Back in November, I began following a new blog after seeing it mentioned on two other blogs that I follow. I was very inspired and impressed by
Tatertots and Jello and more so, by Jen's creative spirit. She definitely possesses a talent within and when her love for that talent collides with her creative mind and spirit, she designs lovely things... lots of different lovely things!
Her creative spirit is as obvious as my lack of creative spirit. She sees things before designing them where I don't see anything until it is already designed! :)
With that said, she posted a holiday project designed by someone else on her blog, and after seeing it, I decided to give it a try. I was inspired and excited!
You see, 5 years ago this Christmas, we came home for Christmas and I taught Mrs. Jane, my mother-in-law, to knit. Knitting was all the buzz in North Dakota and everyone was knitting. We were teaching girls to knit while at recess, as well as in after-school. Knitting was contagious.
Approximately 50% of the ladies I taught with/worked with at Custer Elementary were knit-wits. :)
I loved it and was quite impressed with my ability to do something so crafty... to take a skein of yarn and create a scarf or dish cloth was pretty cool. It was addicting and I enjoyed it very much. With no children, lots of travel time when camping, and then time while we were camping, in addition to the 24-hour drives to Tennessee, I got in lots of knitting time. I specifically remember the trip to Glacier, Montana when I knitted a total of six dish cloths the entire trip.
Unfortunately, time for knitting no longer exists. And even if I do have a little bit of time, sitting and knitting is not something that sounds fun to me... I hope the desire will return in the years to come. On the flip side, Mrs. Jane is still a knit-wit. She is a member of a prayer group that meets on Wednesday nights at her church and they spend time together knitting prayer shawls for various ones in need. She has knitted, I dare to say, more than 100+ dishcloths, and possibly as many different types and styles of scarves in the past 5 years, in addition to the prayer shawls and scarves, she has knitted toboggans, multiple lap blankets for Granny, afghans, and other things, I am sure. She is very talented, and I am happy that she finds joy in knitting. And I am thankful to Amy Flicek and Nikki Huber for so PATIENTLY teaching me to knit... it is tough to pick up, but is kind of like riding a bicycle in that you can pick it up at any point in time and go right back to it.
Back to the creative project... the project that I discovered on Tatertots and Jello was a holiday yarn ball wreath. When I saw it, my face lit up with a smile and I was inspired... I was going to make this wreath for Mrs. Jane. We had spent two weeks with her and Mr. Richard and thought it would be a nice little thank you with a personal flare. She loved it and it looks really nice hanging in her hallway. My inspiration came from
this posting. Isn't it lovely?! I think so. I decided to give it a go, and I wasn't disappointed. I did, however, use a different selection of yarn with regard to the colors. Below you can see my creation unfold.
I started with an 18 inch wire wreath form, purchased at Hobby Lobby.
The yarn balls were made out of smooth-finished styrofoam balls, also purchased at Hobby Lobby, covered in various yarns. I used 1 inch, 2 inch balls, 2 1/2 inch balls, and 3 inch balls. I liked the look of the various sizes. It took many more styrofoam balls than I expected and I believe it is because I incorporated the 1 inch smaller balls, but I really liked those little rascals.
I included yarns that complimented Mrs. Jane's style and "Christmas story" found throughout her house.
I chose a thin silver with a small sparkle, a shiny and flat mix yarn in a muted red, a thin white with a sparkle, a bulkier muted red/pine green mix, and then a bulkier muted pine green with a gold fleck.
They complimented one another very well and I was very pleased with how they all fit together; much better than I expected. I purchased the yarn at both Hobby Lobby and Joann's.
And then the "sparkle" of the wreath. I purchased this ornament combo-box of small ornaments at Target, and they were perfect! I used all of them except for those with a shiny finish as they just didn't match the overall style of the yarn.
And two other important supplies that I used were hot glue (lots of it) and toothpicks to hold the yarn in the styrofoam ball.
And the fun begins... the night before I started, I sat and yarned approximately 10 balls in all different sizes and colors, completely covering the styrofoam ball. I held the yarn in place with a toothpick. The next morning, I got busy. I immediately realized that pre-yarned balls weren't the key. I had to yarn them as I needed them, and although it was more time consuming, it was the only way to make it work, and much of the way, it was a guess-and-check process. All of the yarn balls and ornaments were attached to the wreath form with hot glue.
This picture shows the first ten minutes... at this point, I realized it was time to yarn as I go. I was feeling good about it at this point, and Russ was quite impressed! :) I hung it from the pulls on my cabinet doors as it was important to "see" it while adding the balls. (And yes, those are Emmitt's socks covering the pulls so not to scratch them or the cabinet doors; they were the first thing I found when I turned around, and they worked well.)
Half-way done...
An up-close of the combined yarns with a few ornaments...
Almost there... and this was the most difficult piece. In order to complete it, I had to have just the right size balls and just the right colors... it was a challenge, but I figured it out.
Emmitt got in on the yarning, too! :)
And the final product... here it is hanging on her wall. She was very excited as was I. I gained a little piece of confidence. It certainly doesn't come natural to me, however I learned a lot while enjoying a new adventure. I suppose I will be looking for another inspiration. Time will tell.
And here is a picture of it hanging on my front door knob... I decided to post this because I took it at eye-level and it is easier to see without the shadow, although the background isn't so great.
And in closing, I would like to add that Lawson was so excited about this wreath. He helped me shop at both Joann's and Hobby Lobby, and stayed right with me as I was working. He was so excited to give it to his "Munnar". When we arrived for the Thanksgiving holiday and gave it to her, he prefaced it with "surprise!"... he was very excited about it!
Lastly, thank you Mrs. Jane for taking care of us over the two-week time period. I hope you will enjoy your wreath in the coming years and may knitting continue to bring you enjoyment. See you at Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
