Sunday, May 6, 2012

Yarn Covered Spheres


OK, I know that the using spheres in the title is a bit odd, but I just couldn't type yarn covered balls without giggling to myself (yes, it's true, inside I am a 8 year old boy :-D).


With that out of the way, onto the tut.

1.  Gather your materials.  Yarn, styrofoam balls, glue and not pictured-pins and a a brush. Tacky Glue is pictured but after wrapping two balls, I ended up using regular Elmer's Glue. It was less sticky.

2.  Use a pin to attach one end of a piece of yarn to the ball.

3.  Brush glue on the top of the ball.  I painted the glue about a inch or so at a time, all the way around the ball.

4.  Start wrapping the yarn.

5.  For a ball all the same color, skip to step 7.  For a ball with more than one color, when you get to the spot you want to transition, pin the starting color to the ball.

6.  To start the next color, pin the end of the new color on top of the end of the previous color.

7.  When working on the other side, keep wrapping, holding the uncovered end up and use your fingers to keep the yarn touching. This is where things can get a bit sticky so you may want to keep a damp paper towel to wipe off the glue.

8. Cut and pin the end of the yarn. Once you get to the end, snip the yarn so you have just a tiny tail and then pin the end down.

9.  You are done!

10.  Repeat over a dozen more times.

11. Display in your container & enjoy!

I think it looks pretty nice in our foyer.  It really picks up the blues and greens in the framed map.


I do have to share something weird that happened to me when I did this project.  Apparently, I am allergic to the yarns I selected (all the same brand).  What makes me thinks so? That evening, my hands started to itch and it just got worse from there. I ended up with hives from head to toe the next day.  Thank goodness for Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream.  I think it may have been some chemical used to treat the fibers since I know I am not allergic to acrylic.  So if you end up itchy after making some yarn covered balls for yourself, you will know what to do.

Check out the places I party.

5 comments:

  1. I love that you used yarn and I love the way your wrapped it! I've covered styrafoam balls with yarn before but really just kind of wrapped them up with no rhyme or reason to it. I'll have to try it your way sometime. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I like the symmetry of these. And the ones with the stripe in the middle remind me of striped pool balls.

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  2. These came out so cute. The funny part for me about the "sphere" is that Riley (age 2) has a fascination with calling a ball a sphere because of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I can't even begin to explain the things she learns from the show. Thanks so much for sharing at Whimsy Wednesdays!

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    1. Thanks! I get what you mean about learning from MMC, I remember learning my first spanish word from Sesame Street and how I loved School House Rock!

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  3. What a great and simple idea! Thanks for sharing & Thanks for linking up to last weeks party! I have another one up and running today. Looking forward to seeing what you have to share.

    http://lovingthiscrazylife-melissa.blogspot.com/2012/05/welcome-to-katie-from-quality-cheap.html

    Hope you're having a great week!

    XO, Melissa

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