It’s no secret that I have a special place in my heart for ornaments. Every year since I was born, my mother has given me one for each Christmas, often handmade or to commemorate a special vacation (I’ve got ornaments she bought in Montana, Mexico and Cape Hatteras!) Now that I have a daughter of my own, I’ve started carrying on the tradition with Sasha. This year, even though she’s still a little young, I wanted to create something I thought might help with learning letters. We love monograms and knit in a simple ecru wool, these would match any holiday decor.

These “ornaments” are a bit bigger than traditional ornaments (ahem, about 7” square!), so while they might not fit on your Christmas tree, we think they’re perfect mantel decorations. Spell out the words “JOY” or knit one in each family member’s initial. (We used exactly half a skein for each letter, so if you’re careful, you could squeeze “NOEL” out of one kit.)

This pattern includes charted instructions for all 26 letters of the alphabet.