Christmas 2013 Crocheted Ornaments

In addition to several commissioned pieces, I crocheted a ton of gifts this past holiday season. Did I remember to take pictures of everything? Nope. I'm so annoyed with myself!!  In this post, I have linked the name of each ornament to the pattern's location on the web.  For posterity's sake, I'm listing  all of the Christmas items I made, even if I forgot to take a picture.

I made this Santa and Rudolph pair for an ornament exchange I went to with some preschool & dance mom friends. Both patterns were so great!!  They weren't originally meant to go together (the patterns were written by two separate people), but they were roughly the same scale, so they looked nice next to each other.  Sorry for the slightly blurry picture.

This Santa & Snowman pair were crocheted for Sonia's preschool teachers, and they seemed to be a big hit!

After being inspired by the pattern I saw here, I freehanded this minion ornament for my playgroup ornament exchange. To get the perfect sphere shape, I used this amazing tutorial on crocheting mathematically perfect spheres.  It's awesome!! (For the uninitiated, minions are characters from the Despicable Me movies.) 

I chose the one-eyed minion because I knew it would end up in a house that contained a four-year-old kid, and all the four-year-old kids I know seem to love the one-eyed minions the best.

I had a hard time sewing the strap to the minion's monocle straight....

In action as an ornament!

For our fabulous Hindu friends that subscribe to the "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" philosophy and celebrate a secular version of Christmas (the parents of this family are originally from India and now live in the US), I crocheted this Ganesha (a Hindu deity) and tied a hanger on it so it could be a Christmas tree ornament.  The pattern was wonderful and amazingly detailed.  I did some research on Ganesha to educate myself and I love how the pattern has him holding some of the classic items that Ganesha figures hold: an axe, a rope, and a delicacy.  This Ganesha even has the classic broken tusk.  I have to admit that Ganesha might be my favorite of all the ornaments I made.... He was so much fun!!  (Note the "'Tis the Season" wooden ornament to Ganesha's left, made by my wildly talented Aunt Janet, AKA the Roonie Ranchers' crafting hero.)

- Niki's tree received a flying pig ornament based on Lucy Ravenscar's pig pattern (remember the rainbow of piggies I made last year?) with free-handed wings.  I seriously love this tiny piggy pattern.  I'm pretty sure I've used it for at least 15 piggies at this point.

I made my nephew, Nicholas, this adorable penguin. In the picture on the pattern, he was shown as an ornament, but when I used Red Heart Super Saver worsted-weight yarn rather than the suggested sport-weight yarn, he turned into more of a small stuffed animal. All the better to cuddle with!  Not sure why the hat turned out a wee bit too small, but by the time I realized it was too small, I had already added the puffball details and was too in love with it to start over.  Now I've talked myself into thinking that it just adds to the penguin's charm.

And now for the ones with a glaring lack of pictures....  I am selfishly including these in this post just so I don't forget that I made them.

- Perhaps next year the Roonie Ranchers' mom will be able to take a quick picture of the angel I made.

- For our hilarious brother, I thought a lobster in maroon would make the perfect Christmas tree ornament.

- I gave this Santa ornament to Andrew's Aunt Anita and Uncle Bob before I took a picture of it. Whoops!!