Adrift Wall Hanging

Super textured art yarns are perfect for displaying as wall hangings, and you can find lots of inspiration for wall weavings on Pinterest. Here is a very simple wall hanging that I made with remnants of art yarns and yarns that were too bulky to use in knit or crochet. 

MATERIALS:

• A tree branch (mine is about 3 feet long)
• 2 Yards of Sari Silk or other Yarn for Hanging
• 100-150 yards of various handspun and commercial yarns
• Niddy Noddy (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

My wall hanging has strands of various textures of yarn that are about 3 feet long. I found it very simple to wrap the yardage I wanted from each texture on a niddy noddy and then cut into 2-yard lengths (6 feet total). Then I slip-knotted each texture on the branch - spacing the textures and contrast out along the branch to create a balanced yet freeform look. I used some sari silk yarn, coilspun yarn, boucle, various handspun textures, and some tailspun style yarn. 

You can leave the ends of your wall hanging like mine - somewhat similar but ragged. Or you can trim them so they are blunt and even across. Or you can trim them into a triangle shape with the center of your wall hanging yarns coming to a point. 

This wall hanging took me less than an hour to make and I love how it displays texture. 

Floor Urchin

There are many free tutorials for different styles of this floor pillow / ottoman on various websites - but none of them use handspun. Here is the one I came up with that's a little different than all the others - but still has the same principle.

MATERIALS

• Size 19 circular needles , 32 -40 inches (we will be knitting this floor urchin in the round)
• 200-250 yards of handspun bulky art yarn
• Two bags of polyfill stuffing
• One pillowcase (make sure it matches your yarn in case you see it)
• 1 Yard of strong Cotton Yarn
• Large eye Yarn Needle

PATTERN

Cast on 47 stitches. For a larger pouf cast on 60-80 stitches.

Knit in the Round until your tube is 18 inches long (if you're knitting a larger pouf -knit until your tube is 30 inches long)

Do not bind off. Rather, take your yard of cotton yarn and cut it in half so you have 1.5 feet of cotton yarn. Then loop this cotton yarn through all the loops on your needle using a yarn needle to thread the cotton yarn through. Take a loop off the needle, and put the cotton yarn through it. When all your stitches are on the cotton yarn - pull the cotton yarn tight and tie it into a knot to create the bottom of your urchin. 

Turn the urchin inside-out so all the purl stitches are on the outside. If you prefer a knit side, that's fine too. I just thought the purls looked more urchin-like. 

Take the two bags of polyfill and stuff them into a standard sized pillowcase. Try to stuff the pillowcase so it's the shape of the urchin you want (rounded without too many bulges of stuffing). 

Twist the top of the pillowcase tightly into a flat bun-style knot. Now stuff the urchin with the pillowcase with the bun-style knot as the very bottom part of the urchin. 

Take the other 1.5 feet of cotton yarn with your yarn needle and loop it through every other stitch along the cast on edge of your tube. Pull it tight and knot tightly to secure. Cut the ends and tuck them into the inside of the urchin.