Snowball Garland
Designed and made by Stephanie Flynn Sokolov
Make snowballs without freezing your hands! Then hang them all over your house for winter décor. Pom-pom snowballs will never melt and the whole family will enjoy making these garlands.
I spun low-twist yarn from wool and glittery Stellina. Some of that yarn became sparkly fluffy pom-poms—the yarn untwists as it’s handled for extra floof. The remaining yarn was twisted into rope with gold and silver sewing thread. (You can substitute commercial yarns if you don’t want to spin.) Then I tied pom-poms onto the rope for a festive garland. No matter where you live, you can enjoy some snow that you’ll never have to shovel!
What You'll Need
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about 4 oz of Brown Sheep Company white roving (2.2 ounces for pom-poms, 1.6 ounces for rope)
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less than 1 gram of Stellina in silver and gold
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gold and silver sewing thread, 14 yards of each color
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strong white sewing thread or fine yarn to tie pom-poms—I used white upholstery thread
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The roving and Stellina made about 145 yards of yarn at 8 to 9 wraps per inch (worsted/Aran weight). If you substitute commercial yarn, look for something with low twist and high sparkle. Any yarn weight will work, though you will need more yardage for skinnier yarns.
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spinning wheel or drop spindle—I used a Schacht Cherry Ladybug
- 72 psi hand carders, any size
- The Incredible Rope Machine
- Clover Pom-Pom Makers—I used 1-3/8" and 1-5/8" sizes
- sharp scissors or X-acto knife
Materials
Equipment
Directions
Spin the Yarn
Card the Stellina and white roving together on hand carders. Spin the blended fiber with a soft lofty twist. I spun a big yarn with 2 twists per inch and 8 to 9 wraps per inch, somewhere in the worsted/Aran range. If you spin on a wheel, get out your biggest whorl and set up on the largest groove. There’s just enough twist in this yarn to hold the fibers together.
Don’t set the twist on this yarn—the low twist makes a very fluffy pom-pom. You don’t even have to take the handspun off the bobbin for this project!
Make the Pom-Poms
Follow the directions for your pom-pom makers to make 8 large and 11 small snowballs. Tie each pom-pom with strong white thread and leave long tails for tying on to the rope.
Make the Rope
Use The Incredible Rope Machine to make a 6-foot rope with yarn, silver thread, and gold thread.
Set up a work space with 8 feet between the Rope Machine and the separator.
Tie the yarn, one thread of silver, and one thread of gold to the right hook on the Rope Machine. Loop all these strands around peg A of the separator.
Bring the strands back to the Rope Machine and wrap around its middle hook.
Bring the strands back to the separator and wrap around peg B.
Bring the yarn and threads back to the Rope Machine and tie around the left hook.
NOTE: In the video and the manual for the Rope Machine, you’ll see a different configuration for setting up the strands. I skipped the final step because I wanted to reduce the bulk of the rope without having to spin a lighter weight yarn.
Finish the Garland
Arrange the pom-poms however you like. Alternate big and little snowballs or create a random arrangement. Measure even distances or vary them between each snowball.
Tie the pom-poms to the rope: make a square knot with the long tails that hold the pom-poms together, then trim the ends. Hang the garland where its sparkly threads will catch the light.
