Give them felt shapes!
It’s getting more and more difficult to keep my three-year-old away from the ornaments on the tree. Being cooped up inside with no preschool or swimming lesson this week has not helped. This morning I decided she needed her own trees. I grabbed a big pile of felt and cut lots of circles and triangles.
Check out that strong snowman. He’s carrying all four trees with his stick arms!
past project: Here’s my original felt board post.
It’s interesting to view the Fall and Winter holidays through the eyes of a three-year old. There’s all this build up to Halloween and then after one night, it’s all over. After weeks of talking about pumpkins, witches and ghosts, we immediately move into Thanksgiving mode. There are still colored leaves and pumpkins, but now we’re all about Pilgrims and turkeys.
Then, to make things really confusing, people start decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving. There is a house on our street with pumpkins all along the entryway and snowflakes hanging from the roof.
Even more proof that all of this is confusing to a three-year old: today my daughter asked me if we missed Thanksgiving. I told her no, Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Why on earth would she ask if we missed it? Look at all of the Christmas lights, Mom. Are you sure?
I’m really trying to keep our house Christmas-free until after tomorrow, but my daughter is already asking for her little tree. In the meantime, though, she’s serving tea and candy to her Halloween friends.
Maybe I need to crochet a little turkey for her?
pattern: undead gang from Needle Noodles
from the julie-bird.com archives
Last year I tried knitting a little stocking for our knitting group’s ornament exchange and it turned out really wonky. The night before the exchange, I whipped up this little Santa hat instead.
For this year’s exchange, I knit the stocking from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and it turned out MUCH better. Tana, who picked my Santa hat from last year, picked the stocking this year. I knit them both out of the same yarn. Too funny! I should see if I can complete her set with a mini sweater next season.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the little Santa hat ornament. It was so cute and easy! So the other night I decided to knit another one for our tree. I love it so much! Here’s the pattern so you can knit up some cuteness for your tree.
Knitted Santa Hat Ornament
Yarn: Lion Brand Micro Spun colors red and white
Needles: I used size 3 dpns
Gauge: 6 stitches = 1 inch
Time to complete: Less than two episodes of the Sopranos.
Hat
Using white yarn, cast on 30 stitches and divide evenly over 3 dpns.
Join and knit 8 rows in white (add rows if you need to so it forms a nice roll brim).
Change to red yarn and knit 12 rows.
Begin decreases:
Knit the first two stitches on each needle together.
Knit a plain round.
Repeat these two rows until you only have 3 stitches left. Tie them off.
Pom Pom
Start with a slip knot of white yarn on a single needle.
Knit in the front and back of the stitch, increasing to 2 stitches.
Knit in the front and back of both stitches, increasing to 4 stitches.
Repeat once more for a total of 8 stitches.
Begin decreases:
Knit two together across, decreasing to 4 stitches.
Repeat, decreasing to 2 stitches.
Repeat once more and tie off.
Pull the two ends together and shape a little ball. With a darning needle, thread the ends through the top of the hat and tie a knot.
If you want your hat to hang straight, string it up from the top. If you want it to have a little curl, like mine, string it up from the middle.
Hang on the tree and admire your craftiness. Merry Christmas!
reuse: Don’t let all of those tiny balls of leftover yarn go to waste. Use them for small projects like tree ornaments.
Last month, Meredith, the Editor in Chief of Craftier magazine, asked me if they could feature my remote control pillow pattern in their DIY Holiday issue. Here I am on page 22!
