Erin FoxDandelions may be a nuisance to keen gardeners and yet their sunny appearance signals the arrival of warm summer days. It seems such a shame to lay down weed killer and tear them out of the grass. Unfortunately they don’t keep well either in a vase of water like flowers do.
If you like dandelions and how they look like mini suns on stems, then you’ll enjoy crafting these woolly dandelions. They are made similarly to how pom poms are made except you don’t nearly need as much yarn as you would for pom poms. Place them into an empty vase, link them into a chain for a necklace, or into a garland for decorating a summery afternoon tea or outdoor picnic.
For the woolly dandelions you will need yellow yarn, khaki green yarn, green pipe cleaners, one fork and a small pair of scissors.
Place the pipe cleaner along one side of the fork. Wrap the yellow wool around the middle of the fork mouth and the pipe cleaner. Be careful not to wrap the yarn around the top of the pipe cleaner as you will need to fold this down later. Continue to wrap the wool around the fork 30 times. Next twist the long end of pipe cleaner to the side and wrap the shorter piece tightly around this.
Tassel
Cut a piece of the green wool and tie it around the base of the dandelion, slipping it through the fork prongs. Knot the green wool tightly, trim the ends near the knot and then gently ease the tassel off the fork.
Dab some of the fabric glue on the knot you just made with the green yarn. Cut another piece of green wool and stick this to the glue. Carefully wrap this around the base of the dandelion down to the stem. This part can be a bit fiddly so take your time wrapping the yarn around the pipe cleaner.
Secure in place with more glue.
Cut the loops of the yellow wool with the scissors and fluff out the yarn. Trim any uneven pieces so you have a fluffy dandelion.
Repeat the instructions replacing the yellow and green wool with white and brown to make a ‘tick tock’. Just wrap the wool 10 more times around the fork for a rounder and fuller head.