Day 11: Crocheted Snow-Covered Ornaments with Winkieflash of A Creative Being

Hello crafty pals and welcome to day 11 of the 12 Days of Christmas Series. Today, we have some awesome crocheted ornaments from Wink of A Creative Being. Without further ado...

This is the pattern I use to make Christmas ornaments with. It's fun, easy and fast. Let's get started! :)

What you'll need:

• Regular, colored yarn, and white yarn. You can use whatever yarn you want, as long as the colored yarn and the white yarn are the same weight. (or close enough)
• Sparkly yarn! For this pattern I used silver yarn (Lumina by DMC)
• Stuffing. I use polyester filling, but you can use whatever you want, for instance yarn scraps!
• Hooks. Use the appropriate hook for your yarn, and then go down 1 size. Because we will be stuffing the ornaments, you need a tight fit.
• Stitch markers. You're going to be working in the round, so you'll need a marker to keep track of where you are.
• A pair of scissors.
• A darning needle, to weave in the ends.
• The Christmas album of She & Him. Trust me, it's so relaxing to crochet by, and a must to get you in the right mood! :)

The terms I use are all US terms. This pattern consists solely of single crochet stitches, which are double crochet stitches for you UK people.

Alright, got everything? Here we go!

For this pattern, I'm going to use an existing crochet sphere pattern. It's written by Emily Premise-Conclusion, and I got it from her Ravelry page here. If you have a different sphere/ball pattern you'd like to use, go for it! :)

For this pattern and the yarn I'm using, which is Stylecraft Special DK, I'm using a sphere pattern that consists of 22 rows. The ornament will measure about 3 inches.

When it says 'inc' in the pattern, increase; make 2 single crochet stitches in 1 stitch. Where it says 'dec', decrease; single crochet 2 stitches together (sc2tog). I always use an invisible decrease. If you don't know how to do this, check this out.

With the colored yarn, we're now making the bottom halves of the sphere. If you're using a different pattern from mine, just follow it until you get to one row before the middle row.

1. Start with the colored yarn. Crochet 6sc in a magic circle, or ch2, 6sc in 2nd chain from hook. (6)
2. inc in each stitch around. (12)
3. *1, inc* around. (18)
4. 1, inc, 2, inc, 3, inc, 2, inc, 3, inc, 2 (23)
5. inc, 4, inc, 3, inc, 4, inc, 3, inc, 4 (28)
6. 3, inc, 6, inc, 6, inc, 6, inc, 3 (32)
7. 1, inc, 7, inc, 7, inc, 7, inc, 6 (36)
8. 6, inc, 11, inc, 11, inc, 5 (39)
9. 8, inc, 12, inc, 12, inc, 4 (42)
10. 15, inc, 26 (43)
11. inc, 42 (44)

Cut the yarn but leave a little tail. Don't fasten off. Okay, that's it! You now have a colored bottom half of a sphere. I made a couple of bottom halves in different colors.

Now onto the really cool part! With white yarn and the sparkly yarn, we're now going to make the snow layer of the ornament.

So, with white and sparkly yarn attached, go as follows:

1. Crochet around (44), using a spike stitch. If you don't know how to do this, check this out. Basically you're just making sc's, but you're inserting your hook into a different row, below the one you're in. I've done cascading spikes all around the bottom half. So I started 1 row below, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5, and then back up again in row 4, row 3, row 2, row 1 and finally in the actual row.
   
   
   See how this creates the illusion of snow falling? You can vary your own spike stitch by making it more random, or leaving it out completely at some places. You're in charge! :)
2. That was basically it. Now all you have to do, is complete the sphere. If you're still on this pattern, go as follows:
   42, dec (43)
3. 26, dec, 15 (42)
4. 4, dec, 12, dec, 12, dec, 8 (39)
5. 5, dec, 11, dec, 11, dec, 6 (36)
6. 6, dec, 7, dec, 7, dec, 7, dec, 1 (32)
7. 3, dec, 6, dec, 6, dec, 6, dec, 3 (28)
8. 4, dec, 3, dec, 4, dec, 3, dec, 4, dec (23)
9. 2, dec, 3, dec, 2, dec, 3, dec, 2, dec, 1 (18)
   You can start stuffing now.
10. *dec, 1* around (12)
11. *dec* around (6). Fasten off, leaving a tail. With the tail, weave through each stitch in the opening. Pull tight to close.

And that's it! You've created your first snow-covered Christmas ornament :)

Wait, what is that you say? It doesn't look very Christmassy? Well, you're right. It needs something else! :)

Now we're going to make that little thingie on top with the loop in it, so you can actually hang this in your tree.

1. With the sparkly yarn, crochet 6sc in a magic circle, or ch2, 6sc in 2nd chain from hook. (6)
2. inc in each stitch around. (12)
3. Sc around two times, so you end with 4 rows.

Finish off and leave a tail. Now pull the first tail through the center to create a loop, and tie the end to the other tail. Like this:

Now using the tail we left at the end, sew the loop thingie to the top of the ornament (the white part). And that's it! A completed ornament :)

Now you can easily adapt this pattern to make all kinds of ornaments. A couple of examples?

For instance, you could use self-striping yarn to create a stripy ornament:

Or use gold sparkly yarn and colored yarn to crochet a sphere:

Use rich, velvet yarn (which was impossible to photograph well!):

And if you crochet in the backloops only, you'll get a ridged ornament!

The possibilities are endless; let your mind go wild this holiday season! :)

xo,
wink