This is a great project for scrap yarns. You can use a variety of weights and colors. The heavier your yarn, the faster you’ll complete this project.
>Difficulty level: Intermediate
Time required: 3-4 hours
Age range: 12 and up
Things you’ll need:
6″ embroidery hoop
Tape
Yarn in a variety of colors
Scissors
Tapestry needle
Things to do:
1. Separate the two pieces of the embroidery hoop. Set aside the piece with the screw for now.
2. Tape a yarn tail to the outside edge of the hoop.
3. Begin crisscrossing the yarn across the hoop, making the space between the wraps as even as possible. As you wrap, pull tightly.
4. Continue wrapping until you have filled the entire hoop with wraps.
5. Cut the yarn near the edge of the embroidery hoop, then tape the tail in place.
6. Cut a long strand of yarn and thread it through the tapestry needle. Insert the needle from back to front through the wraps, leaving a long tail on the back for weaving in later.
7. Working only on the front wraps of the hoop, begin weaving the tapestry needle through the wraps, alternating over and under each wrap.
8. Pull the tapestry needle through the wraps, being careful not to pull the excess tail through.
9. Using the tapestry needle, push the woven yarn toward the middle of the wraps.
10. Continue weaving the yarn around the center. The weaving should alternate so that if the yarn went over a wrap in the previous round, it should now go under the wrap. This is a bit tricky at first since the center wraps are so close together, so just do the best you can.
11. Keep weaving until you have a few inches left in your strand of yarn. Thread the embroidery needle through the back, leaving a long tail that you’ll weave in later.
12. Cut a second strand of yarn, then thread it through the tapestry needle. Insert the tapestry needle from back to front through the weaving, leaving a long tail for weaving in later.
13. This time, instead of moving around in a circle, if you’d like you can work in small sections. We started this purple strand with just a couple of wraps, then slowly picked up wraps on each side as we progressed toward the edge of the hoop.
14. Continue weaving different colors, working either around the hoop or in small sections like we did here.
15. Weave until you have filled as much of the hoop as you’d like. We left some space around the outside edge of our weaving.
16. Flip the weaving over to the wrong side where all the yarn tails are. Using the tapestry needle, weave the tails into the wraps on the back of the hoop to secure them. Trim the tails, if necessary.
