Donna's Decembers: Deck the Halls: Stash Buster Braided Scarf

Hi everyone! Life has been catching up to me big time. Over the last week I had A LOT of papers to grade, lessons to plan, gifts to buy, and recipes to bake. Are you starting to feel the holiday crunch? I sure am. Every day I'm making a more and more specific To Do List. I think I even have a To Do List for my To Do List. And unfortunately, I'm not joking.

The good news is that this weekend Cory and I had zero plans, so after being out of town last weekend, I wanted to make sure I could bring a few new cute DIYs that might make your holiday more festive and your gift giving much easier!

This time of year I have an embarrassing stash of yarn.... and by embarrassing, I mean huge. I can't bare to throw away large hunks of left-over yarn because "I can definitely use it for something!" Do you say that to yourself, too? Well, the good news is that I am finally using it for something Hooray!

Today's DIY is a simple project that you and a group of loved ones, friends, or children could work on. Everything you need you probably have around your house, especially if you knit or crochet! Ladies and gents, I introduce to you:

Materials:

scissors

yarn stash (I also added a little lace, trim, and ribbon, too!)

(I picked a color family that I thought I would wear all year round. I like a lot of color, so this assortment of colors definitely works for me. You could match like-colors with different textured yarns and get a pretty cool effect!)

Step 1: Group all your yarn together and tie a knot with about 3 inches at the end for a tassel.

Step 2: Unroll all your yarn and measure nearly 2 yards. Cut your yarn. Don't be afraid if your floor looks something like this:

Step 3: Section off your yarn into 3 sections so you can braid. I tried to group different colors and textures together for a eclectic feel. Try your best to keep the strands apart as you braid so you don't have a gigantic knot. I had my husband hold the tassel and I walked the strands through the braid (a little ridiculous looking if we had recorded it).

Alternative: If you're not into braiding, you can knot every 6 inches or so throughout the scarf and still get a pretty cool look. I actually decided to do both on mine! I just wanted it to look really funky and original ;).