Yarn Rag Dolls

This is a great craft project for using up odd and end left over yarn. Be creative, if you don't have enough of one color, combine two colors or use one color for the body and another color for the arms. Fun kids craft project.

1. Wrap the yarn around the long side of the cardboard 75 times.
2. Slip a 24" piece of yarn between the yarn and the cardboard and slide to the top.
3. Slide the wrapped yarn off the cardboard and tie it securely (at the top of the doll). You can either cut the ends of the piece of yarn you tied the head with close to the knot or make a hanging loop by tying the two loose ends together in an overhand knot.
4. Approximately 1 ½" to 2" down from the top, tie a 10" piece of yarn around the doll to form the bottom of the head. Be sure to trim the ends.
5. Place doll head/body aside while you make the arms.
6. To make the arms you have 2 options.
     Option 1 - Wrap the yarn around the 6 ½" side of the cardboard 25 times. Carefully slide off the cardboard and tie a piece of string tightly around the arm about a ½" from each end to form the hands.
     Option 2 - Braided arms - Cut 21 strands of yarn 12" long. Tie at one end. Separate the yarn into 3 even groups and braid. Once the braided section of the arms is 6" long, tie a piece of yarn around them and trim off the excess.
7. Now it's time to put the arms and body together. Separate the front and back yarn of the doll body just below the head and slide the arms up as close to the head as you can.
8. Tie a piece of yarn tightly around the body just below the arms.
9. You can either keep the loops a the bottom of the rag doll or trim them straight across for a different look.
10. Traditionally our rag dolls never had a face, but you could glue on two 7mm eyes and a felt mouth if desired.