, sugar, sprinkles, walnuts, vanilla, and a hint of almond extract everywhere from here to Solstice. This year I am adding headbands into the mix so I can sit in a chair instead of stand in the kitchen sometimes ⛄️
A wee crochet angel that my Grandma made. Every year I lovingly place it gently on a branch at the front of the Christmas tree.
A knitted swatch on toothpick needles all encased in a clear plastic ball. Inspired by Pinterest.
I cherish an angel tree topper my 25 year old daughter made when she was 6 or 7
Hand knit bird ornaments from my knitting group friends! Also a cellophane angel I made in Sunday school 50 years ago!
Favorite ornament is a pear, crocheted from pearl cotton using several colors, working from the center out to the edges, flat not 3d. Pattern is from an old Family Circle collection from the late 60’s early 70s. Early intro to playing with color combos and textured stitches back then.
I still hang a felt santa I made for my mom back from preschool. That was many many moons ago, and it is almost falling apart, but I can’t seem to part with it! Still curious about Atlas…
Crocheted snowflakes made with white yarn with a shiny silver thread. I made nearly 100 of them and gave sets of 5 to my whole family with enough left over to use as gift decorations.
The Bohdi leaf shaped facecloth in organic cotton is a favourite. Quick to knit and a useful gift that I tuck in my suitcase when traveling.
Oh the joys of creating heirloom ornaments with the kids! After cutting down our own tree and drilling the bottom hole with my grandfather’s drill that threw sparks EVERYWHERE, we sat down to make a fire hazard of our own. Using cardboard, we made a small house with cutout windows and a chimney. It was backlit with a tiny votive candle that oddly enough, never burned it down. To this day it graces our fireplace mantle!
there was a posting recently with candy canes…I have been making lots of them for friends and relatives
My two needlepoint stockings for my two children (now 51 and 44) and their children; two needlepoint stockings and a just finished knitted one using your pattern with atlas yarn.
I hate to pick only one favorite handmade ornament, but if I must, it’s got to be stiffened crochet lace snowflakes!
My favorites are the wooden acorns my Dad made, and a pinecone Santa my grandmother had hanging in her home.
The ornaments the kids made in early grade school!
Applesauce and cinnamon ornaments for the tree. They smell so good and anyone of any age can make them or at least help.
An all time favorite knitted gift for me is the Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho. Fast knit and so cozy around the neck. Mittens, socks, hats, wrist warmers….
So many favorite ornaments – anything that the kids made, of course, love the framed pics from grade school, also love that my husband gives me a an ornament every year. Unpacking the holiday boxes are like a walk through time.
Something I made oodles of years ago are angel ornaments out of thumb tacks, various pasta and wooden balls – stayed up into the wee hours spray painting them white in a small enclosed room, my husband rescued me from the fumes around 3am. Everyone got a box full that year. Still makes me laugh when I think about those things. We still have a few. My husband mends them as needed, sweet.
My fave handmade ornament is a mini-striped stocking knitted by my first grade teacher. She used green and white cotton fingering weight and added a cloth tag with my name. She was the only person I knew growing up who knit. I smile putting it on the tree every year.
I still have the first ornament my daughter made, and have happy memories of her making it!
My favorite is one with my son’s footprint on it! He is no longer that small but it brings back sweet memories
Favorite handmade gift-cookies. Could be peanut butter from Second Mom, Italian fig from neighbor, or the jammy one from the Czech lady across the street. Gifts of memories & friends.
My parents moved overseas in 1975 and stored all their belongings , which we inherited when they decided to no longer leave their belongings in storage. We have a champagne cork from their first tree, Dad opened the bottle and broke an ornament with it, Mom tied a ribbon around it and voila there it is! We lost Dad during the pandemic , it’s a happy reminder for my mom who is 92 and lives with us.
Ah, the red sled (popsicle stick) ornament made what feels like a lifetime ago by my son.
Arne and Carlos knitted birds
These days it’s hats. But I don’t always make last minute Christmas things anymore.
There are so many to choose from but my all time favorites are two tiny ornaments that my mother knitted back in the 60s. One is Santa with a fuzzy angora beard and the other is a little Christmas stocking just the right size to tuck in a mini candy cane.
We have a 2’ artificial tree now that we are old and go to our children’s house for Christmas. It has only handmade ornaments on it- made by children, family and friends. All are treasured, but perhaps my favorites are the half walnut shells slathered in paint and glitter with tiny plastic reindeer inside that my sons and I made when they were very little.
i’ve made dozens of easy ribbed hats over the yrs for my entire family ~ everyone wears them & thinks of the hands that lovingly made them ~ the joy is in the GIVING!☃️
I treasure the ornaments made by my kids when they were small, and then the ones made by my grandkids. (Think along the lines of pinecones rolled in glitter, for example.)
I make tiny knitted mitten, sock and hat ornaments for my grandkids every Christmas.
My favorite ornament to make is a drum and sticks woven in dyed reed.
Like so many other moms and grandmothers, the ornaments made by my children when they were young are my favorites.
my mom cross-stitched a bunch of christmas ornaments when she first got married to fill their tree. I hope one day to inherit some of the collection as they are so sweet.
A few years ago I made 50+ “Elf Stockings” for my family and friends as Christmas gifts/ornaments. No two were the same – it was a lot of fun and set some high expectations in my family!
My favorite handmade gift is the very first knitted item I completed for my nephew, Peter, 18 years ago – a burgundy cable knit sweater. Thank you to Liz, the owner of the independent yarn store, Knit One,Purl Too, for her enthusiastic help and belief in a first-time knitter.
It’s been 30 years since my mother died but I still get teary-eyed when I hang the ornaments she stitched for me. They give me comfort throughout the tree season.
My favorite Christmas gift is homemade peppermint bark. It’s colorful and tasty!
I have a sequined egg my mother made for me many Christmas ago!
I’m really happy with the Arne and Carlos Christmas balls I made 2 years ago!
I have 10 siblings and one year one of my sisters made each one of us a very detailed pieced quilt. My parents contributed financed part of the gifting, but she made 10 quilts. For my quilt, each block was different. I felt like that was an amazing undertaking!
A cinnamon bear ornament my 36 year old daughter made when she was 4.
My favorite handmade Christmas decoration is a full-size quilt I made in the 1990’s. It is called “Chinese Coins.” It’s made of about 50 or so different reds and a white fabric. I collected the reds from various quilt shops throughout the country. I hand-quilted the quilt and bring it out to decorate each year the day after Thanksgiving.
When we were stationed in Japan, I learned to make Washi Eggs. Real eggshells, blown out and covered with washi (Japanese decorative paper) and then lacquered. I made hundreds and still have many on our Christmas tree.
My favorite handmade holiday ornament is paper snowflakes! My siblings and I would cut them up by the dozens and tape them to the wall and do our best to poke them onto the thin branches on the tree.
A lace angel my aunt made. Such special memories in the Christmas ornament box!
The Nancy Lindberg Mini Christmas Socks with Aran yarn in 3 colors. Fast & so cute with Holly on the leg. Fun to see them on the trees of friends & family that I knit from Christmas past!
Of course the ornaments the kids made when they were young are always the funniest in their imperfection. I also do have some Shiny Brite brand “baubles” (as written in my Grandmothers hand on the fragile box) that I treasure.
Not entirely handmade, but I love the glass ball ornaments with the names of (long-dead) cats in my mom’s glittery cursive.
My mother used to win every contest that she entered but not so her daughter and I would love a ton of Rowan
Definitely hats- they’re quick, fun, and it’s hard to get the size wrong!
My favorite handmade ornament would be the little felt mittens each of my kids made in kindergarten ❤️
My favorite hand knit gift would be the several (at least 6!) Thorpe hats I made for kids/friends one year ❤️
I love my mother’s Christmas doilies and ornaments, she used fine lace and small needles and they almost look like lace work .We are from Puerto Rico and her form of crochet and handcrafts are very fine and retain a lot of the Spain influence. I use them as background to the Nativity. She has been gone since 2012 but every Christmas these items are very joyful to me.
The tree topper angel I knit for my mom on OOOO needles. She loved it and I enjoy it now thst I inherited it. I forgive her for labeling the box “crocheted angel.” She knew it was knit’
My handmade holiday items number in the dozens, but I will tell you about the one that always makes me giggle a little: a clear ornament ball that appears to have had an accident. It is filled with the remnants of what might have been a heartwarming little scene, but now is a pile of fake snow. I don’t know which of the two kids made it, and I’ll always treasure it.
Tiiny local shell encrusted frames, the recipient could place whatever they wanted into. I’d love to see the dangly egg carton ornament Kay!
I love making scarfs and hats for Christmas presents. By Thanksgiving people are asking for them as last years are lost or very worn.
Last year I received two intricately detailed hand made snow men from my creative friend. She died on Wednesday. These snowmen will be favorites forever.
an advent calendar, made of 24 little 4 inch mittens
My favorite ornaments are the crocheted snowflakes …..I have made MANY as gifts and some for myself!
