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This knit star Christmas ornament is easy to make with knit cord and wire to make any size and shape of star (or any other simple shape) that you want.
Materials
For my versions of the knit star Christmas ornament, I made my cord using an I-cord maker (learn about different ways to make knit cord here). Because of that I needed to use lighter weight yarn.
I’m not 100 percent sure what the gold yarn is, but it think it might be linen. The red one is Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in color Red Fox.
If you want to knit your cord by hand, you can use any yarn you like and double pointed knitting needles in the corresponding size for your chosen yarn weight. How much you will need depends on the size of your star, but this is definitely a scrap project.
You’ll also need some wire for shaping the star. If you have any wire that’s bendable but holds its shape, that’s what you need. The exact size isn’t critical and in fact I’m not sure what I used because it was an old spool and the label was ripped off, but I think it’s 20 gauge wire.
For this project you’ll also need scissors for cutting yarn and snips to cut your wire (I used wire cutting pliers from my jewelry making toolkit) and a needle for yarn as well as a big plastic needle for working with the wire. If the big plastic needle works for your weight of yarn just one needle is fine.
Size
You can make your knit star Christmas ornament any size you like. My red one is about 2 inches tall and 2 inches across (that’s 5 cm), while the gold one is about 6 inches/15.24 cm.
How to Make a Knit Star Christmas Ornament
Before we can make an ornament we need our knit cord. If you’re making this a stash busting project you can knit until you’re almost out of yarn, or just go on vibes.
Or, if you know you want your start to be a particular size, shape your wire first, cut it and measure it, then make your cord the same length.
The cord for the red star was about 11 inches/28 cm long, while the gold one is 32 inches/81.2 cm.
When you’re done, bind off and leave a long tail, or, if using a machine, cut the yarn, leaving a long tail, remove the cord from the machine and use the yarn needle to take the yarn end through the stitches so they won’t unravel.
Side note: if you worked your cord on a machine and you already cut your wire, you may need to unravel a few rows first if you went too far. That’s totally fine but the wire and the yarn don’t have to be an exact match in length, either.
If you haven’t already cut your wire, cut a piece about the same length as your knit cord.
Thread the wire onto a large-eyed plastic needle and fold the end of the wire over to secure.
Take the needle through the center of the cord and slowly thread the wire through. You’ll have to scrunch the cord up and scoot it down the wire but it shouldn’t be difficult. Hook the end of the wire into the end of the cord where you started before you pull the end out the other side so you don’t lose the wire inside. You can hook it on the other end too when you are done.
Take your time forming the star the way you want it to look. The wire is pliable but should hold its shape pretty well while you work.
Once you have it the way you’d like it, take your yarn tail and sew the pieces together where they overlap. Run the needle inside the cord to get to the next spot. This should be relatively invisible, but your ornament can have a front and back if it’s not perfect.
On the gold star I threaded the yarn through the pieces at each join but then tied the ends together and snipped them, so that one definitely has a front and a back.
Use your remaining yarn tail to sew the ends of the tube to each other. If you want you can cover up the ends of the wire entirely, or leave a loop hanging out to use for hanging.
These knit star Christmas ornaments are super easy to make, and once you start playing with it you’ll probably come up with different shapes or even words you want to try making with knit cord and wire.
