Yarn Wrapped Candy Cane Ornament

Time for another quick ornament. 

Have you been keeping up?

This one starts with a piece of heavy wire.

I use rebar wire from the fencing section of home improvement stores.

You can also use an old wire hanger.

Cut the wire and bend it into a candy cane shape.

Then I used hot glue to glue the end of some heavy red and white yarn I had.

Then I wrapped it continually around the wire, gluing every so often.

When I got the whole thing covered, I  glued the end to the candy cane.  

Once the glue was dry, I trim the end with scissors.

I make a mixture of hot water, coffee and ground cinnamon.

 I soak the ornaments in it for about 30 minutes.

  I remove them and hang them over a drying rack in my garage until they are dry.

Now they are ready for the tree or a package.

Thanks for stopping by...

Sweet Button Snowman Ornament

Time for a quick ornament.

You need 

some white buttons

 glue

 heavy yarn

scissors

 and a Christmas hook.

Glue your buttons together.

Tie a piece of yarn on for the scarf.

Slip a hook in one of the button holes.

Done!

Does it get any easier than that?

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Linking up with these great blogs.

Arm Knitting Infinity Scarves

Ok, so I have been known to get a bit obsessed when I learn to do something new.

I fall in love with the process or the finished product and go a little crazy for a while.

I must say...

Arm knitting recently became one of those obsessions.

Have you seen it?

They look wondrously complicated.

They are NOT....

I bought a scarf that I loved in December.

I had heard of arm knitting but had not seen it.

About a week after I bought it, I saw a cool wreath on Hometalk where she finger knitted to cover a wreath form....

While I was watching the video for the finger knitting, I noticed one in the side bar for arm knitting.

Which led to a new Pinterest board....

And two days of watching the videos.

And then a yarn run....

And then a night of trying it out.

I had trouble casting on for the longest time.

Then I made three the first night and ripped them all back out and started over.

So after 5 days I had no scarves.

The next night I made 3.

And so it began.

I love that you can really change the look by doubling/tripling the wraps.

As you can see here.

I like that people can wear them however it suits them best.

Long.

Or short and cozy.

I also love how using different yarns gives you an entirely different look.

These are all arm knitted using the same method.

I have big hands and wrists so my loops are big. 

I cannot make them small.

But I have seen others that are much smaller.

I do different lengths.

Sometimes this is on purpose.

Sometimes it is because that is how much yarn the skeins have.

I learned that 5 or 6 weight yarns work the best.

The yardage per skein varies so check that when you are buying your yarn.

For most, I double the yarn.

You can make a scarf with only one skein but you need to double it.

That seems like a lot of work to me, so I just buy doubles of each color/kind of yarn.

Makes the doubling easier.

I don't have to unwind the whole ball that way.

Lion brand has a great Wool-Ease Thick and Quick yarn that I learned on for these.

They have so many colors.

I love the cozy wool.

It is a blend so it is not scratchy.

There are also acrylic blends which are much softer.

And sometimes offer even more color choices.

Pattons also makes this neat Cobbles yarn.

I do not double this one. 

 It is so thick, you don't even need to.

Some of the yarns are mixed within the skein...

Love that!

I did mention the word obsessed, right?

I think you may be starting to see what I mean...

This next one was an experiment with some funky yarn remnants.

It is very quirky.

It reminds me of being stuck in a snow flurry...

I have kept a couple of different colors and styles for myself.

And I sold a couple dozen locally before Christmas.

I will be adding several of these to my Etsy shop soon.

I find it super relaxing and fun.

It is a great diet exercise.

While I am watching TV, my hands are busy so no mindless snacking....

I am off to make a few more colors...

Thanks for stopping by....

Linking up with these great blogs...