Gangsta Wrap

Yarn wrapped wreath

     Okay, the title might be misleading. There is nothing even remotely gangster about this post, unless you happen to be a rapper interest in making a yarn wrapped wreath, in which case "Welcome!". I've been drooling over yarn wrapped wreaths for a while. They're one of those items that make me think "I could make that, why would I buy one?" So yesterday I finally did. It was the first real snow of the season and it seemed appropriate to be using yarn. Falling snow + yarn + chia tea + sweatpants = cozy indoor crafty happiness. 

     Making a yarn wrapped wreath is a fairly simple concept, I suggest you just jump in with both feet and figure it out as you go. Yarn is nice in that is is pretty forgiving if you goof up, hiding the mistakes isn't difficult. If you would like a little more instruction:

     1) Both toddlers and cats attempting to steal your yarn will slow this process down tremendously. I tossed one outside and gave the other to The Handy Man. Babies do just fine in the snow, right?

     2) I used a 14" straw wreath because it was on sale in-store for $1.29.  I left the plastic wrapping on to prevent the yarn from snagging. Next time I'm going to go with a styrofoam wreath form. The uneven texture of the straw wreath made it a little more challenging to get good coverage. 

    3)  Since you're wrapping around a curved object the interior curve is going to have less room than the exterior. Every other time around I overlapped the yarn at the interior section. I hope that makes sense.

    4) I was going to attach a beer can tab to the back as a hanger so I wouldn't have to worry about rust but that would have meant going into our freezing garage to rummage through the recycling bins. Instead I jammed part of a paperclip I found on the floor into the straw and continue to wrap the yarn, leaving part of the paperclip exposed. Once it was all wrapped (it took 45 minutes, ugh) there were some little slivers where the straw form was visible but that was remedied by just adding another loop or two of yarn over the area and knotting it on the back.

Paperclip hanger

     5) Time add a little decoration! I decided use the stencil from this Halloween project since it was still on my kitchen table and add a bat to my wreath. Around this time The Handy Man realized I wasn't making dinner, so he put a frozen pizza in the oven providing me the cardboard to make my bat form and saving me a trip into the garage. Sheesh, I really am lazy. I really was hoping to avoid using my glue gun but this is the point where I should have started. Instead I coated my cardboard bat in double-sided tape hoping this would keep the yarn from slipping off at the ends, it didn't, cue the glue gun. 

      6) I made "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" letters to wrap. The letters were the most time consuming part of the whole project. In order to not have any part of the shape exposed you first  need to wrap the letter vertically and then horizontally or visa versa depending on which look you prefer. This was when I started to wish this damn wreath was finished already and I failed to take pictures. 


    7) I attached the bat and letters with wire. Glueing them on would be easier but I wanted to be able to remove them if I want to used the same wrapped form for a different holiday. 

Attach decoration with wire or glue.

         The possibilities of what you can wrap in yarn are endless! As time consuming as this was I'm making a list of other things to wrap. Flash Speedman, the dog, my kitchen table, and The Handy Mans car all seem like fun ideas.