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How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland

September 26, 2013 5 Comments

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

How much fun is this garland, you guys?! I had originally planned to make an eyeball garland with painted ping pong balls for Halloween this year. Then I was perusing the seasonal section at the party store last week, and they totally had plastic eyeball favors for sale! What luck! The premade eyeballs are super cute on this garland, and the colorful beads, which I happened to have on hand, smack just a little bit of Dia de los Muertos. I just love projects that come together so adorably and serendipitously like this!

Supplies

plastic eyeballs (or painted ping pong balls)
shiny beads
heavy duty thread
small nail
mallet/hammer
pliers
scissors
needles in several sizes, including one longer than the widest part of your eyeballs

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

Directions

The vast majority of the time that goes into this project is converting your eyeballs basically into giant beads. Working from the thickest to the thinnest nail/needle, pound two holes into each eyeball straight across from each other. I eyeballed the second hole’s location on each, and all but a couple miraculously became successful beads on the first try.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

If your needle or nails get stuck in the eye, use a pair of pliers to pull them out. In the course of pounding two holes into 80 eyeballs, only two of them split in half, and not a single one cracked. You can be pretty aggressive when pounding holes into these.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

After you hammer the two holes, use the needle that’s longer than your eyeball to ensure the holes are aligned. Keep hammering until all of the eyeballs you’ll need are beadified.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

Using the long needle, alternate threading an eyeball and several beads onto a long piece of heavy duty thread to form the garland. Secure both ends with good knots, hang and enjoy!

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

On a tangential note…

For fun I decided to take some photobooth style pics with my crazy garland and the two eyeballs I managed to pop in half when I was turning the rest of them into beads. I hadn’t intended to do more than text the shots to my husband when he was in meetings, but they’re super glorious (if a bit out of focus). Full disclosure, the only people home when I took these were me and my dogs.

How-to: Spooky Eyeball Garland - Hands Occupied

This post was not actually brought to you by any party store. 

—

PS:

You know what I just realized? (I promise I’m not making this up for the sake of internet!) I’m pretty sure these eyeballs exist to mostly be used for spoOOo-ooh-ky beer pong. This is JUST LIKE the time I thought the dudes at the midnight showing of Pink Floyd’s The Wall were drinking pop. “Why would they bring Jones Soda to the movies? The glass bottles are so loud!” True story.

Filed Under: Halloween, How-to, Parties Tagged With: beads, beer pong, decor, eyeball garland, festive, garland, halloween craft, halloween crafts, parties, ping pong balls

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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Comments

  1. thezenofmaking

    September 26, 2013 at 11:03 am

    So, next time we’re in the same place, you’re bringing these for a game of crafty beer pong, right? (Also a true story: Despite having attended a Big 10 school, I’ve still never played beer pong.)

    Reply
    • Heidi

      September 26, 2013 at 3:48 pm

      Totally! What would be the craft equivalent of a red Solo cup for shooting into?

      PS: I played beer pong like once at MSU. It was fine, but I was bad at it. Like awful bad.

      Reply
  2. Charlene

    October 5, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    Hey! I type in “eyeball garland” into a google image search and here I am. Love the colorful beads. Thanks for the link to the pre-made eyeballs and your great idea. I think I will try a small drill for the holes.

    Reply
  3. doro von Hand zu Hand

    October 18, 2013 at 3:51 am

    a really cool garland!

    I linked to your tutorial on my blog – thanks for sharing!

    ♥, doro von Hand zu Hand

    Reply
    • Heidi

      October 18, 2013 at 2:47 pm

      Thanks for sharing it on your blog!

      Reply

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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Craft book author & pattern designer ❤️💛💙
knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé
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Please email for pattern support. 🧶

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn, you immediately think sweater, right? 
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My wardrobe could use another handmade sweater - I’m thinking something simple, seamed and with a decent amount of ease for potentially wearing tucked in with jeans or skirts. 🤔 
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Yarn: @universal_yarn Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Antarctica and Dragon’s Breath, wound in thick skeins of 100% superwash wool that’s a light DK weight.
How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style . How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style 
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In knitting, there are a few common knitting styles. Most often you’re going to encounter continental style and English (throwing) style on your knitting journey. I recently had an old video teaching continental style get a lot of views. Based on the comments, it was clear the people wanted to also see a throwing tutorial, so here you go! 🧶
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Please note that there is a LOT of variation in knitting styles, and one isn’t necessarily better than another. Most often, I’ve found it comes down to two things: how you were taught and whether or not you’re really into colorwork knitting (which can involve a mix of styles). 
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Longer-term knitters who’ve made it this far: do you prefer one over the other? And why? 
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#handsoccupied #englishknitting #learntoknit #knitting #howtoknit #knittersofinstagram #knitting_inspiration
How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on / a.k.a. crochet provisional cast on, scrap yarn cast on
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I read recently that tiktok and Instagram are being used as search engines more and more. 🤔 I thought since I’m going to all the work of making tutorials on YouTube, I should experiment with making a quick version of them for other platforms. There are obvious teaching limitations to vertical video, short-form content like this, but I think I covered the gist of this cast on in a minute. The YouTube version also covers how to unzip this cast on because there was time for it 👍🏻 L1nk is in my profile. 
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I’m very much looking for feedback as I continue to make instructional knitting & craft videos. Sometimes good tutorials are hard to find, and (ideally polite) feedback helps me improve. 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #knititngtutorial #knittersofinstagram #crochethook #knittingtutorial
For the first time in a long time, there’s a new For the first time in a long time, there’s a new tutorial from Hands Occupied! 🎉 The video is live on YouTube & the blog. 
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The post covers what provisional cast ons are & how they differ, and the video covers how to work a one-step provisional cast on using scrap yarn and a crochet hook. (This is a great one to save for future reference.)
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I learned several names for this method while researching this video & post. Crochet provisional cast on, one-step cast on, scrap yarn cast on - if you know even more names for this technique, please share! 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #scrapyarn #crochethook
Working on a sample for some upcoming videos. It’s an overcast day with intermittent sunshine & I have a scruffy little sidecar. 🐶 Can’t complain! 
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What’s on your needles this week? 
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Yarn: @debbieblissknits Cashmerino Aran 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #knittinglife
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