I’m sharing a fun little project, which is inexpensive, easy and perfect for a rainy afternoon. Your kids (or grandkids) will love to help and even make their own yarn covered pencil pots.

Here’s the materials list:

Yarn – any colour and it doesn’t have to be the most expensive ball of yarn in the store. Visit Spotlight for a great selection of yarn.

An old glass jar with the label removed. Think pickle or vegemite or pasta sauce.

White glue – just the cheap kids glue which goes on white but dries clear. I bought a big bottle of Kids Glue from Spotlight too, and it was only a few dollars.

A paint brush – the thicker the better so that you can spread your glue quickly and evenly.

A little dish to pour glue in small amounts, rather than dipping into the big bottle.

Paint some glue on to the lower half of the jar and then turn it upside down. It’ll be easier to work this way.

Cut a length of yarn and slowly begin winding it around the the bottom edge of the jar.

Once the first few loops around the jar are completed, it’ll become easier to just hold the yarn with one hand and turn the jar with the other. Work slowly and try to get the yarn to sit closely together.

Once that first piece of yarn is finished, add a little more glue around the jar, cut another piece of yarn, place the end of the yarn right beside the previous one and continue looping around.

Keep doing this until the jar is completely covered.

Once it’s all covered, place it somewhere out of the way so that it can dry. Keep it away from children and cats if possible.

Once it’s dry, it’s finished at this stage, but if you’d like to add the extra pom-poms, here’s how I did it.

1. Grab a dinner fork and wind the yarn around and around and around. You will probably need to loop around at least 20-30 times, keeping it to within 2cm wide.

2. Cut the yarn leaving a 10cm tail and feed the end of the yarn in through under the yarn in the middle of the fork. Pull the yarn around to the back and tie a knot around the tail piece.

3. Pull the yarn off the fork and ensure the knot is tied tightly and securely. Cut through the middle of the loops on both sides.

4. Trim the pom pom into a spherical shape and there you have it, one lovely little fork pom pom.

Now make another one and then tie and loop them around the top of the Yarn Covered Pencil Pot.

Just an FYI, these yarn covered jars can be used for any number of things in the sewing room… they can hold crochet hooks, knitting needles, rotary cutters, scissors, clover clips… the only limit is your imagination.