Sadly, we had to throw out my favorite Christmas ornament a few years ago because it somehow developed mold after 30+ years. It was a clown I had made at a public library craft hour when I was little. He was made from an ice cream cone with a foam ball for a head, with yellow baby yarn for hair and pom pom “buttons” down the front. When I got married, my mom let me take a number of family ornaments for our tree, and he was one of them. It was sad to have to trash him, even though he had turned into a bit of a mess over the years.
These days, my kids and I make a new handmade ornament each year and we save an extra for them in their own box so they too will have a starter set when they have their own trees.
My favourite handmade Christmas ornament is a styrofoam ball, put on different coloured sequins and put in a strait pin. Add a ribbon on the top and you can make them in all shapes and sizes. They also glisten in the light.
One year the Dr.Pepper company put out little sheets of sparkly cardboard with punch-out designs of tree ornaments. We made those and hung them on our tree along with the very old glass ornaments we have inherited. The cardboard ornaments are still part of our Christmas decor!
As a kid, at one point I became obsessed with Pennsylvania Dutch folk art designs (I know, weird kid 🙂 )
I made blown-egg tree ornaments with painted distelfinks on them and, although painting was not my metier, they came out great! My mom saved them and I might even still have one or two.
My favorite s to make Suepeise balls for each family member and guest. Guests of all ages enjoy unwrapping little surprises. The fun is in the unwrapping.
My favorite holiday craft is a nativity scene that my mother when she was in grade school. They’re made of glass bottles, paper mache, and even some yarn!
I crochet snowflakes which I then spray with starch for tree ornaments.
The menorah my son made with my late mother in law out of very old wooden spools she had saved from her sewing. Still remember their pleasure in each other as they glued, painted and giggled. It has pride of place, shining light in the darkness, 30 years later.
hats and mittens
My first real craft addiction was as a child (probably about 10 or 12) making sequined felt ornaments. I made quite a few for my mom and quite a few for myself, some of which I still have.
Tiny sweaters of every variety. Every year I dream aloud of someday having a tree decorated solely with tiny sweaters!
i have knit lots of gifts through the years. i am getting ready to start a shawl that was a request…♀️
I have a cross-stitch pattern of a tall, thin, old-fashioned-type Father Christmas with a bag full of pine boughs slung over his shoulder. I’ve stitched it about 20 times, and nearly everyone I know has received it as a Christmas gift at some point. It is so lovely and so quietly festive, and it might be time to stitch it again, honestly. Just on general principles.
When my nieces were little, I made them ponchos, each a different color. They wore them for years.
I knit advent calendar bags for my grandchildren and love seeing their excitement when the calendar comes out on December 1st.
My aunt gave me a handmade knitting basket ornament filled with little skeins & toothpick knitting needles.
Last year I knit cabled headbands for all the women in my family! They loved them, so quitting throw on when the temps are low; they’re warm and chic!!
One is in my queue for me as I make but do not like to wear hats.
I just finished an advent calendar made of little colorwork mittens for my grandchildren. My husband built a tree to hang them on, and this is my new favorite.
I love to knit a little bear pattern that my mom created. It’s a pocket size bear to take along when one needs a little extra love to get through a gnarly day.
My favourite handmade ornament was made by my son when he was in Junior Kindrgarten. It is a Santa face in the middle of a sun made with yellow triangles. It is about 25 cm across and hangs in a special place front and center on our Christmas tree. He is now 32 so this is a long standing tradition!
Favorite ornament for ever?! It’s the handmade canning lid glittered ornaments my daughters made when in early elementary school…each disc with their sweet school photo glued in the center. They are still and always front and center on the tree.
My grandmother knit our Xmas stockings 45+ years ago!
I have an angel a friend made me out of raffia paper. I keep it out all year long.
Some embroidered ornaments made with my daughter when I was teaching her to do cross stitch as a teenager.
The glitter pinecone my daughter made with her 2nd grade Brownie Troop. It still looks good after all these years & makes me smile even now when I remember how happy she was to gift it to the tree.
My beloved aunt painted a Nativity set on wood cut out by my uncle. Every year in the ’80s, we received another installment, beautifully tole painted in 80s colors. I love it so much.
Ropes and ropes of tree garland I made one year from corks and red wooden beads. I gifted them and kept some for myself. I love them!
My husband’s Anunson gave us four ?origami? Fish that she had made from palm leaves. Hard for me to describe but they are so intricate and awesome.
Stain glass gingerbread ornaments in the shape of people and trees that can be hung on a tree or displayed in your window.
Mine is a painted plastic ball with my babies handprint on it. Such a lovely sweet thing.
I have a set of felt ornaments of the 12 days of christmas – all with sequins and completely hand stitched.
My favorite ornaments are the mini Weasley sweaters. I have made a bunch. I always have the kknit picks wool on hand in case I need to make a few or many. lol
A glass ornament made by my daughter.
Teeny tiny knitted socks—so cute! Many given away, but a few I kept to hang on our tree.
The star atop the tree that my husband made years ago.
My favorite handmade ornament is a rosy cheeked Santa, handpainted on a 2 1/2 inch piece of driftwood. I bought it at a craft fair for $2. My other favorite is, once again, a Santa shaped like a fabric crescent moon, with featured embroidered by my daughters. I think the beard is white curly mohair (boucle?). It’s precious to me.
The red felt Christmas stocking my godmother made for me 65 years ago decorated with 1950s plastic jewellery and felt bells, stars and Xmas trees. As so many have commented, who would have guessed it would last so long? I made one for my mother with bird silhouettes sewn to it as she loved the birds she fed every day.
I used left over remnants of material used for each of my sons’ first quilts to make simple Christmas ball ornaments…they are now in there “fiftys” and as I decorate the tree it brings back days of old.
Knitted Christmas balls by Arnie and Carlos. My friend really rocks her knitting skills on these!
My favourite ornament is our angel tree topper. It was always a tradition that Christmas loving late brother would put it in place. Brings back so many memories of those happy days!
My favorite handmade ornament that’s a zillion years old is a wooden clothespin Santa!!!! Tacky can’t describe how it looks but I love it soooooo much.
Milk pod ornaments that my mom used to make. Once you pulled the white fluff out you sprayed the outside of the milk pod with spray glitter. Then painted the inside with a color. Then you glued a little figure or something inside. Put a hole through the top and added a string to hang.
Making clementines or small oranges studded with cloves. They smell so good while making them, don’t take forever and they dry to last a lifetime. The cloves can be inserted in patterns to make more decorative.
The mom sweaters head the list. Great amazing gifts of love.
I love the Sophie Scarf. I think everyone on my gift list would also love it!
A needlepoint star, made by my mother, many years ago. She was a knitter but every so often would try something different and this star came out perfect. It hangs on our Christmas tree now.
My favorite handmade ornament is a wreath my son made in Instagram grade -1982. Green tissue paper covered the cardboard background and his picture in the middle. A treasure!
Instagram should not have been in my comment. Not sure how it got there – could not delete! Should have said first grade!
My favorite gift item is a hat that incorporates stranded colorwork. It’s always quick, generally very pretty, and overwhelmingly appreciated.
My Aunt Mary painted ceramics and had her own kiln. Of the dozens of beautiful ornaments she gave me my favorite is Santa in a white VW Beetle. I had a white VW Beetle convertible at that time.
My favorite is a tree skirt I made for a dear friend years ago. I hear from her every year when she puts her tree up.
My favorite little gift/ornaments are tiny knitted hats, mittens, sweaters! Perfect for using scraps of leftover yarn in any weight!!
Tiny stranded color work mittens with an actual thumb done on 0000 needles with lace weight yarn. Every time I knit one I swear I won’t do it again they are so fiddly. But then I do (7 or 8 times). The pattern was gifted to me by a dear 95 year-old member of our knitting guild. She is gone but the mittens live on.
A simple juice can lid with a felt circle glued to it and a picture of my daughter when she was in kindergarten glued to it.
My favorite is one of Arne and Christmas balls.
White crocheted snowflakes!!!! My tree is covered with them! I actually made tons of these and sold them to a local shop during the holidays waaaaay back in the 70’s when I was a young teenager.
A beautiful gold origami bird ornament made by our neighbor for our woodland themed tree.
Crocheted and beaded snowflakes I made when we were newlyweds. They are still beautiful and I love seeing them emerge from the packing paper every year. Bonus Favorite (my Mom’s!): A piece of string dipped in orange paint, squiggled around and then generously sprinkled with glitter. I made it in Kindergarten fifty-three years ago and Mom still hangs it front and center on their tree!
I always find a place for the beaded spider that a friend, born in Germany, made and gave me many years ago. There is apparently a legend in Eastern Europe about a poor woman who went into the forest to find a Christmas tree. She was too kind-hearted to disturb the spiders in the tree she found and in return the spiders spun sparkling webs all over the tree as she was too poor to afford ornaments.
For our first Christmas as a married couple we didn’t have much extra cash to spend on ornaments, but my husband brought home some circles of waste metal from work. They were silver on one side and green on the other. We punched small holes and hung them on our small tree. I still keep one on the tree 48 years later!
I crocheted an advent calendar for my kids that had a tree and pockets for ornaments to put up day by day. They loved taking turns hanging an ornament on the tree and participating in getting ready for Christmas. That particular advent calendar now lives with my nephew, and I’ve been thinking I need to make one for my new grandbaby!
