Holiday Traditions Swap and Tutorial: Yarn Mini-Wreath

The kids and I participated in another swap this month - the Holiday Traditions swap. In addition to sharing about our family's tradition of "thinking small" in the kitchen for the holidays, Jillian and I made an ornament as part of our swap - this Yarn Mini-Wreath.

I wrote up some basic instructions that I sent along to Nike, but I bet this simple project can be pretty easily figured out by the pictures ... I do apologize for the pictures.  It was a rainy gray day here in Indiana the day I took them.

For our wreath base we used a recycled take-out plastic container lid.  You could also use cardboard.  Cut a hole in the center.  Wind your yarn into balls small enough to fit through the hole.

Wrap your yarn once around the wreath base and then tie it to secure.  Hold the tail along the wreath base and begin wrapping the yarn around (covering the tail so that it is wrapped up and covered)

Wrap and wrap and wrap ... this will probably take more yarn than you think.  Keep going until you have the whole wreath covered.

We gave Max some extra yarn and helped him to string some beads (we tied them in place) so he could make some garlands, too.  This was a little more catered to his ability as a three year old then the weaving in and out of the wreath making.  I think having some pretty garlands to match is a nice touch, don't you?  We wrapped around the coaster you see here to keep it from becoming too unwieldy for his little hands as it got longer and longer.

Back to the wreath - we add simple wooden beads in groups of threes to be our holly berries.  You could either sew them on or, do as we did, and string them on a length of yarn, slide them to the middle, and then wrap the tails of the yarn around your wreath.  Just be sure to weave in the ends securely so your beads don't go anywhere.

That's it!  Easy!