Snowmen

A semi-non-knitting project, for a change.

At the crafting store and a little bit of inspiration hit. Originally, I was going to put each of these inside of the clear plastic ornaments... and make them into mini-snowballs ... but the bottom bead is too big to fit. I might re-try again with smaller beads... but these turned out pretty adorable as they are, don't you think?

Here's a close up, they are about 2" x 3/4":

I could probably use a little practice with the glue gun, but eh, clear glue & white snowmen. I'm good with this as my first try.

Supplies needed:
3/4" bead
1/2" bead
1/4" bead
sparkly and/or white pipecleaners
1-2 yards of sparkly yarn
Glue gun

Optional:
Heart-shaped bead, or what-ever type of bead you'd like them to hold

Here are the steps I used to make these.

FWIW - Steps 1 & 2 can be skipped if you can find white beads (sadly, I couldn't)
1. I created a jig by putting nails through the bottom of the box - pointing inward into the box, then using wrap so that paint wouldn't stick to the box
2. Spray-paint the beads white (I used 3 coats)

3. hot glue the beads
a. ensure that the hole for the biggest bead is vertical, and the top hidden by the middle bead
b. ensure that the hole for the middle bead runs horizontal (arms will go through it
c. ensure that the hole for the top bead is vertical, and the bottom of it is hidden by the middle bead... and the top can be hidden by the hat

4. I folded each pipe cleaner twice (made them the length I wanted and the thickness to hold well into the middle bead) - and push them through the middle bead & shape them into the position you'd like

5. Hot glue the heart (or other bead you'd like them to hold) to one arm

6. I crocheted an itty-bitty scarf & tie it around the neck of the snowman
Scarf pattern:
a. Chain 20 sts
(no really, that's it - other than the cut yarn & weave through the ends bit)

7. I knit a tiny hat & hot glued it to his head
Hat pattern:
CO 10 stitches (leave a 4-6" tail)
Using double points, I joined in the round & knit two rows
K2tog 5 times
Using double points, I switched to I-cord knitting  & knit two rows.
Cut yarn 4-6" away, and run through all live stitches & pull tight
Take the yarn from the tail and weave it through the inside of a couple of stitches - heading towards the top of the hat....
Tie the ends of the two yarn ends to use them for helping hang it to the tree

8. Took a black & orange fine point sharpies and drew in the face & belly buttons

Snowmen on parade

So, the angel has been shown before.

As has the red-hatted snowman.

And the mochimochi snowman on the far right.

But this is the first time you've seen the other seven snowmen.

I made all of the white bodies, first - and started skipping a few rows and a few increases to get them just a hair smaller. It took about 30 minutes-ish each to make the bodies. I used the-yarn-that-is-not-to-be-named that had a little sparkle in it... and stuffed it with some wool fiber that I'm working at eliminating out of the house to try to remove some of the allergens in my home.

The hats were made in about 15 minutes each yesterday. The scarves were converted to Icords and took about 10 minutes each.

Then it took me a little under an hour to seam the bits together, tack down the scarves and add french knot eyes.

These turned out pretty cute, were fast and easy to make and I love them. I might had made more angels, but "a" didn't like it as well as the snowmen and since most of these are going to school to be gifts for his teachers, I figured he could dictate it. He's getting the mochimochi snowman for his ornament this year. That leaves an angel which will probably go to future daughter-in-law and three snowmen for myself, my eldest and my new grandson.

Woot! One more set of Christmas knitting OFF THE NEEDLES!

Which leaves  me with a hat and a scarf for Christmas knitting. I can deal with that and not feel overwhelmed.