My favorite holiday ornament is really a group of handmade and painted salt dough ornaments I purchased from a coworker way back in the ’80s when I lived in Denver. Even though I don’t put up a tree anymore I still have the ornaments. They bring back good memories.
Yarn ball ornaments made by my kids— more than a few over the years.
My favorite ornament is if my dogs paw that his groomer made me.
One year I made little knit socks as Christmas ornaments. The one I made for my husband was in athletic sock colors, white with two navy stripes at top. it always makes me smile when I pull it out of the Christmas box.
Back in the 90’s, Woman’s Day magazine featured handmade ornaments. One was a little knitted cat made from fingering yarn. All different colors. They weren’t complicated and I enjoyed making them. I still have the pattern.
I bought a four-foot tall wire tree at a thrift shop and spent many hours wrapping it in different shades and textures of whites and icy pinks, blues and grays from my stash. Every year I decorate it with a dozen of my mom’s circa 1942 glass ornaments.
This year everyone is getting the Brioche Me Knot Brim Beanie. It’s addictive and I’m going crazy with color combinations. I’m supposed to be stash-busting but I just keep shopping.
My son made a pair of slippers so that the WRIGHT of your step would close the circuit and a light would turn on to show your way when sneaking a peek or snack in the dark.
There is a Czech prune filled breakfast treat that my mom would make. She created them in a day and a half
I love making tiny stockings, sweaters and mittens. What could be cuter??
I treasure the gussied up jar lid with a picture of my daughter dressed as a Magi for her pre-school Christmas program.
My mom and I made a lot of decorations through the years and I’m fortunate to still have and enjoy them. It’s hard to choose a favorite, but it has to be the felt stocking Mom sewed for me as a child – the hand beading, sequins, and trim are beautiful and I love hanging it up every year.
Last year I made my son and grandson each a tiny gnome. My husband was so taken with them that I made him his own in Raider colours.
My favorite ornament made by my son, years ago, was a tiny box with three paper wise men following a star. I treasured it for years. To my dismay, when he was a teenager he dismantled it and made something else out of the box.
The hand crocheted snowflakes my mother made many years ago. Her work is impeccable.
Some plastic canvas Scandinavian stars I made oh, maybe a million years ago.
I knitted my step daughter a honey cowl, which somehow I found out about reading archives of this blog!
Knitted Christmas balls. One year I scoured ravelry and the library for all sorts of ideas. My favorites included one with a paw on it for a friend who rescues pups and one with an alpaca on it for a friend who has alpacas. So fun to personalize them
A child’s palm painted green, placed on cardboard, cut out when dry, then decorated and hung from the tree with red ribbon.
A kid-made paper snowfriend
My father loved wood carving. One of dad’s carvings that I enjoy all these decades later is a Christmas gnome holding a lantern to light the way. What a cherished gift.
My favorite handmade Christmas ornaments to make and give are the Arne and Carlos Christmas balls.
I make things for my kids and grandchildren every year from flannel pj bottoms, rugs, quilts afgahns, sweaters, hats, cross stitch anything I know how or can figure out how to make! My grandmother used to make checkerboard house slippers with a coordinating robe each year when I was young. She definitely taught me a love for crafting
Hand painted sand dollar. Painted by a friend and lovingly placed on my tree each year.
I love my 24 knitted Christmas ball ornaments.
My mom still has a gold (spray painted, I think) clay nativity set, I made in Brownies. The ox has a chipped horn and several other animals were broken over the years. It was kept in a wooden box, that I think had held my dad’s cigarettes, at one time. The smell, for years, when we would open the box, reminded me of daddy.
Ornaments and decorations made by my kids
We have a few papier-mâché fruit ornaments made by my great grandmother many years ago. Nothing made or acquired since they were made is as precious to us.
My most treasured ornament is a small papier-mâché ball from my Mother’s childhood during the Depression.
A little bear made out of applesauce and cinnamon mixed together into a dough, then shaped and dried. He still smells of cinnamon many years later.
It’s a papier-mâché bell my mom covered with the silver foil from the paper inside cigarette packs. It’s lost some of it’s foil over the years but has a place of honor next to a plaster of Paris ornament I made that features sparkly sprinkles of glitter and a paper clip hanger.
A little knitted elf. Numerous times.
My little tapestry woven ornaments that are 1.5 x 1.5″
My favorite handmade gift is chocolate fudge
Every year I try to knit at least one Christmas sweater for someone in my family. I love having an excuse to focus on the person I’m knitting for and play with different yarns, colors and patterns. This year will be a rainbow stripe top down cardigan for my granddaughter. I’m still working on the details. Time to get knitting!
My favorite ornament is a Royal Guard made out of a clothes peg by my great aunt, 30 or more years ago.
A reindeer ornament my son constructed in preschool. It was made from a toilet paper roll covered in brown construction, glued on eyes that aren’t alligned, and a red pompon nose. Plus glued on antlers. I love it! PS: He’s almost 44 now.
My favorite handmade ornament: a reindeer made out of wooden clothes pins b one of my piano students! It has so much personality!
I started crocheting snowflakes in junior high school and every few years get the hankering to make a few more. It’s the only kind of snow we get for Christmas in Alabama.
Whenever I travel I pick up an ornament. Just beside my front door is my “travel tree” – a huge vase with twisty twigs. I hang the ornaments on the travel tree, which stays up all year and reminds me of my many adventures. I love them all
My favorite handmade gift is the afghan that was completed as a gift for my Mom. She had crocheted strips, but found they were different sizes and put them in a box for over 10 years. I discretely removed them, washed the cat fur off, made them all the same length and crocheted them together. She was so surprised and didn’t realize they were her unfinished project.
When I first learned to knit in my teens, I knit each of my grandmas a pair of knitted bells for their Christmas trees. I have inherited one of the sets of bells, and I think about my grandmothers every year when I put them on my tree.
A rug hooked Siberian dog which I gave to one of my dog show friends
My very favorite at the moment is a spiral beaded ornament. I bought the kit at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair I attended recently. I knit up the ornament as soon as I got home. It was such a fun knit, I plan to knit a couple more.
My favorite handmade ornament is a tiny knitted sweater my mom made into an ornament when she was young. It still hangs on the family tree. It’s a bright red and has the requisite mini ball of yarn and toothpick needles attached.
My favorite ornament is a hand painted salt dough reindeer with a little scarf that my daughter and I made together when she was eight. It is still perfect and brings back sweet memories of our crafting holidays. My daughter is almost fifty now and this ornament has survived to brighten our Christmas tree every year.
Starbucks coffee cup ornament
Knitted or hand woven throw blankets.
A candy cane made with lace and a pipe cleaner.
My sister’s former mother-in-law made me a fairisle sweater, pants and complete skating outfit for my Barbie doll out of lace weight wool and angora more than 50 years ago, Barbie may be long gone, but her wardrobe lives on in the cedar chest. It’s been used in various home dec installations over the years, mostly during the holidays.
Drops of Spring Mitts caught my eye and are on the needles this year!
My favorite ornament is a macrame snowflake with beads.
I love a calico wreath my first grade teacher helped me make ca. 1976.
I have been knitting gnomes from Imagined Landscapes the past couple of years. They go into mailed packages or stockings so well AND use up sock scraps! No yarn left behind. 😀
One of my most cherished ornaments is a crocheted angel that my grandmother made me. When she passed she left me an almost finished one with the pattern and all her hooks and cotton thread. I had to teach myself how to crochet so that I could finish it. Mine isn’t anywhere near as lovely as her’s but I love them both as it feels like the thread between her start and my finish connect us always.
I’ve recently become a huge fan of PetiteKnits. Her French Market Bag is a classic. I use mine for a project bag. Next up is the Honeycomb clutch to use for notions. I’m waiting for her Zipper Sweater Light to come out soon. My favorite ornaments are Arne & Carlos balls and Imagined Landscapes Gnomes.
My favorite handmade holiday gift is fingerless gloves! I love to make them and people seem to appreciate them.
A mitten traced on faded construction paper with a name carefully printed inside. The hand is mine when I was a kindergartener — I turned 75 this week.
Arne and Carlos Christmas Balls
..all of them!
Over 30 years ago a computer tech (like that is a full sentence) gave me a small red sled made out of popsicle sticks, intricate and perfect in detail. I don’t know how I was lucky enough to receive his gift since we barely spoke each other’s language (another full sentence) but each year when I hold it in my hand I feel the small act of kindness that came from a distant co-worker and am filled with gratitude.
Although I try to craft something handmade each year to gift to some very special family members, (the Sophie scarf is also my choice for this year!) nothing brings me as much joy as unwrapping the ornaments which have pictures of my son and daughter as their much younger selves, and surrounded by foam, faded construction paper, glitter and sequins!
I love the little gnomes by MochiMochi Land. But I would LOVE a Sophie Scarf too!
My favorite ornament is My First Christmas for my grandchildren.
Two of my favorite ornaments are a small knitted and felted stocking and a candy cane that my blind aunt knirred and gifted me many years ago. I started knitting because of her. She’s gone now, but I love the memories those ornaments evoke every year.
