Knitter's Ornament

Technique Used: General Crafting

Materials:
styrofoam Ball approx 2" to 3" in size
knitting Yarn
bamboo Skewers
small Wooden Beads
PVA glue

Tools:
Scissors

Using scissors trim the bamboo skewers to about 6" in length making sure you trim the blunt end and keep the sharp, pointed end intact.

Insert the skewer about an inch into the ball and remove. Take the end of the yarn and make a loop about two inches long, then catch the loose ends of the loop on the pointed end of the skewer and push back into the hole that you made. This secures the start of the wool invisibly without the need for glue or pins and creates the hanging loop. Push the skewer all the way through so that it resembles a knitting needle pushed through a ball of yarn.

Wind yarn around the styrofoam ball so that it is 100% covered and you can no longer see any of the ball, this will take several rotations all the way around. When you are satisified that there is enough yarn wound around the ball cut the yarn and once again catch the loose end on the sharp tip of the bamboo skewer and push it all the way through the ball, inserting the second knitting needle and securely ending the yarn.

Glue wooden beads on the blunt ends of the bamboo skewers so they better resemble knitting needles.

Grandma's Buttons

Technique Used: Basic Crafting Skills


You will need:
An old lightbulb
Variety of small buttons
Tacky Glue
Braid or ribbon

I have a huge jar of buttons that was started by my Grandma, and then passed along to my Mother, who in turn passed them along to me. A glorious collection of colours and textures, most taken from old clothes before they were turned into rags. I had been mulling around ideas in my head on how to use old lightbulbs, and this is what I came up with:

I followed this step by step tutorial on how to hollow out a lightbulb. I used a candelabra style globe, but a regular round globe would work also.

Once it was hollowed out and cleaned I went through my button collection searching for any that were a pink, beige or cream colour and small enough to fit through the top of the lightbulb. Once it was sufficiently full I glued a dusky pink braid around the screw fixture of the bulb using Tacky Glue.

The hanging part was my son's clever invention. Taking a thin piece of cord I threaded it through the holes of a button and tied the ends together, and then glued the button to the top of the lightbulb.