Halloween Wreath

Hold onto your hats, kids, I knitted something! After months and months of feeling uninspired and sort of disenchanted with the whole craft, I got out my needles again when I couldn't find a Halloween wreath that I liked for our front door. So I decided to knit one - as one does.

Tadah! I made this, yo.

I'd seen a lot of cute wreaths in places like Pinterest where people wrap the wreath in yarn. I like yarn as a medium (I am a knitter!), but felt like I could put my own twist on things by knitting a cover instead. Then I added this extremely odd little cat ornament that I picked up on clearance as a rare impulse buy without any idea what to use him for. He was just such a weird little creature that I had to have him, y'know? Anyway, he found a home on this wreath and now sits perched high on my front door with a front row seat for the trick or treaters this weekend. 

I feel like this guy could be friends with Coraline. 

Here's the vaguest outline of what I did:

1. I bought a basic wreath. I like this one from Joann's, because it's pretty chunky, solid and cheap!
2. Then I dug some orange worsted yarn out of my stash, as well as some chunky needles. I cast on 30 stitches and then knit 20 rows of garter stitch and 20 rows of stockinette stitch, and repeated until I had basically a long rectangle/scarf. 
3. When it was long enough to wrap around the outside of the wreath, I sewed the short ends together, then slipped it over the wreath like a cover, and hand stitched it together at the back. 
4. Embellishment time! I threaded metal wire through the leg joints of the little cat, and then I (and I when I say "I", I really mean Nick) pushed the wire into the wreath to secure him. He's a chunky little dude, so hot glue was not going to cut it! But if your embellishment is lighter, hot glue away, my friend!
5. For the bow: If you know how to tie a beautiful bow all by yourself, then please teach me. I haven't figured that out yet, so I used this handy little tutorial from On Sutton Place, making a few little adjustments because I like a slightly smaller, tighter looking bow. The bow looks terrible from the back, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out from the front. 
6. To hang the wreath, I just looped a length of ribbon around the top of the wreath and tied a simple knot, and then glued the finished bow on the front. 

Blammo. Done!

Not too bad of a bow, considering I made it with a stapler! 

Anyway, I like it, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It fits our Halloween esthetic which definitely leans more towards fun and quirky and waaaay away from nasty, creepy and morbid. Yes to witches, black cats and jack o' lanterns, and no to zombies and rotting corpses. (Ew?) 

And now I kind of want to make a new one for Christmas.