Two needlepoint ornaments, made by my talented sister, are easily my most beloved decorations on the tree each year.
The ‘ugly’ angel. This ornament was very old with very little hair and a tattered gown. The tradition was to find where Mom hid it in the tree.
My favorite handmade ornaments are the crocheted egg covers I made to hang on the tree. they required I blow out the eggs and then paint them (my mother helped) and then put the eggs into the crocheted lace egg shaped bags that I made with the fine crochet cotton my grandmother gave me from her stash. The pattern came from a craft magazine my mother had. They always bring back great memories.
One year, when the children were young, I called our babysitter and went Christmas shopping on my own. Our tree was already decorated and proudly standing in the center of the picture window. When I returned home, I was greeted by the site of the pretty tree, but something new had been added. It had red and white candy canes hanging from top to bottom. I typed theses from home for college students to supplement our income and saved the paper when I made a mistake, so as not to be wasteful, for the children to use the blank side as drawing paper. They drew, colored, and cut out the candy canes and hung them on the tree. It was the prettiest tree we ever had.
Early in our marriage I cross-stitched and stuffed a cardinal with holly in it’s beak to hang on the tree. The plan was to make several to make a statement all over the tree. 44 years later it is still only one cardinal but I still love it!
A partial elf – or Santa – found in a box of motley old Christmas ornaments at one of my favorite jobs.
This year it’s going to be food – mostly tomato jam (the cherry tomatoes were rather prolific) and some watermelon jelly. I’ll probably tuck some cotton dish cloths in my favorite Chinese Waves pattern in the boxes going to far flung recipients.
I love to make mini mittens and tie them to the gift tag. It’s a wonderful way to use up the bits and bobs of yarn and all different weights. Of course they’ll be different sizes and I almost always keep a set for myself as a reminder of the project I made with that yarn. This year I think I’ll have enough to string them on a garland.
I love making scarves and hats .
My favorite handmade ornaments are beaded balls, either my knits or those by my friends. One friend even adapted the pattern to make hers lacy!
Many (MANY!) years ago as a single woman just starting out I handmade most of my ornaments. Some of them were sequin ornament kits and some were knitted. My favorite, which I still have 1 or 2 of were tiny red baskets that would hang on my tree with a single wrapped Christmas candy inside. Good for snacking 😉 or handing to a friend when they visited during the holidays.
BTW – have been wanting to knit Sophie since my LYS sent out an email about it, Haven’t quite made it there yet but Sophie keeps popping up everywhere so LOVE this post and giveaway.
Needlepointed Santa and Mrs. Claus Ornaments. I love hanging them on the tree together, just peaking through the branches.
Socks, socks, socks! To give and/or receive
My mom made a beautiful beaded angel that glimmered on the tree each year.
Anything my kids made but my fav was a gingerbread person cut out of sand paper. They finished it off by rubbing a cinnamon stick all over the sand paper so it smelled really good too!
I knitted a sweater for my newborn baby daughter 12 years ago. She’s finally wearing it now!
I really like plastic canvas needlepoint and have over the decades, crafted two Christmas villages. a Haunted Halloween House, a small dollhouse and a large castle. My favorites are little triangular ornaments esp reindeer. You squeeze them and find a Hershey’s kiss inside. I have made dozens for school craft sales.
My favorite handmade ornament is probably the play doh heart I made in Kdg for my folks. My handmade ornament game has improved since then, but it’s not christmas till the play doh heart comes out!
I was gifted a blue felted ball ornament with embroidery on it a few years back. It is so lovely I hang it in the window when it is not on the tree.
Socks are the best gift. Christmas time and the month or two after are the best time to wear the warmest socks possible.
We don’t do much decorating now due to space and health issues but my daughter and kids have the advent calendar I made 50 years ago. It was a kit with embroidered and beaded figures hung on a backing. I love seeing it every year.
An ornament I made in Sunday school from a milkweed pod spray painted gold with aqua glitter inside and gold trim around the edge, and an angel glued inside. I still have it!
Paper ribbon stars
My sweet Aunt AlmaRuth taught me to knit when I was 7. I knit the most horrible sweater and wore it proudly. My most favorite knitting memory.
I made white and gold crochet snowflakes for our first married Xmas tree. I want to give a few to our kids, but my husband loves them so much he vetos it. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him lol
My favorite handmade ornament is the paper angel tree-topper that my son made in, oh, second (?) grade. Thirty years later, he still takes great delight in putting it on top of the tree.
A few years ago my daughter brought home a glass ornament filled with little slips of paper, and on each paper she had written a wish. Every year she is supposed to add a slip of paper with a new wish. About 2 years ago she took out all the papers and read every one of the wishes aloud as we decorated the tree. One of them said:
I wish I could spend more time with my mom.
It made me teary (I’m her mom, by the way) because this was right in the middle of her most ornery, most unpleasant, most -let’s be honest- UNLIKABLE teenage phase that seemed to go on forever. It helped me remember the sweet lovable kid that she really is.
Luckily at 15 she’s moved out of that phase now and she’s delightful again.
For distribution to friends & family during the holiday season I have fingerless gloves. I keep a steady inventory , knitting them continually throughout the year. Wonderful and quick way to use my “stash” of yarn!
I love making my own potpourri–oranges, cloves and other goodies–the house smells warm and inviting.
My favorite is the Christmas dalek my son made at nursery around 15 years ago. It’s actually an angel but we think it looks like a dalek. My best friend also has one in her house that her daughter made.
I love the CSM ornaments I made this year! They go on a lighted ornament for even more sparkly goodness!
My favorite handmade ornament for the ones my mother made when we were small she took seed pods from the trees dipped them and glue then glitter. Still have some of them.
I made two ornaments with each of our names embroidered in wooden hoops that have Christmas fabric and lace around the outside. We’ve used them each year since1981.
Christmas at my house is an homage to every craft I have tried over the last five or six decades. Crocheted snowflakes, painted wooden cutouts, sequined Styrofoam balls, salt dough figures, God’s eyes, needlepoint, and many small knitted things. My favorites are the patchwork stockings that my grandmother made for my children (who are now fiftyish.)
What a great little scarf! And a great holiday gift!
We have the same painted egg carton “bell” complete with wrinkled pipe cleaner hanger.
I usually wind up, after a few sweaters for family members I really, really like, cranking out some hats. Practical and satisfying, because they’re usually so quick to make. My favorite holiday ornament was one my husband’s cousin made us. It was a tiny little mouse tucked into sleep in a half of a nut shell. Sadly, we moved three times in ten months, and I couldn’t find it last year.
My favorites are my collection of Dolores the Sheep and friends dressed in their Sugar Plum Fairy outfits sitting under the tree. I created my own set of friends as spin offs from the Franklin Habit’s Dolores. There is Eleanor Pig, Penelope Horse and Gladys Cow
I made an angel topper at work (I am a nurse) one holiday i had to work. She is made with things that I found at work (styrofoam cup, disposable wash cloths and the like) I actually used her for years but her color has gone. I keep her in a small shoe box now.
I think my all time favorite hand made holiday decorations are the myriad of crocheted snowflakes I made years ago, carefully starched and pinned to their perfect star shapes. They decorated the tree, and pretty much everywhere else where I could hang them!
My daughters are 43 and 47 but I still cherish and hang the paper cutout ornaments they made when they were in kindergarten ❤️
I have received a few mini knitted items or swatches, using toothpicks to represent knitting needles, carefully placed inside one of those clear plastic or glass ornaments.
My grandmother was an avid crocheter. When she passed at the end of November several years ago, I inherited her yarn stash. I used some of it to crochet heart ornaments for the family that year so we all had a little reminder of grandma on our holiday trees.
I’ve made one Sophie Shawl and two Sophie scarves. Such a satisfying knit. And I love wearing them. They look great with so many outfits. I used Atlas for the shawl: so comfy! Perfect gift—getting ready to knit for the nieces.
My choice of colours would be Navy annd Skyline and my favourite ornaments are all those made by my children and grandchildre!
My very favorite is one of the very earliest ornaments my daughter made for me at daycare one year. It’s a plaster cast of her itty bitty hand that she painted and wrapped up for me to open on Christmas morning one year. She was so proud and I loved the entire experience.
My favorite handmade ornament is a popsicle stick frame hand painted with a photo of my (now 32year old) middle son in the frame. I hang it proudly every year. Oh and the hand knit miniature stocking that my husband’s 1st grade teacher gave him probably 55 years ago!!!!
A red macrame peace sign ornament I made in high school.
Hats! I knit Hanukkah gifts for my nieces and nephews, and now their spouses and partners and their kids. Usually hats, sometimes socks or cowls. Tradition!
The paper angel for the top of the tree made by my daughter in first grade. Christmas is not Christmas without her.
My favourite Christmas gifts that I made were for my friend’s granddaughter and great-nieces. They were sweaters that were half-and-half colour blocks and the colours crossed in a cable down the middle. They all loved pink and purple and I had 3 colours that worked so each of them got the same sweater in a different combination.
My mom used to collect dried milkweed pods from the fields near our house, spray paint them gold, and put tiny plastic angels in them. I thought they were so beautiful!
Tiny angels with round wooden heads, and paper skirts with glitter trim. And pipe cleaner halos.
