Art Yarn Wreath

I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to make some crafty wreaths. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years, because seasonal stuff brings me a lot of joy. With my new place, this seemed like the year to do it!

Working on Addie’s Hat, with the handspun single and flowers spun in, I thought “Huh, how much fun would it be to make a wreath out of this?” Of course, splurging on Knit Collage for a seasonal wreath is extravagant, even for me. I could spin my own thick and thin yarn, of course, but I wanted the winter wreath before spring got here.

Then, by pure happenstance, I discovered a new (to me, anyway) Lion Brand yarn at my local JoAnn’s: Spek-tacular. I’m a big Lion Brand fan, so even though it was commercially made, I knew it would have that same handspun quality I was looking for (this isn’t a sponsored post, but if Lion Brand wanted to sponsor me, I would not say no!). Not to mention, they had a color called “snow,” and it’s sparkly; practically begging to become a fabulous winter wreath.

I’ll walk through my process of how I made it, because truly it would work with any art yarn. I found a 2″ by 16″ wreath form at that same JoAnn’s. The circumference around the form was a little more than 4″. Negative ease allows you to stretch the fabric around the form, so I aimed for a width just below that. 9 stitches in this yarn on size 17 needles gave me ~3.75″ (with my gauge). Then I just knit in stockinette until my rectangle fit around the form (which for me, was exactly one ball!).

To seam, I used the mattress stitch. It’s a bit bulky, but nigh invisible once it’s all done. You go under a stitch or a stitch and a half on both sides, back and forth. The trick with this stitch is inserting the needle exactly back in where it came out on that side. It should look something like this:

When you have about ten total stitches, pull real tight. The stitches zip up, and your seam is almost invisible! However, you do want to find that sweet spot in you aren’t pulling tight all the time (which makes it harder to stitch consistently) or not pulling often enough (which makes it really hard to zip). Mine was the ten stitches, but find what works for you!

Finally, I decorated with a 70% off holiday floral add-in of snow-covered cotton. Here’s my sparkly, new wreath!

I’ve already made a Christmas Wreath, so my remaining seasons include Spring, Summer, Halloween, and Fall. I have a lot of fun ideas for these, so stay tuned for all the crafty, seasonal decor!