Today's Happenings

How To Make Mini Yarn Stars

Happy Saturday and happy Yarn Shop Day! It is a shame that we cannot have the shops open to celebrate, but it is so important that we keep social distancing. Also, if you need any wool, you can order some by clicking "contact us" on this website.

I don't know about you but whilst on walks, I have seen lots of rainbows in people's windows. Perhaps you have one in your window yourself? If not and if you are unable to go out, you can find loads online by searching "NHS rainbows in windows." I also decided to make my own rainbows with a difference: they are made of wool and lolly sticks. 

Here are the instructions for how to make your own.

You Will Need:

• 1m each of red, orange yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet
• Two lolly sticks
• Scissors
  
• A sewing up needle
  

Instructions

To start, tie a knot around one of the lolly sticks with the violet wool. Double knot it for extra security then trim the short end.

Then hold the stick with the knot vertically and put a second stick in the middle of it, leaving the loop at the top. After you have done that, wrap the wool round the stick on the right, turn the sticks anticlockwise then do it again. Do this until you have one loop on each part of the cross.

To fill the middle and secure it, loop diagonally between the two sticks a few times.

Then, go back to looping round as you were before until each stick has three or four loops. It should look something like this.

To change colour, tie the next colour around the first one.

 Then tie the short end of the new colour, which in this picture is on the left, to the first colour, which is on the right, and trim the two ends (but don't trim the end you are about to use!). Then continue to loop and change colours until you have done the last loop of the final colour, which should be no closer to the end of the sticks than 1cm.

​Once you have finished the loops, cut the ball off, leaving an end which is a similar length to the lolly stick. Thread this through the back of the star, where the knots from other colour changes should be, and double knot it. This is what the back should look like.

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And here is what the front should look like.

Variations

You may have noticed that in the first photo of the post, not all of the stars look the same. This is because I varied them in a range of ways. Here are just a few ideas of how to make it look a bit different.

• Reverse the order of the colours.
• Add extra lolly sticks
  
• Put the lolly sticks and different angles

There are lots of other things you can try as well - experiment and see what works!


If you can, display them in your window or post them on social media (don't forget to tag @avicraftwool on Instagram and FaceBook!). 

Hope you enjoyed this post and happy crafting!

Caiti