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These knit Christmas balls can be knit on a circular knitting machine or by hand, and either way they’re a quick way to add some homemade goodness to your tree.
Supplies
To make these knit Christmas balls on a circular knitting machine, you’ll need a Sentro 22 pin or an Addi 22 pin. Check out my Addi v Sentro post if you’re in the market for a new machine!
You’ll need a small amount of worsted/medium/weight 4 yarn for each ball, as well as Poly-fil or other stuffing. It doesn’t take much to fill each. And you’ll need a yarn needle for finishing.
The yellow and red ball below uses a heavy worsted weight yarn, but you can also use DK weight if you want your balls a little smaller.
If knitting by hand you can use size 7 US/4.5 mm double pointed knitting needles. You’ll want to work in the round on DPNs or circulars to make the same tube shape as the knitting machine does.
Knit Christmas Ball Sizing
Different balls will come out to slightly different sizes depending on the yarn used, how many rounds you work and how you stuff them.
The two made with the same yarn are both 15 rounds, they’re just stuffed differently so the small one is 8 inches around and the large one is 9 inches. The others are all about 8 inches as well.
The large two-color ball was worked to 20 rounds and measures 10 inches around.
Single Color Ball
The easiest of the knit Christmas balls to make is the single color ball, shown here in a red and black yarn. As mentioned above, I made a tube on 15 rounds for these.
The basic instructions are the same for all the balls. There’s no need to use waste yarn; just make a tube that’s 15 or so rounds long, cut the yarn, pick up all the stitches with a yarn needle and slide onto the yarn end. Pull tight and run the needle through the stitches again to make the hole secure.
Pull on the yarn end on the other side until you start to get a ball shape. Stuff as you like, then pull the yarn tight, thread on the yarn needle and run through the stitches to secure the end. Bury the yarn ends inside the ball and you’re done!
Two-Color Knit Christmas Balls
Of course it’s almost as easy to make two-color knit Christmas balls as it is to make single color ones.
This one I made with 20 rounds, 10 in each color.
I also finished off the top by making a little loop of yarn with the tail end to hang the ornament. Just leave a little loop, wrap the yarn around itself a few times and then bury the end in the ball.
Fair Isle Christmas Ball
This two-color ball mimics Fair Isle knitting, and while it takes a little more time to work the colors in this way, it’s super satisfying.
I started by knitting 6 rounds in yellow.
For the next round, work 1 stitch in yellow, 1 in red (or colors of your choice) all the way around.
The next round is worked completely in red, then repeat the two color round again.
You have to go slowly and thread the yarn to each stitch by hand, but it doesn’t take long and speeds up once you’ve done a little.
Once the three colorwork rounds are done, work 6 more rounds in your main color.
Finish as usual.
Snowman Christmas Ball Knitting Pattern
I thought it would also be fun to make some knit Christmas balls that look like faces. The easiest to do is a snowman.
For this one I used Caron Simply Soft Party (which I had left over from my snowman knitting pattern), again for 15 rounds.
Start finishing in the same way as before, but before you stuff the ball, use duplicate stitch to make eyes and a nose. My nose is deliberately sort of sideways, worked into half of one stitch and half of another, to make it look more like a snowman nose.
Stuff and close as before.
Knit Santa Ball Ornament
Maybe my favorite of the knit Christmas balls is this Santa one, because it could be a jumping off point for lots of different characters.
I worked mine from the bottom up so it’s 8 rounds of flesh tone, 2 rounds of white and 5 rounds of red for the hat.
I added eyes as with the snowman.
Give one of these a green hat to be an elf, or make the skin green to make a Grinch. So many fun options.
These knit Christmas balls are so easy to make on a circular knitting machine or by hand, and once you start I’m sure you’ll come up with lots of other ways you want to make them.