My Jack Russel Terrier glass ornament. It’s been glued back together a couple of times. In memorial for my beloved Maggie, a true Jack Russel Terrierist.
old chipped glass ornament of cow jumping over the moon. Enchanted with that thing.
My favourite gifty thing is a memory. Starting in the 1950s that I can vouch for, my late, beloved aunt knew she’d never finish all her projects in time, so she made and wrapped miniatures of them to show recipients what was to come.
Gnomes, gnomes, gnomes ❤️
Many years ago I sewed a dove with white felt. I think I like it better than the teeny mittens.
Back in the 50s when I was a wee one, my mom knitted a Christmas stocking for me-Santa, complete with angora beard, stepping into a chimney. It’s not Christmas until the “stockings are hung by the chimney with care”. Now all newly weds and newborns get a hand knit stocking from me!
Knitted spherical ornaments – and they double as cat toys (not intentionally).
I taught myself how to cross stitch using a small pillow kit from Target. Back in the mid 80s. 1980s :). I changed the color to shades of blue and made it as a gift for a relative whose favorite color was blue. Made me feel very accomplished and she loved it.
30 years ago I crocheted snowflakes, and then soaked them in glue water and pinned them out and sprinkled white glitter on them. I gave everyone in my family a set, but sadly, left mine at an exes house when I divorced. I guess I need to make some more.
Hey there guys. Fav gift option this year will be the Sophie Scarf
Hats are always a go to gift knit for me! So easy to size and who doesn’t need another hat? I have a fantasy of making a ton of knitted ornaments and literally and/or figuratively throwing them in a loving way at all of the people in my life, and probably some strangers too. Lol
Sophie Scarves are a great idea! I always make hats, hats, and more hats!
When my daughter was a very little girl, she was in ballet lessons. As December rolled around their studio presented The Nutcracker, and she was in the youngest group, little bumblebees. But her eyes were on becoming the Sugar Plum. We sat around the table one afternoon with peg clothespins, glue, pink sparkles and netting and her paint box. We delighted in being together as I mostly watched as she made dancers for our tree. Fifty years on and, faded and a bit crumpled, the little Sugar Plums still find a place on the tree. Oh, and she too, at last, the Sugar Plum.
I have a vintage silver tinsel tree that I cover with handmade ornaments of the styrofoam ball covered with sequins and beads variety. Lotsa variety.
Little knitted bags- to protect your strand of pearls, my dear.
I treasure ornaments from my mom and aunt since they have both passed.
My favorite ornament was a sequined ornament kit of a house my siblings and I did with our Mother.
My favorite handmade ornament is a pair of ice skates a friend crocheted for me lots of years ago. The “skate blades” are large paperclips. 2 of the yarn ends are not worked in, they are knotted together as if they were laces of the skates and then you drape them over the branch of your Christmas tree.
One year I decided I wanted to change the look of the Christmas tree and crochet 144 snowflake to decorate with. The starching and blocking took more time than the crocheting. A project that saw many Christmases for my family and was passed on for others to enjoy when it was time to change the look again.
Back in the 70s when I could only crochet, I made some hat and scarf combos for my cousins for Hanukkah. I have no idea how they felt about them, but I was pretty proud of my handiwork.
Pictures of my grandsons hanging on their tree.
One of my favorites is a tiny cornhusk doll angel made oh so many years ago.
My grandmother made us an advent calendar. I think it must have been a kit, but she stitched up all the pieces and added beads and gold ribbon and such. I still get a thrill turning over the days when my kids forget.
My favourite is an angel my eldest niece made 30+ years ago out of a Chinet plate with red hair (like me!)
One year I was about to break up a long-term relationship, but in the emotional fires I wrote my first Xmas-themed short story & made ornaments out of eggs. I emptied the contents, painted them with red & gold craft paint, & adorned the tops with little gilded doohickeys & gold loops for hanging. I even glued chicken feathers to some of them, a questionable choice, but hey, I was on a chicken-themed roll. My sister still hangs hers up, & so do I, with amazement that something pretty came out of such a hard time.
The wooden painted ornaments made my sons when they were little.
My favorite handmade Christmas gift is a Christmas stocking my mom made for me when I was very young. She also crocheted a Mr and Mrs Santa Claus for me. They are the first decorations that come out.
I love knitting Christmas Stockings so I can stuff the with random goodies.
Last year, I knitted a beaded ball from a kit that was gifted to me. It was very trying to finish, and it took some wrangling to get it to fit around the clear plastic ball. It is beautiful, but I have no desire to make that pattern again. Lesson learned!
favorite ornament is handprint of my son made in kindergarten.
My favorite ornament is an angel for the top of the tree, made from a paper plate (by a child, of course) many years ago. She is a treasure!
My favorite Christmas ornament is a popsicle stick star with multicolored big paste jewels glued on, made by my (then 4 year old) granddaughter last Thanksgiving.
We used to collect old telephone books and make Christmas trees with them. My job was to fold all the pages inward to form the shape of the tree. Afterward, the tree was spray painted and decorated with small ornaments. Truly beautiful!
Love this pattern. I’ve made several. Presently making one in a fuzzy cashmere/wool.
Oooh… That’s hard to say. I’ve made so many! I think my favorite is a little construction paper star edged in glitter with an adorable little grin that I made back in the early 90’s. It holds a place of honor on the family Christmas tree every year.
I’m the resident Christmas Stocking maker for our large extended family. I have a new niece-in-law, and all my sewing needs are packed up in storage while our house is being built. I’ll have to send an IOU…
Starched lace snowflakes. I didn’t make them, but I love them. They were made by a great-aunt.
Knitted lacy covers for clear glass Xmas ball ornaments made by a family member. Think of her every time I see them.
Can I have two favorites? I knitted an Advent calendar garland of tiny stockings using sock yarn remnants. Clipped with mini clothespins to a knitted cord and hung from the fireplace mantel, it looks fabulous (just don’t use chocolate for the daily treats inside!). My other favorite is the Woolly Wreath from Churchmouse Yarns & Teas, knitted in natural undyed wool, it is elegant!
My favorite holiday gift was a fair isle stocking my sister-in-law made for my son when he was little. Absolutely a beauty!!
One of my adult daughters is invited to a holiday party in early December every year, hosted by some of the friends she grew up with. Several years ago I got into the habit of making some kind of ornament for the hostess and for her mom, who always helps out. For me it’s a fun way to get a start on the holidays, choosing the ornament and then making it in time for the party. As much as I love the pattern and the finished product, I do not recommend rushing the Bluebird of Happiness pattern. Those had to be delivered mid-party because I sorely underestimated how long they would take!
Hats and more hats 🙂
A quick scarf is my favorite gift giving since I know it will be used.
When my youngest son was little I taught him to cross stitch and he made the cutest little cross stitch ornament of an elf on a sleigh. We still put it on the tree every year.
Salt dough Santa that I made in preschool. I am 64 and this little thing is still vibrant and hanging up every year!
Last year my son and I made pom-pom ornaments, hedgehogs and snowmen, they turned out so cute and we had a great time making them together.
I have a couple of crocheted snowflakes that I bought from a craft show.
My husband has a wood burning pen and he handmade a series of ornaments for our tree showing different moments in the Bible that point to Christ. They are my favorite and the kids have to take turns putting them up from after Thanksgiving until Christmas day.
So hard… but I made a few dozen Arne & Carlos Christmas balls during the pandemic and not only were they fun to make and give, but they were a huge hit with recipients.
My favorite ornaments are the hand sewn fabric ornaments my grandmother made later in life to keep busy so she didn’t grow old.
I love a basic beanie. They’re a quick, weekend knit and they suit everyone!
wow! i have many hand made ornaments for a holiday tree—but one of my faves are the tiny crocheted mittens crocheted by an elder in the small Alaskan bush town i was living in the 1970’s (lived there until 1989) Her name was Marvel and she left us quite a few years ago but I always remember her fondly as I hang her mittens on our tree….
When my son was 5 years old we made strings of red and green glass beads for the Christmas tree He is 36 now ! They are one of the first things on the tree every year.
My favorite ornaments are those with pictures of my older son JP that I made the Christmas after he had just turned 1. I love seeing them on the tree even though he’s turning 47 this month….
My nostalgic favorites are painted pinecones with paper mache heads to create birds. They are family heirlooms of unknown origin.
My mother-in-law gave us an angel ornament made from a tin can one the first year we were married. I still love it 40 years later.
Hats
Last year and the year before, I knit all of Arne and Carlos’ Advent calendar Christmas balls. It was so addictive! I kept both sets, but made some duplicates for gifts.
The star my daughter made in kindergarten for the top of the tree. It is cut cardboard with glitter. She was so proud when she brought it home! We still use it thirty years later!
Perhaps the knitting bags that I have made and given as presents – to friends, both at home and from Ravelry. Or the many tote bags I’ve sewn…
Ornamental? the sturdy tape measure in a decorative case I bought my mother one year…. she always kept it with her knitting, and now I keep it with mine.
i love to make knitted dishcloths and wrap a nice bar of soap in it.
