Yarn Octopus

Hi everyone! See? I told you I would be posting a new post soon, and here I am! Aren't you glad to see me?

Today I'm going to show you how I made this cute Yarn Octopus the the little prince that lives next door.

Alright, so I'm on Pinterest, which really, I think most people are now a days (at least those that like to make crafts) and I have lots of boards all organized and what not, and of course I have one for crafts that I want to try or that I like. 

One of the crafts I found that I loved was this one. Isn't that just adorable? As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make one, maybe more. And I knew exactly who I wanted to make it for. My neighbors have this adorable little boy who is a year old, and every time he sees me he smiles and plays shy and is just so sweet, so I wanted to make one of these octopi for him. 

But there was a problem. He's a year old. And as any parent or person who has spent any amount of time with a young child knows, kids put everything in their mouths. When I looked at that tutorial, and saw the glued on eyes, and read the instructions to see that it had a foam craft ball inside it, I knew there was no way I could make it like that for a small child. It's a great idea for an older child to make and play with, as they know better than to chew on things and what not, but not so much for young ones, so I needed to set out and figure out how to make something like it, but safer for the little prince next door. And that's what I did! It was actually quite easy, and since this I have made two more, as well as my son now wants to make some tomorrow. 

1. I started off picking my yarn. I went with a cotton so that it's safe if the little guy does decide to chew on it or something, but can be washed after without worry of it getting out of shape. I took the yarn, and I wrapped it around the back of a chair actually, as I didn't have anyone to help me and hold it so I had to improvise. Basically you want to make it so that what you are using to wrap it, is twice as long as you want your octopus to be when you're done. Keep wrapping the yarn until you either use the whole skein (minus two wrap arounds of your object), or if you're using a extra large skein like I was, till you've used about as much as a regular skein. Then slip it off whatever you were wrapping it around, and you should have a ring of yarn like this.

2. Take the two wrap arounds that I mentioned before and cut them in half. That should give you 4 pieces of yarn that are the same length as object you were using to wrap the yarn around. Take one of those pieces and tie it tightly around the middle of your yarn, making it look like a big bow almost, like in the picture below.

3. Now you want to cut open the two loops in the middle so that both sides are the same length. You see the two extra strings hanging down next to the bottom parts in the picture below? Those are the ends of the piece we used to tie it. We wanted that piece nice and long, so that now, the ends can blend into the rest of the yarn.

4. Take the top half of the yarn, which was originally a loop but is now cut in half, and open it up and fold it down over the piece that was tied around the bunch, making it so that all your yarn is evenly spread around (we want a nice even shaped octopus after all). The picture below is how the top will look after you have all the yarn down and spread evenly.

5. Take another of your extra pieces of yarn and tie it tightly an inch or two down from the top of the bunch, to make the head of your octopus. The ends can then hang down into the rest of the yarn so that they blend in just like the others. 

6. Next you want to start separating the yarn into even sections. We need 8 in total, but I find it easiest to first split it in half....

...then to half each of those as well. Here you can see that I just used some little hair ties to hold three of the sections, while I go to work on the fourth.

7. Take one of your quarters, divide it in half, and start braiding. I find this way the easiest, it helps to make things nice and even, and having the other parts tied keeps them all from getting mixed together again while working on the braids, leaving a bit of yarn at the end to hang loose. To tie the ends, we're going to go back to those last two extra pieces of yarn. Cut them in half, then in half again, and you will have 8 pieces all the same. Once you tie one tightly around the end of your braid, let the ends hang down with the loose yarn and it'll blend in. Braid the two halves of this section, then move to the next. Divide that one in two, then braid them and move on to sections three and four. 

Last thing you want to do is to take your scissors and trim all the loose ends on the legs so that they're the same length and look tidier, and then you're done! What a great looking, yarn octopus you have!

Another option for the ties is of course to use a different coloured yarn, and tying bows on the legs instead of letting the ends hang down and blend in. There are a lot of options really, so have fun with it!

See you again soon!

Crafty Mama

UPDATE:

I brought this over to the little prince next door, and he LOVED it! His parents were very touched as well. They like natural toys for their children, made from wood and natural materials instead of plastic, so along with the little man loving it, his parents did too!