Woven Holiday Ornaments from Upcycled Can Lids

Transform can lids into holiday ornaments with circular weaving!

You will need:

• metal can lids from food or frozen juice (food can lids should be removed with safety can opener so there are no sharp edges. If your lids have product codes stamped on them, use nail polish remover to get this writing off)
• finishing nail
• hammer
• scrap of wood
• large eye needle
• yarn scraps of varying weights, textures and colors

Working against a scrap of wood, make an odd number of holes around the edge of the can lid using the hammer and finishing nail.  You do not have to drive the nail in deep, but just enough to get past the pointed part of the nail.  Wiggle it around and pull out it out.  Space the nails about 1/4 – 3/8 ” (1 cm) apart, adjusted to insure that you have an odd number of holes (example has 17).  An odd number of holes will make sure your weaving pattern works out properly

Warp the loom using a thin sturdy yarn, such as sock yarn or #10 crochet cotton. Warp across and back so that the warp looks like the spokes in a wheel.

It will be easier to weave if the warp strands are raised, so bring the warp yarn over the edge, then across to the next hole and back over the edge

Continue around until all holes have been used, then bring the thread to the center. It is okay if the thread is doubled in some of the holes. Gather up the center where the threads cross and nudge it to the center of the can lid. Loop around a few times to secure in place.

Begin weaving from center using the end of the warp thread. If you have an uneven number or warp threads, you will be able to go over/under/over/under around and around and have the pattern work out perfectly. When you get to the end of the yarn, hide the ends back in the weaving, then trim.

If you want to leave some of the weaving open so that the metal can lid shows through, it helps to knot, rather that weave, the first row past the open section. This will keep the yarn from slipping around and keep the open section neat.

Vary the textures of the yarns you use — metallic yarn, loopy boucle yarns, fuzzy or or shiny yarns set off against plain yarns.  My ‘frost flower’ examples are mainly silver, white and teal, but you can use traditional Christmas colors, or go bold — whatever you like. Bright jewel colors with black (like Amish quilts) would be lovely.  And how about adding beads, or crocheting lace around the outer edges?  Make it your own, and have fun upcycling can lids and yarn scraps into holiday ornaments!