My favorite ornament is a beaded ornament I made with my dad about 50 years ago when I was little. You put various beads on a stick pin with a sequins snd stuck it into a styrofoam ball. They still sparkle on my tree and remind me of memories of my dad.
I love my ornaments of A ball of yarn and needles! I have all sizes and colors and even the material they are made of are different!
My favorite ornament(s) are anything crafted by my kiddles. Usually these were school projects. My kids are now in their 30’s but these gems bring me joy.
I love to make the Jolly Wee Elf pattern from Church Mouse Yarns. I knit a little family of them for each of my sons for Christmas. Fun to put those yarn scraps to use.
My very first Christmas tree, in 1984, had no ornaments. I was broke-as-a-joke, so I bought some cross-stitch kits at Lee Wards that were 2/$1.00. I also bought some crochet cotton and picked up a free leaflet with some snowflake patterns. I stuck my tree in a corner, and decorated about 1/4 of it (the 3/4 was all in the corner), all for about $15.00. Or less. I haven’t put up a tree in years, but I still have the ornaments. 🙂
An angel.
I love making up the hot chocolate mix we learned in Italy. I put it in bags as gifts for a treasured few.
The clear glass ball ornaments with painted designs by my 3 sons (all adults now). I get sentimental every year when I put them on the tree.
A knitted string of Christmas lights to go with little knitted sweaters I made for a friend.
My favorite handmade ornament is a cotton ball lamb that I made for my grandmother when I was six years old. Every year it has a place of honor at the top of the tree!
I make little Moravian stars as ornaments and decorations on gift wrapping. It is hard to make just one in a sitting—usually do two or three. I use fancy wrapping paper sold by the sheet at a shop in my town and lately some sheet wrapping paper made by an artist whom I know.
Polaroid photo of my daughter and niece from years ago that they framed with a homemade holiday themed popsicle stick frame. ❤️
My mom loved lighthouses one year I found fabric prints of lighthouses I made my mom a king sized quilt using those prints and hand-quilted it
I am going to make make jars of homemade caramel sauce this year. Knitting gifts makes me stressed out just thinking about. Wish I were faster…don’t really understand how some people can do it.
I have an angel ornament my mother crocheted for me.
A painters palette made of foam core board—made by an art department colleague when she learned that I didn’t have any holiday ornaments of my own (I was newly married and had never celebrated Christmas away from my parents’ home).
Paper snowflakes and Norwegian woven hearts! My 4th grade teacher taught us how to make them and they’re integral to the season in my opinion.
Anything made by my kids or grandkids!
I make jam, all sorts of jam, including some not for breakfast jams that are great with cheese such as spicy tomato or peach with shriacha. The small 125ml jars are the perfect size to give to neighbours and friends, not just at the holidays but whenever I think someone needs a wee hug.
Mittens!!!
My favorite knitted gift was a hat and mitten set
I have two favourites for Christmas knitting: First is the Sophie Scarf and second is the cute balaclava named Ole brumm lue (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ole-brumm-lue).
I love making anything out of yarn for pthers. Socks, hats, sweaters, or blankets. I try to give them something I haven’t made yet to each special person. I love the idea of this quick knit!
I knit mini sweaters using the past yr’s leftover yarns, many from gifted items – memories of whom I knitted for
My favorite handmade gift to give is a keyhole scarf which is knitted in bulky wool with vertical striped panels. It is super warm and very wearable with the keyhole to lock the scarf in place.
My favorite ornament is one my grandmother made. A pair of red knitted skakes with paperclips as blades.
Oh, the perler bead ornaments my kids made when they were little. Pretty but precious for the memories.
Too many favorite ornaments, my Aunts, sister, mother and I have made many over the years!
Whenever there is a new child among my immediate acquaintances, I make a sweater for them. This year it’s a baby Gansey sweater for Eli.
I’ve began knitting Christmas stocking for my kids and grandchildren a long time ago and they are still using them. Pretty soon it’ll be time to knit for my great grandchildren…how time flies.
The Sophie scarf is adorable
My favorite Ornament is a hand painted Lion and lamb on a wood disk given to me by a good friend.
My favorite homemade holiday ornament is an empty baby food jar, light coated with glue and then sprinkled with shiny glitter. Candles glow brings out the different colors and everyplace they sit, shines.
When I was a Brownie I made my mother 2 pomanders using cloves and oranges. When my mother died and I was cleaning out her dresser, there they were. Of course, it was quite emotional. I saved them for a few more years until they started to disintegrate.
My collection of bird ornaments make my “fake” tree seem much more natural and maybe somehow realistic.
So great. I recently bought the Sophie pattern and was looking for the perfect yarn, Went through a beading phase and still cherish one of those amulet bags I stitched made out of Japanese seed beads which elevated my beginner project to almost artisanal. At least in my own mind.
My favorite handmade gift was a red knit afghan from my mom when I was 10. I love that blanket and still have it.
My favorite “ornament” was a happy accident made by my son, Matt.He flew from CA for Christmas a few years back and arrived with pipecleaner squiggles in the shape of bugs. He explained he sat with a mom and young child who fussed through the trip. When mom introduced the pipecleaners, Matt took over, showing the youngster how to make these clever bugs They have been on my tree every year since.
My favorite tree ornament is the angel on top!
Oh whoops. You said tree ornament. That would be a felted stuffed white dove. The beautifully-realized pattern was in a magazine and I gave away the first one, thinking I could reproduce it exactly. But the placement of the bead/embroidery knot eye was crucial and I could never achieve the same life-like effect again.
This year I made 21 Christmas hats.
My favorite knitted ornament is a gnome knitted by a knitting buddy last year. He’s so stinking cute!
A hand embroidered partridge my sister made for me. Reminds me of the felt ornaments we made with my mom when we were little.
Gosh, Kay I must have been in another universe yesterday when you posted this because I missed it then. But the upside is that now I have so many more of these heartwarming and entertaining descriptions to read with my morning coffee – well many mornings – over 600 entries so far-wow! They all, individually and collectively illustrate the importance and value of handmade and I am so grateful to be part of this community that practices and perpetuates this wonderful, HAND-produced creative undertaking that so poignantly, really, expresses love, family and individuality in this currently really stressed-out world. (Can you imagine the therapeutic effect of a world-wide Zoom Knitting Meeting? You and Ann are certainly doing your bit!)
My faves are handknit ornaments made by me and my friends at craft parties, or received as gifts. Deck the Balls!
my fav handmade ornament is a pile of knitted colorful oak leaves each with a few sequins and beads…so cute!
My mother’s ceramic Christmas tree made in the 60’s! It is one of the first decoration I put out every year.
Favorite ornament: hot air balloon with Santa in the basket, hand crocheted over Christmas ball 30 years ago.
Not trying to double dip, but my favorite ornament is a Styrofoam cup bell with pipe cleaners and glitter made by daughter when she was 3.
Also, I was inspired by your post and have bought the Sophie scarf pattern. I start my first one today!
My favorite handmade ornament is actually the one(s) I make each year for friends and family. Every year I knit a little something to hang on a tree, or from a light fixture, or window latch, A small sphere; a mini-hedgehog; a wee caroler, complete with hat and scarf. Using up all those bits and bobs left over from all my knitting projects across the years. Each is different, but they are all part of a big happy family. Each year I make a few dozen from the same pattern, a different pattern every year, and I send them all off to their new homes, with great joy,
On a holiday vacation on Sanibel Island my entire family collaborated on a menorah made from shells and clay. It was spectacular.
A crewel stitched ornament my mom stitched for me.
My favorite Christmas decoration is a wreath I made as a kindergartener, circa 1980, of pasta shells glued onto a paper plate and spray painted shiny gold. My mom saved it all these years, loving wrapped in tissue paper, and now I hang it proudly on my door – I hope it lasts forever!
Favourite holiday ornament is making paper stars to hang from the ceiling.
I have several ornaments that my mom kept and gave me over the years. My favorite one is a little mailbox that is made with the plastic canvas and yarn stitching (remember those)? It has a handwritten note in it that I think I may have written when I was young. I love seeing the paper peak out, thinking of my younger self and how my mom kept it all those years.
The angel tree topper that my father got at the five-and-dime that looks like HIS mother. Pressed paper & probably glass fibers all around.
Maybe it’s a tie with set of embroidered ones my mom made and dated in 1984.
Fingerless mitts have been my go to for gifting. Always a hit!
A smocked Christmas ball that talented friend gave to me years ago.
Crocheted Christmas snowflakes made by my grandmother.
Small Christmas balls are currently my favorite thing to knit to giveaway. I did knit a hat for a friend in the lovely Lopi (using the Lopi field guide), and that was surprisingly fast. I may do a few of those this year.
Years ago, I lived on Hilton Head Island. My daughter and I would collect sand dollars at the top of sand where the waves had reached their highest after high tide. I hand painted these with beach scenes and made them into ornaments for the Christmas tree. My favorite endeavor was the Santa sleigh and all of the reindeer, each hand painted on individual sand dollars. They were hung on a piece of driftwood and gifted to my sister for her Christmas.
