WINTER: yarn ball SnowBuddies!

I just have to ask: Do You Wanna' Build a Snowman?!

Since we have a bit of winter weather left (thank you Punxatawney Phil), I thought I'd share this fun new idea with you...

I dropped some yarn balls the other day, as I was taking them out of a box, and one bounced onto the top of a nearby mug (empty!). Imagine my surprise as I realized that it looked for all the world like one of my Sweet Sweater Snowmen. Only EASIER to make! 

Continue reading for my easy tutorial for making Yarn Ball SnowBuddies...This 'tutorial' is a simple outline of how I put a few things together - and I hope it inspires you to try it out!

Let's start with the big guy, Mister Mugg - so named because THIS mug was the one that THIS yarn ball fell into!

(You've seen this ceramic 'sweater' mug before here on the blog, only the top band was painted yellow... I just gave it a quick update with some grass green acrylic paint so it would fit my current 'green era' obsession.) Once dry, I popped the yarn ball on top. You could also fill a mug or cup with some florist's foam, and run a thin wood dowel through the yarn ball into the foam, to secure it more.

Now let's give Mister some personality, and add a beanie hat!

1. Start with a piece of a sweater sleeve/arm - shown is a 6" length of one. It's actually a bit big for this guy, but I made it work. 

2. Flip the sweater arm section inside out. Gather one end of it in your hand, and secure it with a small rubber band. You want this to be tight so it doesn't slip out. 
Then turn it all right-side-out - one end is now closed and rounded.

3. Roll the bottom open edge twice, creating a nice thick 'cuff'.

4. Pop that lil' beanie right onto the yarn ball head - scooch it down a bit so it stays on. 

5. I added a few simple face details: Two green-head pins became eyes, and a small white pom pom is a nose held on with a white-head pin just beneath the pom.

6. My yarn bin had a few fluffy white yarn pom poms in it, and I simply sat one of them on top of the beanie as a final detail. You could run a long straight pin thru it to secure it if you wish.


Three small white yarn balls easily formed a full-body snowperson... I think of him as 'Cuppy' because of the vintage white milk glass cup he sits in. 

One long thin wood dowel runs all the way through him to hold the yarn balls together. The end of the dowel is secured into a piece of floral foam, which is wedged into the cup:


I covered the foam with some scraps of ribbons, and let them dangle on the outside of the cup for interest. A scrap of a sweater arm serves as a scarf around his neck, and a tiny beanie for his head was made from another scrap, gathered up with the tiniest rubber band I've ever seen!

He has black-headed pins as eyes, and a tinier pom pom nose held on with a straight pin.

'Baby Cup' is the teensiest lil' guy! He's one small yarn ball sitting quite solidly in a ceramic egg cup, with black pin eyes and a larger white-tipped pin for a nose (none of my pom poms were small enough!).

1. His scarf is another sweater scrap, wrapped around the base of his head and held in place with a few straight pins.

2. His hat was a *bit* tricky...
I cut a medium sized pom pom in half, and wrapped it with sweater fabric. I used a glue stick and it didn't work well, so I'd suggest using Tacky or regular Elmer's white glue instead. 

Then I took a strip of sweater fabric and wrapped it around a 1 inch piece of white pipe cleaner/chenille stem, gluing it on. Same note on the glue!

3. Once dry(ish), I pushed the pipe cleaner ring OVER the top of the covered half pom pom - it fits really tight, which I wanted, making it look like a beanie hat with a cuff. 

I used one straight pin on the back side of the hat to hold it on his itty bitty head!

I only have one complaint about him... I wanted to put a clear glass stemless wine glass over him like a dome - but he ended up too tall. :(

Together, they just look happy and make me smile!

Back in 2013, I created my Original Sweet Sweater Snowmen TM.
Made from cut-off arms from thrifted sweaters, they are much like my 'famous' Original Sweet Sweater Pumpkins. Over five years, I made many sizes, styles, and characters - from snow men to snow women and even snow babies! (Links to past posts about them are at the bottom of this post.)

As things tend to go around here, I was cleaning up my mess and moving stuff around, and I saw two nearby mugs. I thought "hmmmnnnnnn..." and THIS happened:

Though it's certainly a more 'minimalist' look, these textured ceramic + milk glass mugs actually give off a 'snowman' vibe when you put hats on them!

They remind me of the Sweet Sweater 'Shrooms TM and knit beanie 'shrooms that I made a few years ago, so I've linked those posts below, too.

related content:

my Original Sweet Sweater Snowmen, SnowBuddies, and Snow Babies 

Sweet Sweater 'Shrooms

Thrifted Knit Beanie 'Shrooms


shared online:

Funky Junk Interiors | New Upcycle Ideas #766

Thank you for including my project in your feature, Donna!


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