Well, I really didn’t mean to disappear for so long! The holidays seemed busier this year, somehow, between the knitting and the hosting and travelling, and of course working right up until the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We put our tree up a few weeks ago, and I had intended to do a little follow-up on my ornament resolution then, but I just never managed to find a spare moment.

Last year, our tree was a little spare, so I made a nice public plan to make 12 ornaments for our tree this year. I didn’t quite make it — I ended up with just eight — but since I also spent the year picking up a nice selection of handmade ornaments at craft sales, and also picked up some nice vintage ones, our tree was much fuller and more colourful this year.

The ornaments I made fell into two categories: origami stars, which were quite quick, and knitting baubles. I had planned to make lots of different kinds of ornaments, but time got away from me (partly because they were so quick to make individually that I never really set aside time to focus on them) so I stuck with what I knew.

I’m pretty happy with the knitting baubles. They’re all the same size (a little smaller than a base ball, I’d say) and each one worked up very quickly. Each one uses the basic pattern from the Balls Up! pattern, and then for I used the colour work pattern from the Clayoquot sweater twice, as well as the lace pattern from Camomile and the Ben’s Balls pattern (included with the original). I definitely want to repeat the Camomile pattern with a different colour (the dark green blends in a little with the tree), and I’d like to do another one with this tree pattern, and how cute would it be to do one with little Santa Gnomes? So, I think there are definitely a couple more of these in my future. (Details on the four I did make are here.)

Of course, even though I didn’t actually manage to make more ornaments didn’t mean I wasn’t collecting patterns! Others I hope to make in the coming year (assuming I remember to actually do so) are: stars, tapered baubles, mini mittens, little stockings, lace stars, and, if I’m feeling really ambitions, a knit wreath (I really, really love this pattern, so I might buy the frame for it this year, if I can find one, so I have no excuse not to make one. I quite like the garland, as well, actually, and think it’s a good candidate for some beads if I can ever find ones that are big enough.)

So there you have it. Not as impressive as I’d hoped, but not too bad either. Did you make ornaments this year? What other patterns should I add to my list?