Since I moved quite a lot in the last decade, I gave away all my Christmas to save on moving costs/hassles. I finally bought a tree this weekend in anticipation of decorating for Christmas for the first time in a while. I knitted my first tiny sock ornament last night! It took about an hour or so. It’s beginning to look like Christmas! (well, nothing’s up yet, but preparations are underway)
My favorite holiday ornament to knit is any and all of The Knitting Tutor’s Christmas Bauble sets.
One year I made little crocheted owls for our kids (all.of whom were adults) and they were a hit. One owl even joined us at the dinner table, safely peeking out from a shirt pocket. Years later, the owls were adopted by their children.
In grade school, my youngest made an ornament with his picture and a tiny scroll stuffed inside it with iridescent plastic chips that resemble snow. The tiny scroll had a list of his favorite things and plans for the future. I love reading it every year as we decorate the tree. It’s a little time capsule that lets me time travel back to his youth.
My favorite handmade ornament ever is Tammy Tampon. She is an angel made from an OB tampon. She comes with her own hanger and is a treasured ornament on the tree.
Christmas Balls by Arne and Carlos. Enjoy them in Nashville this week. Wish I could be there.
I like to knit hats or headbands that cover the ears. Hats for babies are the best!
My favorite handmade ornament is a snowman I knitted a few years ago with a twig poked through its wee body for quirky, yet perfect, arms. I leave it out on the mantel all winter long!
I love the Arne & Carlos ball ornaments. So easy to knit and they really look good!
Sparkling glass ornaments my children decorated oh so many years ago!
Don’t cry for me, but I seem to be the only crafter in my immediate family and anything handmade by my darling daughter in her childhood was not an ornament. No, wait. It’s coming to me: a handmade moose with a hat and scarf (she had a very good art teacher). Wood and wool. Haven’t decorated the tree for a few years but perhaps it’s time again.
I knit Christmas stockings for my grandchildren using the Grace Ennis patterns that my grandmother used for my generation. Although I paid more, the purchase price printed on the pattern is 25 cents! I clearly recall all those dangling bobbins as she knit. She made over 100 stockings with enough variations that each was unique.
The Christmas tree in our bedroom (yes, we have several trees. I regret nothing.) has a lot of handmade ornaments, and it is glorious. Some are made by me, by my partner, by our parents, grandparents, nieces and nephews, friends. My favorite might be a present I made as a kid. It’s a small block of wood painted blue with a ribbon glued to it.
Not a handmade ornament but when traveling with friends, I purchase an location specific ornament from where we are traveling for their tree to hang when we celebrate the holidays together. Hardest part is remembering where I stashed it until the holidays.
Whatever my four year old makes for me <3
For the past two Christmases, my dear friend Pat has made me an Arne and Carlos Christmas ball. I love them!
I made my granddaughter a Susan B Anderson doll and wardrobe for Christmas when she was 3 and she carried it everywhere. Now, at 6, she loves to change her outfits and has requested that I please knit her doll a warm blanket for Christmas this year. Her 4yo sister loves rabbits so I’m knitting her SB Anderson’s new bunny and wardrobe. They and their 2yo brother and 2-1/2 yo cousin (and aunts, uncles and grandpa) also have plenty of handknit hats and mittens which they wear frequently. (Yay!) The girls have even requested (and gotten!) matching hats and mittens for their cousins on their daddy’s side of the family since “Grandma A doesn’t know how to knit”. (Grandma A and I were friends before her son and my daughter started dating and all of our grandkids call themselves cousins and us Grandma regardless of actual relationship.) And there are mini sock, hat, mitten and tiny knit animal ornaments and garlands that get hung on trees, mantles, wreaths and in the dollhouse every year.
a handprint wreath made of dough hand cutouts and painted by my children on a tissue paper covered cardboard wreath – hangs every year in our home
My favorite Christmas ornament is a wooden angel wearing a cross stitch gown made for my daughter in 1998. A dear older friend gifted it to us for my daughter’s first Christmas. She tea-stained the wood to match my daughter’s skin tone, the detail on the cross stitch still awes me. It graces my tree every year.
Mini Christmas balls (from Target) with little knitted hats pulled over them
My favorite holiday ornament is a temari ball I received at a weavers guild gift exchange. I’m trying to learn to make my own. Simply done but deceptively complicated at the same time. These embroidered cloth balls, now works of art, were first created as children’s balls to play with.
Deck the Balls is my favorite! I cannot tell you have awesome it is-check it out for yourself on Ravelry. I feel quite accomplished every time I finish one! 🙂
This year I’m knitting tiny sweaters, tiny socks, and tiny hats for ornaments, but my favorite is the sewn felt bird my youngest made— two google eyes on one side & a crooked smile.
Headwaters I made for my daughters many years ago. They still wear them and still look great!
Do you mean from someone or to someone? If it’s from someone then the beautiful shawl my daughter made me in Madelinetosh color tart and the equally beautiful scarf she wove for me. If it’s to someone it’s the Northman mittens I made my son and the Eiffel Tower shawl I made for my daughter and which she wore at the Eiffel Tower during her year in France and took a picture for me
One of my first knitting projects was knitting Christmas bell ornaments. A set of red and green knitted bells with real bells tucked up inside was made to hang on the tree or to put on packages.
I’m knitting my first pair of socks & will make more as gifts.
The Weasley sweaters I knitted for my grandkids last year. They are huge Harry Potter fans!
Favorites are the ornaments made by my children when they were small.
My favourite ornament is a copper coloured blown glass pig my Mom gave me in the 90`s.
It`s oinkin`cute.
Not *quite* responsive to the prompt, but my favorite holiday crafting was the year we didn’t have room to put up a tree because of a renovation project. I cut out elaborate “snowflakes” largely from wrapping paper in tree-like colors (lots of greens & blues, with some brighter colors to act as “ornaments”) and taped them to the wall in a simple triangle-tree shape. Then I outlined the shape with strings of lights, and swooped more lights between the outside edges. The result was surprisingly magical.
I have such a love/hate relationship with a popsicle stick ‘sled’ that I made in elementary school, that always had a prime spot (despite my attempts to hide it) on our tree growing up. Now that my parents have started passing on some ornaments each year, I’m not sure where to put it once I get it back!
When I was first married, the Russian put the first object in space. We made a SPUTNIK out of a foam ball and some pipe cleaners. It was a favorite down through the years. I suspect it will have to put up a good argument to get tree space this year. Sad how the word Russia now has such connotations now. The ordinary citizens still deserve our regard.
My favorite gift is a pencil holder made out of a tin can, wrapped with paper, and decorated. My son who is 43 now made it in first grade.
My favorite holiday gift was the scarf I knit in Home Ec class for my God Mother.
That’s when/how I learned to knit! I found it after she passed tucked away in storage, at least she kept it!!
We embroidered Christmas ornaments the winter I was 11. I still have them and use them every year!
The little reindeer face with a pompom nose and pipe cleaner antlers proudly made by my oldest child.
My stocking was made for me but a dear family friend the year that I was born. The friend is gone from this earth, but lives on in the hearts and on the mantles of all those she made stockings for.
good ol’ crochet snowflakes!
When I was a newlywed with little extra income to spend on Christmas decorations I made a finger crocheted garland from bright red acrylic yarn. It’s the first thing that goes on the tree every year!
I have made LOTS of cross stitch and plastic canvas ornaments over the years. I can’t pick a favorite.
A pink glass bell with glitter snowflakes that I got as a little girl.
When I was a teenager, I knit dozens of 2 color checkered slippers, complete with handmade pom poms. I think I gave them to friends, relatives and neighbors and anyone else I knew. I made these from a free tear off the pad pattern. 50 years later, I still have one very worn copy of the pattern! A fun memory, thanks for asking!
I knit matching sweaters for my 3 grandsons and a dress for my granddaughter. The oldest starts reminding me in October, “ isn’t it time to measure us for our sweaters, Nana?” I love the ornaments my children made and two small sweet porcelain ornaments my husband bought when we first started dating.
I knit a set of miniature sweater, hat and sock ornaments.
My favorite gift is a pair of hand knit gloves from my knitting mentor… they are absolute stunning & I ♥️ wearing them any chance I get!
My favorite gift is a scarf, either lace or with a cable drsign.
A brass sleigh bell. All my son wanted from Santa for his third birthday was one of Rudolph’s bells !
I have a recipe for cinnamon ornaments that I made when I was leader of my daughter’s Brownie troop. They still smell good 30 years later!
At moment I am knitting keyhole scarfs for our local schools Christmas Bazaar craft table.
I LOVE Jodi from Grovery Girls Hat-Vent ornament and look forward to them every year!
When my children were small I did not want to use fragile ornaments so I stocked up on lots of colorful felt squares and over the years made almost a hundred felt animals. Some were easy, some not so much. I had several tries before some of them were recognizable but even the misfits were treasured! They are now scattered among the family but they were affective and almost indestructible! The swans neck was not improved by chewing!!
In my early 20’s I cross stitched many 2” round Christmas tree ornaments.
Cherish them as I rehang them every year.
Love all those buckets filled with self-grown/self-dried/self-made teas, herbs, sachets, candles, candy drops, chocolates, cookies, and all these in cute little jars, handmade sacs decorated with handmade ribbons and dried flowers. Ah, just adorable and have an amazing home-y “please-come-in-for-a-cup-of-tea” smell!
