Christmas FO: Mini Snowmen Ornaments

This project kind of grew like the Grinch's heart - now that has got to be the cheesiest line I've ever written on this blog, lol. I bought this pattern last year thinking I would make Christmas ornaments for my family and friends. Ha ha ha, let's all take a moment for that deep laugh to subside. I always have great intentions for group gifts like this, but then I quickly become overwhelmed by just how many I would need to make to include everyone. So they were never made. This year I decided I would make one for my sister, since that was the original inspiration anyway, so I started making just one, which took about an hour. Well I couldn't make her a cute ornament and not my nephew, and since it was quick to knit I just made another right after in one evening. Thus the first two were created:

See the reason I wanted to make one for Kelly is this awesome charm topper thing I snagged at a thrift store years ago. It was some kind of family name thing that the previous owner never put together (where each name dangles from the one above in a line), and I had uses for 2 of the names. Kelly was my only family member present, so I grabbed it and put it away for just such a project. Now that it's made I really wish I could find these things for everyone, but that is just not feasible. Maybe I'll actually get good at lettering and make something next time. We'll see. Anyway, Kelly and Luke loved their snowmen, as evidenced here:

Luke kept wanting to hang it from everything, lol. His had a green scarf because that's his favorite color right now, which he thought was pretty cool.

Well, giving these sparked a chain reaction of family members wanting one. My mom saw theirs and her reaction was awesome about how cute they were, so when I had a little time one night I decided to make her one next:

My mom's favorite color is red, so it just had to be a red scarf.

Next I really wanted to make some for my Aunt and Uncle as a thank you, and I needed to get them in the mail so they would arrive in time, so I spent a few hours making these:

For these I got creative and switched up the color of the hanging loop. Fancy! lol.

I never know what to give my sister Shannon's husband (sorry, Justin!). He likes cars and such like - not exactly my forte, ya know? So this year he got Amazon money, but I wanted to give him a little handmade touch so I made him a snowman as well. And, you know, I can't send an ornament to the guy and not the girl - it's just not the way - so I made Shannon one as well.

After making these two, I deliberately gave Shannon the red scarf because it was a bit sassier looking, lol. And yes, I realize these look identical to the one for my Aunt, but I swear they are not (I even checked to make sure the photos were of different sets). Tricky little snowmen...

Finally on Christmas Eve, I really wanted to have something to give my grandmother and she LOVES miniature things so I knew this would be perfect. At that point, I had this pattern down to a science, so I knew I could get it made along with the other finishing touches I had to do that night.

I gave it to her at our big family breakfast on Christmas morning, and it promptly went into her miniatures cabinet. He looks pretty chill with that squirrel.

For anyone else needing to make a quick gift next year, this is the Mochimochi Snowmen by Anna Hrachovec and I can't recommend it enough. If you don't mind things being small and therefore slightly fiddly, this is a fantastic pattern. It's super fast and very easy as far as tiny knitted people go (I've made a several different patterns this size at this point and this was definitely the easiest - no arms and legs!). Also this pattern is only $2 on Ravelry - can't beat that. I also have quite a stash of fingering weight in various colors at this point, so the snow men were Golden Sun Bamboo yarn (from China on ebay) in white  and bleck for the embroidery, while the scarves were all from Knit Picks Palette in Macaw, Serrano, Cyan, and Limeade Heather. But really as long as you have white yarn for the body, you can use absolutely anything for the scarves and they all turn out cute.

So while I did not realize my dream of making one for everyone, I am happy with my little crop of 8 this year. Now that I know how easy this is to make, I'm sure that I will make more in the next few years for those who did not get one this time around. All in good time, folks!