Fleece Heart Wreath How-to

Valentine's Day will soon be here.  We will celebrate this day with a Valentine's Day Banquet at our church.  The decorations will be done by the women and the food will be prepared by the men.  We are looking forward to it since we didn't get to attend last year.  In preparation for decorating the fellowship hall, I created a heart wreath.  Not sure if it will be used in the "official" decorations or not, but I absolutely love how it turned out.  If you want to try one of your own, here are the simple steps I took.

Supplies:
* small amount of pink fleece, cut in strips.  My strips were 1 inch by 4 inches.  Make sure you make the 1-inch cuts on the width of the fabric.

* wire coat hanger
* wire-edged gold ribbon.  Mine is 1/4 inch wide ribbon from the dollar store.

**Bend the hanger into a basic heart shape with the hook at the top.  It's not as difficult as it sounds.
**Start tying the strips around the hanger.  You don't need to knot it.

*Continue tying your way around the hanger until you are back at the hook.  Leave some room to maneuver the gold ribbon around the hook.

*Once the hook is completely wrapped (I used about 1 yard of ribbon), you can either hot glue it in place or just start tying fleece pieces over the ends.  I skipped the hot glue gun this round.

*Fluff up your fleece and hang it on the wall!  I decided to make 3 "curls" of ribbon to hang down into the center, but that is totally up to you.

What do you think?  Let me see if you try it yourself.

 Also, today is the day our country observes Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.  Please remind those around you that are younger what an important man Dr. King was to the civil rights movement of our country.  Two movies that I always watched with my children at this time of year were,  Selma, Lord, Selma and Ruby Bridges.  Both are well-done films that tell the story from a child's perspective. Have a God-blessed day.

Fiber Necklace How-To

I have been seeing these one-of-a-kind necklaces everywhere. (Fibernecklaces.com   dollarstorecrafts.com)  High-end, low-end..... and I thought about trying it myself a few times.  It wasn't until my sister, Ammi, gave me a bag of yarn scraps that I wasn't quite sure how I would use, that I finally had the chance to give it a try.

Supplies/materials

• crochet hook (I used a size G)
• at least 2 different yarns, contrasting or complimentary colors...it's up to you! Make sure the yarns are of different weights and texture
• optional: ribbon, lace, fabric....
• optional: a brooch, flower to accent the necklace

Here is what I came up with...the length and number of strands is totally random.  I just used as much yarn as I had.  On average though, the longest strands are about 200 stitches and the shortest about 140.  The length of the other stands is in between those 2 lengths.  I kind of stopped counting after a while.

Each strand is a simple crocheted chain.  As you get each chain to the length you want, just slip-stitch the ends together to make a loop.  DO NOT FASTEN OFF YOUR YARN. 

Keep crocheting a chain...this will become your next strand.  Keep doing this; slip-stitching chains together and adding a new chain until you have as many strands as you want or you run out of yarn.  On this one, I ran out of the nubby yarn, but kept going with a similar colored yarn and got different kinds of strands in the same necklace.




When you have slip-stitched the last strand together to make a loop, you will have several loops all joined in the same place.  There are a couple of ways to finish.  You can now attach a fabric/felt/crocheted flower to this spot permanently.  You could also just leave it as is and attach a brooch at this spot every time you wear it.  I finished this one off by repeatedly wrapping the ends of yarn around and then weaving in the ends.

I wore this one to Ruth's Room yesterday and got lots of compliments.

Both of my daughter's now want one.  These are very quick to make...I made one while watching Biggest Loser one night and one while watching Ax Men another night.  And I stopped to eat a bowl of ice cream! 

This would also be a great project for a beginner as the only stitches involved are a chain and slip-stitch.  If you have never tried crochet, I urge you to give this project a try.  It doesn't matter if your stitches aren't perfect because the different weights and textures of the yarn are very forgiving. 

I made this one today.

If you do try this...let me know...I'd love to see what you come up with!