Yarn Scarecrow

Continuing on the idea of simple yarn wrapping is the generations-old craft of a doll made of corn husks, lengths of straw or raffia, or — as is most easily taught in a short introductory class — yarn.

What better way to accessorize a yarn pumpkin but with a yarn scarecrow?

When choosing yarn for your scarecrow, there are a few things to remember:

• A traditional yarn doll has no facial features. (Then again, neither does a real scarecrow need them.)
• The head, torso, and legs (or skirt) will all be the same color. You can create a different-colored "shirt" by yarn wrapping over the torso or adding clothing from scraps of fabric or felt. (This is a great project for color-blocked yarns, such as Caron Cakes in a colorway such as Pistachio Fudge or Pumpkin Spice!)
• In a traditional (no-clothes-added) yarn doll, the hands will be the same color as the arms or sleeves.
• If you want to add a hat or a wig, you might need something to firm up the head. This could be a smaller ball of yarn or a small styrofoam ball.
• If your local craft store sells miniature straw hats, you can use these for your yarn doll (just make your doll the correct size for the hat! If not, you can knit, crochet, or weave a hat, or just cut a hat shape out of felt. (Depending on the size of your yarn scarecrow, you can also use miniature witches' hat Halloween decorations!)

For this demonstration, I went as simple as possible for my yarn scarecrow just to give you an idea of how it can be done.

There are many websites and YouTube videos with instructions for making a yarn doll. WikiHow instructions have you braid the arms off the main body wrap; so does Sophie's World's YouTube video (which has an interesting method for adding hair before making the head.) The version I learned was closer to that of Ana Knoll's video, except that we didn't tie off the neck or remove the body from the cardboard until after we inserted the arm bundle. Ana's yarn dolls are further different in that she hot-glues felt heads onto them and adds facial features.)

To make your yarn doll into a scarecrow, you can tie the top of the head or the neck to a dowel, use a pencil sharpener to bring the other end to a point, and stick your scarecrow into a block of  hay (or covered Styrofoam). Lacking either of those, I just tied my yarn doll to an old pill bottle to get it to stand up for the photo at the top of the page.

Adding a pipe cleaner to the top-of-head knot

If you're putting your scarecrow on a wreath, use chenille stems to close the neck and waist, and use those to stick your scarecrow to your wreath.

Chenille stems or floral wires hold the neck and waist

Using the eyelets in my cloth as a stand-in for the holes in a grapevine wreath

Once your yarn scarecrow is set in place, add yarn pumpkins to your liking for a tabletop fall display.