Yarn Mini Hats

You can make these cute little ski hat ornaments with some

cardboard and yarn.

This is an easy project for children over 5 (but they may get bored) Have parent / adult cut the strings.

Cardboard tube- I like to use old paper towel tubes or tp

tubes and cute them down to .5 or .75 inch length.

Yarn- 8 to 10 yards- 1 to 4 colors (find diameter of tube in mm and figure about one third to one half that many strips of yarn needed) For example- I used 42 strings on each of the pictured hats- 7 sets of 3 strings per color stripe, so 21 of each color and my tube was 140mm around.

Tissue paper

Cut yarn into lengths of 10 to 12 inches long. if its is too short then it gets difficult for the finishing steps. It's easier to cut more off at the end than to tie off too short strings.

-for cut length estimation- take your tube height times about 18 and round up to nearest whole #. If you use a wider tube you need more & longer yarn. If you decide to cover a tube from a roll of duct tape it will use a lot more yarn than the TP tube. Test a few strings before cutting 40+.

Prep tube- if your yarn is thin or pale you may want to wrap the cardboard with a base coat of paper to match the yarn color.

Start stringing- take a piece of yarn, fold in half, pull through tube and tuck tails thru loop, pull tight. This is called a lark’s head knot. Make sure you add the yarn the same way for a nice even finish on the tube edge. If using multiple colors, you can plan for stripes- do several strings, then switch colors as desired. Continue stringing until the whole tube is wrapped. Push strings together as you work to fill the tube nicely.

Once the tube is all covered, you’ll push the yarn back through to form the brim and hat. Twist the strings together and push through the tube. Straighten up the strings and tie off a bit above the top edge of the brim (about an inch or so to give a nice hat shape). I suggest double knotting on one side & then again on the other side. Roll a small ball of tissue paper and tuck inside hat to help the hat keep its shape.

Trim end if strings above the tie knot. Try to form a nice pompom shape.

You can keep the tie off string long and knot the ends for a hang loop or use a different string (tie around the top knot / below the pompom).

These fit nicely on Barbie & Ken type dolls and wine / liquor bottles.