wool easter hare - easy to make
This is a super simple craft that takes only moments using just one simple craft ingredient - carded wool tops! We do like simple crafts, as we are busy people ourselves and understand not everyone has time for a full day of crafting (however, we do thoroughly recommend making time for arts & crafts!). With a bit of practice, these hares take only moment to make. Perfect for adding a chocolate Easter egg and give away for a cheerful gift.
For our Wool Hares (or Bunnies, if you prefer, see below), you will need Myriad Hair Colours Mix
The hares are made taking a length of carded wool top. This is the term for unspun wool fibres that have been well carded and all the fibres are combed in one direction.
The method is simply to tie two knots in the wool, and then shape and form to create a hare/bunny form.
If you follow our photos you should be able to make a hare.
You may have to undo and have another go before it makes sense. With a little practice you can easily make several with ease.
Place a chocolate Easter Egg on its back for a sweet surprise for Easter Sunday!
First step - tie a knot 1/3 down the length of your wool top section. Turn over.
Second step: Take the 'tail' end and tuck into body of hare, as shown below.
This can be adjusted later if need be. The knot shouldn't be tight, nor loose.
Third step: Tie another knot close to the 'body' as shown (photo from above angle)
Fourth step: Separate the hares 'ears' and start forming them - you may need to make them shorter - do so by pulling small amounts of wool until desired length.
It is always best to pull wool tops, and not cut them off. You may also have to tighten the head shape a little, the head knot should not be loose.
if you want you can take a small amount of natural white wool and roll into a ball and needle felt slightly to attach it.
The finished Wool Easter Hare will happily carry a small chocolate Easter Egg on its back as a surprise for Easter Sunday morning!
You can make the hares in several different shades of wool!
we used:
why easter hare? why not "bunny"?
We will let the excellent seasonal celebrations book "All Year Round" answer this question:
"May we make a plea for the reinstatement of the Easter Hare? He is fast becoming an endangered species, owing to the increasing popularity of the 'Easter Bunny'. The rabbit, with its established communal life and reputation for timidity, presents a very different picture to that of the HARE. The hare is a loner, creating the most transient of abodes. He is said to be a bold and courageous creature, and his upright stance is characteristic. His long ears suggest a wide and intelligent interest in the world, and in legend and folklore he is invested with the virtue of self-sacrifice. Because of all these attributes it is he, and not the 'bunny' who makes the more suitable "Messenger of Christ" who roams the earth to bring to those who actively seek it - the sign of new life in the Easter egg ! "
wishing you all a happy easter!
~~~~~~~~~~~
With our journal posts and social media posts on festivals of the year, Myriad wishes to share ideas that can inspire families and other groups to add richness to their lives. We are inspired by communities that share the Anthroposophical impulse, such as Waldorf education. The festivals we partake in and share ideas about may contain elements from different spiritual streams that interweave to give us spiritual nourishment today. Myriad do not wish to suggest any particular stream is better or more important than any other, or exclude, or relegate. We want to share festival traditions that we believe will support, encourage and reinforce our connection to nature and to something much greater than ourselves. We believe the terrain is the same for all of us, we just use different 'maps'. As Rudolf Steiner said "Love is higher than opinion". We hope that the 'universal truths' that radiate through many traditions can be recognised, thereby enriching us culturally and spiritually.
