Mini Yarn Unicorn (or Horse)

This Instructable will cover how to make a cute mini yarn horses.

• Yarn
• Embroidery floss
• Needle
• Felt
• Thread
• Googly eyes
• Pipe cleaners (at least 3)
• Cardstock
• Glue

Optional:

Rubber bands

• Wrap some light weight or thing yarn around a piece of cardstock (3 x 4.5 inches) about 25 times.
• Bend and cut a pipe cleaner sized fore the yarn loops (see image above)
• Save the little extra piece of pipe cleaner (we can use it to make the horn)

• Remove the yarn loops from the cardstock
• Twist a little less than half of the pipe cleaner around itself
• Take the twisted end and place it inside and between one of the ends of the yarn loops (see third image above)

• NOTE: Halfway through this, I realized my yard broke off easily so I switched to embroidery floss for the knots (you will see this with the legs)

• Tie a knot close to the end of the loops with a little embroidery floss
  • Take care to also hold the pipe cleaner with the knot
• Tie a second knot to form the rest of the head
• Cut the opposite end of the loops (the ones that are far from the knots
  • This will form the legs later
• Bend the pipe cleaner and yarn just under the second knot to shape the neck

Set the head and front of the body aside for now

• Wrap about 25 loops of the same yard around the same piece of cardstock
• Slide a piece of yarn (or embroidery floss) through the loops and tie a knot
  • This will be the horses' chest

• Cut the loops at the opposite end of the knot
• Separate the strands into to pieces
• Cut a pipe cleaner the size of the strands on yarn and bend in half (see third image)
• Place the middle of the pipe cleaner agains the the middle of the yarn strands

• Take the stands we just formed and wrap them around the front of the body under the head
• Tie a knot around the body as close to the front of the body as possible (see second image above)
• Tie a second knot away from head, this will form the horses hindquarters

The yarn strands were getting in the way so I used a rubber band to hold them together and out of the way

• Separate them back legs
  • Make sure each bundle has a pipe cleaner end wrapped up in yard
  • Tie a knot about half way down
• Repeat on the front legs
• Tie a second knot on each of the legs. This should be lower than the first one
• Trip the excess yarn

• Wrap a few loops of embroidery floss on the short side of the cardstock
• Pass a piece of floss between the loops and cardstock and tie together
• Remove loops from the cardstock
• Cut the loops
• Trim the excess string from the knot holding everything together

• Take apiece of floss about 6 inches in length and separate it into its 6 threads
• Thread a needle with one of the strands
• Place the mane on the horse's head
• Sew in place

• Take embroidery floss and loop it around two fingers a few times
• Remove the loops from your fingers and secure the loops together with a piece of the separated floss strands from earlier
• Cut the loops at the opposite side of the tied segment

• Trim the excess floss holding the tail together
• Thread a needle with a single strand of the separated floss
• Place the tail on the horse
• Sew in place

• Cut two little tall triangles out of felt for ears

• Place two tiny drops of glue on the horse where the eyes should be
• Gently place the eyes in the glue
• Add a little glue to the bottom of the ears and glue in place

That's it, make as many little horses and you'd like. If you want to make a unicorn, follow the next step.

• Take 2 pipe cleaners of different colors and twist them together.
  • Use two new ones or you can use the little left over piece from earlier and a new one
• Cut to size, leaving a little extra to insert into the head
• Insert the horn into the head
  • If you want it to be more permanent, twist the base of the horn together and glue in place

• Since this is the first time I have made these, I would love to see your version and see how you improve on it.