I have, in the past, expressed my feelings about Christmas knitting, so I’ll summarize here: No. Well, mostly no. No with exceptions, those exceptions being very young (for now) and very dear to my heart. The niece and nephews still get Christmas knitting, because they’re still young enough that anything they might want will be quite small, and if I get it right, they’ll think it’s totally neat, and I’m hoping to be fondly remembered as the crazy aunt who knit them great stuff every Christmas. Last year’s gifts were pretty good—I still watch the video of the oldest nephew shouting “It’s Santa’s hat! It’s Santa’s hat!” as he unfolds and dons the hat-scarf thing. This year, though. This year, I think I hit it out of the park.

First, youngest nephew needed a bunny. His mum and I got bunnies from our knitting great-aunt when we were wee (thanks to my sister, I still have mine); his sister got a bunny from me, and she loved it to distraction; it seems only right and fitting that he should have a bunny, too. For Nephew 2’s bunny I went with Ysolda Teague’s Sophie. I’ve had good luck with Ysolda’s toy patterns: the toys are sweet, the patterns are well-written, and the construction is meant to endure the tests of toddler love. The yarn—high-twist, washable Rowan Wool Cotton—should take a lot of loving, too. And oh, does he love his bunny.

I hear he spent the holidays teaching it how to hop.

I wasn’t sure what to do for Space Niece this year, until I came across Laura Chau’s Orbital Ornaments. You may recall me raving about these during the Gift-A-Long. The pattern did not disappoint.

The amount of yarn required in each colour is minuscule, so I could make the whole set with scraps and leftovers.

I am told that Space Niece was so delighted, she put them all in a box and took them to bed with her. High praise from a child. High praise, indeed.

Last tiny person gift: Little Fox Mittens by Birch Hollow Cottage. Oh, lordy, these are darling. I finished them while visiting my uncle in the Great White North, and we had a blast photographing them, and coming up with stories for them. Here they are trying to take down a polar bear.

The polar bear was too big for them, though, so they ran over to help the Inuit hunter escape.

There was a lot more to our little photo story, involving horses and an antelope and some good twin/sinister twin dialogue, but I’ll let you come up with your own stories. I think my uncle was sad to see the foxes go. They went to a good home, though.

And that look? That look right there? For that, I’ll knit them Christmas things as long as they’ll let me. Wouldn’t you?

Oh, yeah, if you’re wondering: the bright orange yarn is Madelinetosh Vintage in Citrus. Merino’s not a great choice for mittens, but Vintage is super-high twist and should be pretty durable. Strangely, I had no worsted weight scraps in black or white, so I got these tiny sample balls of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted from Jimmy Bean’s Wool. I only ended up needing one of each.