round and round

I had intended to take this picture with afternoon sunlight streaming artfully across the fiber -- but, you know, one thing led to another and suddenly it was dark and, well, so here's a picture in the garish flash of the camera. In real life, the fibers complement one another quite nicely.
Want to make one yourself? Dive into your stash and pull out colors of yarn that please you. Procure styrofoam balls in a variety of shapes * Wrap yarn around the balls. Invite friends and family to do the same. Suppress the Martha within that wants them wrapped just so. Hot glue the ends of the yarn. When you have a nice pile of balls of various shapes, hot glue them to a wreath shape (We used grapevine. If you use a less-attractive wreath form, you might want to wrap it with yarn first.) Don't be shy with the glue -- glue each ball underneath and to the ball next to it.**
* For a greener version, wad up plastic bags and wrap yarn around them. They might not be quite as round, but the artful use of recycled products (plus the money saved) will warm you just as much. I wish I'd thought of this before I got the styrofoam balls.
** should you have an incident with the glue gun, here is a hint for burns: First get the glue off. Then squirt mustard -- sunny yellow mustard, not the Grey Poupon -- on the burn. Wrap a paper towel around the burn. After a while, take off the poultice. If the burn starts to hurt again, squirt more mustard on and let it sit a while longer. You'll smell like a hot-dog stand, but should be blister-free.

Have a quick, keen holiday craft? Do share!