Lamb Brooch and Yarn Sheep

Sometimes its just fun to do a fast craft. Also, it is so much fun to use different yarns. So, I decided, along with the book, to get her 1 skein of yarn, on the 30th of each month, for the whole year! Rather like a “Yarn of the Month Club” 🙂 What fun it will be to pick out a beautiful skein of yarn with no particular project in mind. Then, she can look at patterns, and find one that matches her yarn that month. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?And because I tend to make things a little more complicated than need be, I decided it would also be fun to present the yarn in unique and fun ways. Thus, the birth of our Lamb Brooch and Yarn Sheep. I got Michelle a skein of single ply, felting wool. I decided to turn it into a sheep 🙂 I designed a sheep face that will double as a brooch, added a tail and legs, and presto chango… the wool yarn turned back into a sheep!

I bet you too can think of a friend that would like a skein of wool yarn… especially if it comes with a cute face 🙂 You don’t need to know how to knit to make and give this to a knitting buddy. She’ll love EWE for it 😉
The Lamb Brooch pattern can be found HERE.

The tutorial on How to Cut Out Felt can be found HERE.

The Stitching Glossary can be found HERE.

Materials:
Skein of yarn – I used 100% natural single ply felting wool and scraps of black wool for the legs
Wool felt – I used natural and gray
1″ bar pin
Embroidery floss
embroidery needle
yarn needle
pattern

Make a copy of the pattern.

Cut out the “face” and the “wool”. (Note: You can also cut out the backing now, but I found it worked out better if I used the backing pattern piece as a template for laying out the other pieces of felt, and when I had finished embroidering the front, I used that piece to cut out the backing. This way I made sure they were exactly the same size.)

Using the backing pattern piece as a template, lay out the “face” and the “wool” and pin or staple together.

Using the pattern as a guide, sew the “wool” to the “face” using 2 strands of floss. Then, following the stitching guide on the pattern, embroider the eyes, nose, mouth and swirls.

Using the front as a pattern, cut out the backing.

Sew the bar pin the right side of the back piece.

Sew the front to the back with wrong sides together. Use 2 strands of floss and a running stitch.

Your Lamb Brooch is now done!

To make the body, wind your yarn into a loose ball.

Cut off a 12″ piece of yarn. Then, starting at the end, wind another small ball. This will be the tail. Do not cut off this second ball.

Using the piece of yarn and a yarn needle, tack the tail to the body using big stitches. Do not tie it off, but rather tuck the end into the ball. When you are ready to knit with the yarn, you will be able to untie the tail without hurting the yarn.

Using scraps of black yarn, wind 4 small balls for the legs. Tuck in the ends.

Using a piece of black yarn, tack the 4 pieces together making a square. Do not cut the yarn.

Position the legs under the sheep, and tack to the ball of yarn using big stitches. Make sure you position the feet so the tail is high on the back side of the lamb.

Pin the brooch to the front of the ball of yarn, and it’s ready to go 🙂