You may not be able to “walk the dog” or go “around the world” with these yo-yos, but you can make a variety of interesting and easy home decor items.
Many of you are probably familiar with yo-yos – those puffy little fabric circles used to create quilts, placemats, doilies and so on – and we plan to feature them in a future Craft Corner column.
This week, however, we focus on a variation of the yo-yo theme: using yarn scraps and plastic canvas to make a table runner and hot pad/table protector.
We found our inspiration for this week’s column in “Fun With Fibers,” a publication of Design Originals/Can-Do Crafts (No. 5163), and an idea by Pattie Donham.
Donham cut small circles out of plastic, wrapped them with threads and other fibers, and created yo-yo belts.
We improvised a bit and came up with an idea for making our table runner and hot pad using pre-cut plastic canvas circles and hexagons and scraps of yarn left over from previous projects.
To make our table runner, we purchased pre-cut plastic canvas circles and cut out a hole in the center of each circle. You can cut the circles down to make them smaller, but remember: the smaller you make the circles – and the hole in the middle – the harder it is to wrap the yarn.
We left the circles the original size (3 inches) and cut a 1-inch hole in the center, and decided to use 11 circles lengthwise and three circles widthwise.
Next, using a variety of our favorite leftover yarns, we wrapped each plastic circle as shown in the how-to photo illustration.
Begin wrapping by holding about an inch of yarn at the end under your thumb, then wrapping yarn around the end to hold it in place. Continue wrapping around the circle until the plastic is completely covered.
To end off when finished wrapping, either run the end of the yarn under the wrapped yarn several times, or, if you plan to machine wash the table runner (possible, but not recommended), tie it off securely on the back side.
Repeat the process to make all the circles you need to complete your piece, and join them together with a few overlapping stitches using a heavy needle and several thicknesses of thread.
For our hexagon yo-yo hot pad, follow the same procedure of cutting the plastic and wrapping the yarn.
When your yo-yos are completed, join them together by using a heavy needle and several thicknesses of thread to hand-stitch each piece together along the sides to form the pattern shown.
Again, if you plan to wash the table runner or hot pad – and part of the beauty of this technique is that the pieces are washable – be sure to tie off the ending yarn, rather than simply securing it by running under the wrapped yarn.
Also, it’s probably a very good idea to either hand-wash the piece, or put it in a mesh hosiery bag in the machine. Machine drying is not recommended.
And one final thought: Don’t be locked into making a table runner or hot pad. You can use the same technique to make smaller items, such as coasters, or larger items. After seeing our table runner completed, we decided to add a few more rows of yo-yos, a bit of fringe at the bottom, and make an unusual window shade for a small window in our home.
Notes: Pre-cut plastic canvas comes in a variety of sizes, shapes and pieces per package. They’ll cost you anywhere from 99 cents to $2 per package, depending on style and size.
Plastic canvas sheets come in small (roughly 8 by 10 inches) or large (approximately 12 by 18) sheets, and cost between 59 cents and $2 per sheet.
You can also use sheets of plastic canvas cut into the shapes you desire for this project. The finished product will be about the same, but the rough edges (from cutting out the shapes) are a bit harder on the yarn while wrapping.
Yarn prices, if you are buying new skeins and not using scraps, range from $2 (basic yarn) to $10 (exotics) per skein. There are lots of wonderful new yarns out there, but the more wonderful they are, the more they cost.
You can probably finish a hot pad the size of our sample with one skein of yarn we had about half a skein left over from each color; but a table runner will take more.
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