Knit Candy Cane Ornament

Trim your tree with this free candy cane ornament knitting pattern! Knit flat and seamed, you can quickly make this keepsake ornament with yarn scraps and pipe cleaners.

What Christmas tree is complete without a candy cane? The perfect red and clear white hues come together to make a classic candy cane. Visually striking against the needles of an evergreen, you could make a whole gaggle of these to pepper your tree or holiday mantle. If you’re not scared of grafting, you can tackle this 6 row pattern over and over between now and the holidays. Maybe it’s just me who lives for the idea of including knit and crochet gift toppers on every present one day, but this candy cane definitely seems like a doable gift topper idea for everyone on my list.

Knit Candy Cane Ornament Pattern

A note about this ornament: It’s hard to believe that we haven’t yet done a candy cane in our ornament series, isn’t it? I had actually started playing with candy cane designs for this series from practically day one, but getting the stripes just right kept proving illusive. The crochet version kept ending up too chunky looking. An early knit version ended up with weird tension issues from the various color change techniques I was hoping for. But then this year I realized I was overthinking everything – the old KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) adage came to mind. When I went with a version knit with basic stranded colorwork and grafting, and poof! A candy cane ornament I could get behind sharing with you all. :)

Supplies
US size 3 (3.25 mm) knitting needles
Lion Brand Bonbons in Beach in red & white
scissors
poly-fil (polyester fiber fill, a.k.a. stuffing)
1 pipe cleaner in red or white
tapestry needle

Gauge & Dimensions: 5.25 sts & 8 rows per inch, knit in stockinette stitch. Finished ornament measures 5.5 inches from tip to tip before bending into candy cane shape.

Abbreviations & Terms
CO – cast on
provisional cast on – Here’s a tutorial.
WS – wrong side
k – knit
Clr A – color A (white)
wyif – with yarn in front
A – Clr A
B – Clr B
p – purl
rep – repeat
kitchener stitch – aka grafting, this is a technique for joining ends with a seamless appearance. Here’s a tutorial.
Clr B – color B (red)

The Pattern

CO 36 sts in Clr A using a provisional cast on.
1. (RS) sl 1 wyif, (k1B, k1A) 17 times, k1B.
2. (WS) sl 1 wyif, (p1A, p1B) 17 times, k1B.
3. sl 1 wyif, (k1B, k1A) 17 times, k1A.
4. sl 1 wyif, (p1A, p1B) 17 times, k1A.
5. sl 1 wyif, (k1B, k1A) 17 times, k1B.
6. Rep row 2.
Join ends using kitchener stitch and Clr B.

To finish, weave in all ends. Cut a 6-inch length of red or white pipe cleaner. Fold each end of the pipe cleaner down 1/4 of an inch to protect sharp points. Feed your pipe cleaner into the tube you knit and bend into a candy cane shape. Sew ribbon to the back of your candy cane to hang.

Share your ornaments in progress and finished ornaments using #handsoccupiedhohoho on Instagram & Twitter – I can’t wait to see how you make these your own!

Yarn was provided by Lion Brand Yarn.