I made some felted diorama ornaments, one w/ Xmas tree & pkgs, one w/ angel, & one w/ snowman.
My favorite gift, or at least the most appreciated gift, were the felted knit baskets that I trimmed with leftover novelty yarn.
I loved those beaded ornaments. Beads pinned into styrafoam. They weigh a ton and nearly tip the tree over. Adds an element of excitement to your tree experience each year for those who don’t have cats….
My favorite Christmas tree decoration is a set of ceramic mice that I handpainted in the early 80’s.
My favorite homemade ornament I received is a green glass bulb with my grandson’s handprint in white paint when he was 6 months old. I ooh and aah over it every time it comes out of the tissue paper and bubble wrap.
I have a set of framed cross-stitched Christmas ornaments that I made as a teenager, that I love to put out during the holidays. They look really cute strung on velvet ribbon to hang on the wall.
Perforated tin star ornaments made by my kids. ♥️
I love crochet Christmas snowflakes. I have made hundreds of them
My kids made little mouse cradles at a nature workshop one year: half a walnut shell, a wee blanket, and the semblance of a mouse’s head and tail at either end. I remember how sweet that day was. My kids, of course, do not.
I love this one that is a plain ornament with an ice cream cone hot glued to it. Simple yet effective!
My favorite homemade gift that I have been given is a cutting board my nephew made me.
My favorite item to make is snowflake ornaments!
My very favorite handmade ornaments are the Santa’s and Snowmen my Nana crocheted for me many, many years ago. They bring back many wonderful memories of her when we place them on the Christmas tree every year, since she passed away 30 years ago.
A couple of years ago I knitted several stars as little gifts…adding a few sequins of course!
One of my favorites is a real egg painted blue with a ceramic skunk in it. The egg is lined with wax and there’s an oval hole to see the skunk. It was made by my then 10 year old sister for me when I was 18
My favorite is a little plaster lamb I made when I was probably about 10. It was the days when pouring plaster into molds and then painting and making ornaments or little figures was all the rage…sometime in the 70’s. My lamb is brown with a little red ribbon and always has a spot near the top of the tree ❤️
I have a needlepoint log tote complete with log “sticks” made by my mother almost 50 years ago.
I found a little Bakelite baby rattle years ago with a lil cherub baby attached with a ring . I made angel wings for her with some very soft lovely feathers and every year she hangs on my tree.
We made little wreath ornaments, with our pictures in the middle of course, for our parents when I was in nursery school! (They were crushed, green-died Wheaties cereal (or something like that) that are vaguely modge-podge’d or paper mache’d or something!) 30+ years later and a surprising number of them still around; I’m delighted when mine goes on the tree every year and, for those people I’ve known since I was 4, we always check in to see if theirs survived another year too!
I’ve made colorful crochet balls that I love to give as gifts.
My favorite holiday gift to knit is Jolly Wee Elves from Churchmouse. My pattern is so old, it was at that time free & included in their monthly (or was it quarterly) mailing. These sweet little elves taught me short rows, a totally unfathomable process at the time. So, my first one is a bit curious, but the dearest — and my only. The couple-dozen others are in various homes, hopefully loved.
Miniature wreath ornament with a photo of my 2 year old son in the center. Very crafty!
A talented twitterpal who handfelts charming animals sent me a beautiful and simple felted star last year – it is still hanging in my window 11 months later 🙂
As a kid we used to make star ornaments using tri-beads for the church Christmas bazaar. I still have a couple, and I remember how to make them even though that was almost 40 years ago, haha. We also made angels with iridescent beads and safety pins. Unfortunately I don’t have any of those, but my mom still has one. And when my kids were little we used to make sequined styrofoam ball ornaments.
I love to make hand smocked ornaments. Also, for my co-workers, I knit tiny mitten ornaments…
Tiny hand knit sweaters, by my sister for each off us.
I have some beautiful handpainted porcelain ornaments, that one of my artistic friends made, and all the handmade ornaments my children made-cannot choose just one!
I love a tiny knit sweater the I made many years ago. And also a star made of colored straws that my son made when he was in nursery school (also many, many years ago).
Handmade Angels.
It was a ceramic Santa mug that my brother made my Mom when we were kids.
My favorite ornament is the gorgeous wreath I bought the first Christmas here at my home. She is 13 years old and still so very beautiful!!
My favorites are the ones my children made for me. They are the first ones on the tree
My favorite gift to make and give is a pair of fingerless mitts, particularly the Maine Morning Mitts from The Knitter’s Book of Yarn.
I make gifts every year. Last year were striped scarves featuring a fox or an owl. Years ago I made beaded balls and those are my favorite non -knitted
My mom made me mittens when I was eight years old. I watched her knit with double pointed needles and was amazed at how she made them so neat!!!!!
My favorite handmade gift? Gloves for me, for my husband. I like DPN’s and knitting these and knowing the warmth they bring to hard working hands makes me happy. MI., is cold and these are satisfying.
My favorite ornaments are stitched felt stars and hearts. Infinite variety, super simple, lovely on a tree or garland
My favorite Christmas ornaments were lilac booties that both of my children wore home from their births in the mid & late ‘80’s. They weren’t handmade, as I didn’t learn how to knit until YouTube was invented. Unfortunately a mouse got into the ornament box last year & destroyed only one thing. Yup, the booties became a fluffy mouse nest. But I still have the holiday stockings that I cross-stitched for them. I don’t have the patience to do that again, so this year I am knitting stockings for my little granddaughters, ages 5, 1-1/2, & 1. Plus one for my new grandson, now 4 months old. Not exactly heirloom quality, but made with love.
Last year I made little quilted Christmas trees for the Book Babes ( my beloved book group). I used gold and silver metallic threads to decorate them. So cute, so easy, so fast to make.
My favorite handmade gift is anything baked or stirred! That covers a lot of potential gifts.
Your new shop is cute! I’m impressed by how safe your area is. All of those windows in upstate NY would be a nightmare. Watch this burglar in this video. He’s missing some clothing.
https://ithacacrime.com/fall-creeks-botanist-coffeehouse-burglarized/
One of my faves (and there are oh so many) is a sweet little knitted hat that one of my friends knit for me. It’s just lovely and makes me smile every time
My favorite handmade gift is a tassel made by my beloved friend Pam, who passed away a few years ago from pancreatic cancer. I keep this precious tassel clipped to one of my notions bags and think of Pam often. She made a little handmade gift for everyone in our small knitting group every year at Christmastime. She is sorely missed by all of us, but we have these small treasures to remember her by.
I knitted a wee mouse for a friend who happens to scared to death of mice. I only learned that when were on a trip together and a mouse turned up in our cabin. What?! It was exposure therapy.
I had a myriad of “made at school” ornaments. With four children they added up! I no longer decorate for Christmas and gave each child their ornaments.
Favorite holiday gift . . . hats . . . . love to make them . . . and i love knowing that they are warming the heads of those i love.
Neck warmers!!! Cotton kitchen cloths w a nice bottle of dishwaswasjing liquid, or a fancy hand soap!
I used to make ornaments with my kids over the years and they bring back many memories. The ones that have remained in the best shape are the stars made out of thin sticks we picked up in the yard.
My favorites is a glass ornament with my youngest sons picture in it. He made it in preschool and now he is nineteen. I live unwrapping it every year
A handmade angel with lacy wings, a tiny wooden hand-painted head with a glittery halo, and some gold foil for highlights. It was a gift from a student many years ago.
Cinnamon ornaments!
My favorite ornaments are two beaded snowflakes I made many years ago. I had never crafted with wire, but these turned out great. If I can find the pattern again I’d like to make them again with fancier beads.
Not an ornament but my mom knit my sister and I stockings with our names. My order brother never got one. Third sock terror I guess.
My favorite handmade ornament is a family of snowmen. You use styrofoam balls for the body and head. Then knit bodies to cover the styrofoam, knit hats and scarves and use felt for the faces. I made the first ones over 40 years ago and have made many as gifts.
Handknit pom pom hats!
My favorite holiday gift is not one I made, but rather received. It’s a gorgeous Christmas Ball for the tree, that was hand made and looks like it’s been quilted. I treasure it.
My favorite gift is a knitted bunny with pink angora ears. The pattern is in the book called Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. Just adorable.
The advent calendar I made with my Mum and sister when we were both still living at home – a big hanging with a wintry cottage scene and many pockets (for chocolates, small gifts etc).
I have a hand painted ornament that’s 70 years old, it’s that fragile glass and I cannot believe it still exists! My mom painted it & it says my name and the date on it…
I saved the felted mobile of the moon and planets I made for my daughters crib and use them as tree ornaments 30 years later.
My favorite Christmas gift to make 100 of are the double thickness washcloths knit in the round. I usually wrap one or two around a container of cinnamon sugar and a mixing spoon.
I’m on my 4th Sophie scarfette and have 3 more to go!!! Didn’t realize they were so popular but I understand why! So stinkin cute and oh so French!!
I love making Mini Sweater Ornaments by Anne Ross and attaching them to my handmade holiday gifts. Not only are they too stinking cute, but they’re a great refresher on top-down raglan construction in a teeny package.