Tutorial: Yarn Ball Ornaments

yarnballmain

I’m not exactly a big Christmas person.  I work in retail, where it’s perpetually Christmas from the beginning of October until the end of December, so I get my dose of “holiday cheer” in a big way each year.  But I still like to have a little tree at home, twinkle lights, and some She & Him Christmas playing in the background.  This year, my tree has a knitting theme, and yours can too with these easy-peasy yarn ball ornaments.  I can see smaller ones as decorations on gift boxes, big ones in a glass vase on the mantel, a couple attached to a wreath…the ideas go on and on!

Materials:

Styrofoam balls in assorted sizes
Scrap yarn
Aleene’s Tacky Glue or other craft glue
Yarn needle
Scissors

Directions:

yarnball2

Step 1: Place a dot of glue in the middle of a Styrofoam ball.  Place the end of yarn in the middle of glue dot to secure and wrap the yarn around the Styrofoam ball several times through glue dot.

The beauty about working with yarn and Styrofoam is that the yarn “clings” to the Styrofoam texture, making it easy to wrap the yarn around the ball and not worry about the yarn slipping from place.

yarnball3

Step 2: Wrap yarn around Styrofoam ball several times in the same direction, then switch directions.  Keep wrapping yarn around  ball in alternating directions to get a “yarn ball” effect, as seen above.

yarnball4

Keep wrapping yarn around until Styrofoam no longer shows through.  Doesn’t that look pretty?

yarnball5

Step 3: When the ball is wrapped to your liking, place a dot of glue next to the most recently wrapped area of yarn.  Continue to wrap yarn over glue dot to secure yarn in place.

yarnball6

The yarn ball should look like this afterwards, the glue is covered by yarn wrapped over it.

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail for weaving in the end.

yarnball7

Step 4: Thread a needle with the yarn end and pass needle underneath several sections of wrapped yarn.  Repeat a few times to secure, then trim yarn end close to ball.

yarnball8

Step 5:  To make a hanger for the ornament, use a needle and thread a length of yarn underneath a section of wrapped yarn.  Tie ends into a knot at desired length and hide knot underneath wrapped yarn section.

yarnball10

Repeat for lots of yarn ball goodness to hang on your tree this year!  So much cuter than store-bought ornaments.

Follow: