(Every week until December 1st we will be making a small Christmas ornament that can be used in our Pocket Advent Calendar. Join us in making all 24 or just pick and choose your favorites.)

For this week’s advent calendar ornament we are going to use the same wooden doll pegs we did on the Little Snow People, but this time we will make them into Santa.

I love these little guys. To me there is something very sweet about a wooden ornament with handmade accessories.

Little Wooden Santa

Supplies:

• 2″ wooden doll pins
• acrylic paint in red, black and pink
• small paintbrush
• clear polyurethane
• cotton ball
• glue (such as elmers or tacky glue)
• red sock weight yarn
• four double pointed needles, size 00
• large eye needle
• tiny pom pom
• small amount of green felt
• sewing thread
• sewing needle

1. Paint the body – Start by painting the base black. Let dry. Paint the body red. You may want to do two or three coats to get a good deep color.

Paint on a black belt and dividing line for the legs. Let dry.

2. Paint the face – Make small dots in black for the eyes and pink for the cheeks. I dipped a pencil into the paint and used it to make the dots. Let dry.

3. Coat with polyurethane. Let dry.

4. Attach beard – Pull the cotton ball out a bit to make it thinner. Cut into a beard shape with ends at the top long enough to go around the neck.

Put a bead of glue around the neck and attach beard. Then glue the body of the beard down.

5. Make the hat – You can make the hat one of two way. 1. Knit it like I did following the pattern below. 2. Make it out of felt and sew the pom pom on top. A quarter of a circle makes a perfect cone shape for the hat.

Abbreviations: 

• k = knit
• k2tog = knit two stitches together, decreases one stitch

Gauge: 12 stitches and 15 rows in an inch

Cast on 22 stitches. Divide evenly between three needles. Join into the round being careful not to twist. Place a marker to mark end of round.

Knit until 1/2″ long.

Start decreases
Row 1: k9, k2tog, k9, k2tog
Row 2 – 3: knit
Row 4: – k3, k2tog, k3, k2tog, k3, k2tog, k3, k2tog
Row 5 – 6: knit
Row 7: k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog
Row 7 – 9: knit
Row 10: k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog
Row 11: knit

Cut the yarn leaving about a 10″ tail. Weave through the stitches in the needles. Remove the knitting needles. Pull tight. Sew the tail through the pom pom. Knot the tail under the pom pom leaving a hanging loop at the top. Weave in ends.

6. Glue the hat on the head. Let dry.

7. Make the sack – Cut a 3 1/4″ circle from the green felt. Using the sewing thread and needle, sew a row of stitches around the edge of the circle, about 1/8 – 1/4″ in from the edge.

Put a little leftover cotton ball in the center of the circle. Pull the sewing tight to create the sack. Tie the thread off. Glue the sack on to Santa off to one side and slightly to the back. Let dry.

Now he’s ready to hang on your tree, decorate a gift or fill a pocket on your advent calendar.