fuzzy friends
last weekend novi and i went to our local waldorf school’s spring faire, where many crafts were being made… mostly with wool, true to the waldorf spirit.
while i didn’t initiate these (nor did i take pictures of them being made – sorry) i wanted to share what we learned and created so that you may be able to do this, too. the theme was spring, and we made some little friends to hang out with this season.
first was the pipe cleaner and wool caterpillar. he’s a fuzzy cute guy made by bending a piece of pipe cleaner in half, and fashioning some antennae out of the top, like so:
then we wrapped colorful wool roving around and around his body until he was all covered in fuzz. i curled his antennae at the end so that the pipe cleaner wouldn’t be sharp, though some kids at the faire coated the antennae in felt all the way to the tip, as well.
next we made a furry bunny rabbit. this was done in the “make a pompom” fashion, which if you’re a knitter or crocheter, you probably already know how to do. the cool thing is that novi could do a lot of this on her own, as we were using very wide (about 1.5″) natural colored wool roving instead of thin yarn.
here’s how ya do it. sorry i didn’t take pictures of the process – it was sort of awkward to do so, as a kindergarten waldorf teacher was just sweetly whispering instructions to novi as she did this, oh-so-quietly and slowly, while taking breaks to run screaming like a wild banshee normal 3-year-old through the grass in between steps, and asking the teachers “why is everyone just whispering here?” anyway, here’s the how-to, but you can google “how to make a pompom” if you are visual (like me) and need to see pictures.
- cut two piece of cardboard into the shape of a doughnuts. the bigger the bunny, the bigger the doughnut. (ours were about 5″ in diameter with about a 2″ in diameter hole in the middle.)
- hold the two cardboard pieces together and wrap the yarn evenly around the doughnut in a circle, working around the cardboard until the hole is full, but don’t wrap too tightly or cutting will be hard to do. don’t worry if you happen to run out of yarn – just leave the ‘tail’ on the outside and start with a new length of yarn. (this is the part novi did with very little assistance. the rest is for the grown-ups.)
- once the wrapping is complete, use the scissors to cut along the edge of the doughnuts a few layers of yarn at a time until you reach the cardboard.
- pull the two cardboard pieces apart slightly, and using another piece of yarn, wrap it a few times along the middle and tie tightly.
- pull out the cardboard pieces or cut a slit through the cardboard pieces so that they can be pulled away easily.
- fluff up your little pompom bunny.
take a look at the figure and see which part could become the head. then tie a piece of white yarn around what would be the neck so that the head stands apart a little bit from the body. then you can gently pull two pieces of the wool roving up with your fingers to create bunny ears. and there you have your faceless waldorf bunny.
except that when we got home, novi said “where’s his face?!” so she opted to glue buttons on for eyes and a nose… “blue eyes just like mine!” as opposed the the usual red rabbit eyes.
i imagine we’ll be making a lot of little springy friends this season, using various methods, so stay tuned and your spring altars, seasonal tables, and easter baskets will be chocked full of sweet little handmade creatures!
