Knitting a Felted Bird Shelter
When you have a lot of birds in your yard, you may want to hang up a birdhouse so that the birds can have a safe shelter to build a nest in. Although you can hang a wooden bird house onto a tree, wooden bird houses are not suited for certain small songbirds, including swallows. One solution is to hang a nesting pocket birdhouse, which is softer and round in shape. You can knit your own nesting pocket birdhouse using basic craft supplies.
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Things You'll Need
- Worsted weight wool yarn, 1 skein
- Size 8 circular knitting needles
- Scissors
- Yarn needle
- Sewing needle
- Cotton thread
- Clothes washer
- Clothes dryer
Instructions
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1
Cast 30 stitches of worsted weight wool yarn onto size 8 circular knitting needles. Select any color of wool yarn that you prefer.
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2
Knit around the circular needles until you have knitted a tube that measures 12 inches long.
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3
Cast off all but 10 of the stitches, then cut off the yarn from the knitting needles leaving a yarn tail that is 6 inches long.
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4
Thread the yarn tail onto a yarn needle, then insert the needle through the remaining stitches. Remove the stitches from the knitting needles.
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5
Cinch the stitches together, leaving a hole that is 3 inches wide. Knot the yarn onto a neighboring stitch, then cut off the excess yarn using scissors.
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6
Place the opening of the knitted tube flat, and sew the doubled edge together using a needle and cotton thread. Cut off the excess thread using scissors.
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7
Wash the knitted bird shelter in a clothes washer using hot water, then dry the shelter in a clothes dryer in high heat. This will felt the wool yarn together to create a firm, structured bird shelter.
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Tips & Warnings
Use multicolored yarn to create a more artistic-looking birdhouse.
Keep sharp scissors away from children.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
