Yarn Creature

This adorable creature takes almost no skill to create - just a bit of patience. And as an added bonus, the materials are cheap and usually easy to find. If you knit, crochet, or craft, you might already have most of them laying around.

These are cute to hang up - Or, if setting them flat, they make great places to hide things inside!

- Yarn (The amount you need depends on how long or thick you make the hair)

- a small wire mesh trash can (I found mine in a dollar store)

- scissors

- Eyes (you can absolutely use googly eyes for this, and I had intended to until I found these eyes made for a jack-o-lantern - they even light up!)

- Glue gun, or other glue that will stick your eyes onto your trash can

The first step is to cut your yarn into 6 inch pieces.

The easiest way to do this is to wrap it around a rectangle of cardboard. --

You want the short side of the rectangle to measure 3 inches. The longer side of the rectangle should measure 8-12 inches.

Starting at one end, carefully wrap the yarn around the cardboard. Don't pull the yarn tightly, or the yarn will be shorter once cut. Try not to overlap while wrapping, but you can bunch the yarn down as needed.

Cut the yarn down one edge of the rectangle.

Turn your trash can upside-down. Starting at the rim (now at the bottom), take 3 pieces of yarn and thread them in 1 hole, and pull them out through the hole next to it. Tie them in a knot, and pull them tight. Your knot will set on the side corners of the diamonds (marked with stars in picture). If you need help getting the yarn through the holes, you can use a crochet hook or a latch hook.

I used 2 pieces of the colored yarn, and 1 piece of black yarn for each hole.

It's easiest to work in layers. Start with the bottom, and work your way up - completing a full ring around the trash can before moving to the next.

*help from cat optional

This does take awhile to finish adding all the yarn. But it's sort of therapeutic. And getting to pet the fluffy yarn monster as it's starting to form is pretty great.

As you start getting to the top, it's time to figure out where you want your eyes placed. Stop on the row you want under the bottom of your eyes.

Once I was ready to attach the eyes, I marked where I wanted them by just threading a piece of yarn in the area. You can also use a silver marker or something else that will show up (but not transfer onto the yarn)

I wanted the eyes to blend in with the yarn, so I glued some shorter pieces around the sides. If you're going to put your eyes as close together as I did mine, I would add less yarn to the inner sides of the eyes - otherwise it bunches up and gets in the way of the eyes.

Glue the eyes together with plenty of glue, but be careful not to drip it down the yarn. If using eyes that light up, make sure that you can reach the little switches by keeping them accessible through one of the holes.

Now, you should just have a little more yarn to add. Make sure to get the holes close to the eyes!

I didn't put yarn on the top of my little creature because I was going to put him on a higher shelf - but I might go back and add it to make his head.... poofier.

I want to make an army of these little guys, and add different things to them. Bow ties, hats, flowers ...