Yarn Ball Magnets

Here’s a quick craft for today because I’ve got some news in the works, and waiting until next week to share it.  Needless to say, it’s been busy around here, so a quick craft is what’s on the menu.  My yarn ball magnets were inspired by my friend Melanie’s yarn ball earrings that she shared last week.  I guess when I say “inspiration”, it was more like “whoa, yarn ball earrings?!  How did I not think of that?!  I need to make a yarn ball … something, RIGHT. NOW.”  And that’s how these little magnets came to be.

I actually found this craft to not be the easiest project in the world.  You’d think it’s nothing more than wrapping yarn into a ball and sticking it to a magnet, but the wrapping of the yarn business is a bit .. yarny.

I used a wooden bead on the inside of my yarn ball.  The bead is actually flat on one side – I had previously used these in my wine cork gnomes, but I had a few extra laying around and thought that the flat side of the bead would help with the adhering of the magnet.  … mmm, not so much.

Supplies

wood bead with one flat side
yarn (scrapbuster!)
magnets – I did not buy the super strong, super scary rare earth magnets.  I bought craft magnets from Michaels.
hot glue
super glue
scissors

First and foremost, hot glue one end of your yarn to the bead.  Then start wrapping.  Try not to curse when the yarn decides to not do what you want it to do.  Try to use some hot glue to keep the yarn in place.  Try not to burn your fingers.  Try not to curse when you do end up burning your fingers.  Just as an aside, I also tried super glue, and uh, let me tell ya…  getting yarn stuck to my finger with super glue almost set off a bit of a panic attack.  Stick with the hot glue gun.  Pun intended.

Wrapping a good looking yarn ball around a slippery sucker of a wooden bead is harder than one would think.  But it gets done, even if the yarn ball is larger than expected, and the flat side of the bead has pretty much disappeared.  You can try to feel for the flat side, or just glue the magnet to any part that feels “flat” and might adhere well.  For this part, I used the super glue.  I held it together and counted to 45, and prayed that I didn’t have residual glue on my thumbs and I’d have a yarn ball magnet attached to my hands forever.

When all is said and done, I have to admit, they are pretty cute.  And these craft magnets are sturdy enough to hold up a few pieces of paper.

By the way, the yellow ball magnet is not actually a yarn ball; it’s a crocheted ball left over from my goldfish teether.  I think if you can crochet, it may be the better way to go.  Just head over to that post to see the pattern!