My ultimate vision is to afford every member of the community
more opportunities to explore the sensitivities of the human spirit to wit
each person is inspired to (a) teach and interact with other people while
maintaining a keen appreciation for their longing for inclusion, the innate longing
to belong within our human nature; (b) respond with compassionate consideration
and sensitivity to those racial, cultural, religious, ethnic, economic, political, social, ethical, psychological, and philosophical differences that exist within every community.
I keep my 'hangups' covered.
No more plain old ugly hangers for me.
I keep yarn-covered hangups in my closet.
Hangups I covered for the Orlando Magic.
Here's How To Cover Your Hangups
Style #1 using a single hanger
Colorful covered hanger creations were very popular in the 1950s. When I was a kid I learned to make yarn-covered hangers as a Girl Scout. I still enjoy making them as an adult since they are easy, make great gifts, offer a creative way to utilize your old ugly hangups. They also provide a non-slip surface to keep things from falling to the floor of your closet and wrinkling your clothes!
You'll need 1 metal/wire hanger, 2 balls of yarn in colors of your choice, and 1 scissors.
Each covered hanger will require about 1 hour. Less after you've covered a few.
Begin with a recycled metal clothes hanger, which can be obtained at your local dry cleaning store at no charge in many cases.
Using the above photo as an example, hold the hanger between your knees. See video. Hold the aqua ball in your left hand, the coral ball in your right hand.*
Step : Make a slip-knot about 1/4" from the beginning of the neck of the hanger. Pull the yarn ends back to yourself over the neck. Cover the yarn ends with the following stitch.
Step : Slip the first ball over wire, then back under and through its loop. Pull tight. In the above example start with aqua yarn on your left. Pull stitch to left. With the coral ball on your right, make the same stitch. Pull tight.
Step : Continue alternating colors.
Step : Continue alternating stitches from back and forth. You'll start to see a two-colored pattern emerge.
*Special Note: When using white yarn, always hold the white ball in your left hand for maximum enhanced visual effect of finished hangup. Read on.
Here's what your hangup will look like half-way through.
Step : When you've reached the neck and have completely covered the metal, cut both balls of yarn from the hanger leaving 4-5 inches connected to the hanger. You're almost finished!
Step : To complete the hangup, tie the remaining two strands into a bow.
Step : Congratulations! You can now add to your hangups.
Once you cover your first hangup, you'll be faster on the next!
Tips
Here's a few tips for covering your hangups, going forward.
Consider mixing multi-colored yarn with single-color yarn, i.e., white, black, etc. Again, when using white yarn, always hold the white ball in your left hand for maximum cool effect.
Cover your hangups while watching a favorite TV show, listening to music, or in your car on a road-trip, hopefully not while you're driving. See Texting And Driving Is Crazy.
Covering hangups is a great activity for anyone. Children as well as the elderly can benefit as it exercises hand-eye coordination and finger, hand, and wrist joints, all while exercising the brain (dementia prevention?).
Add yarn pompoms instead of a bow, as a finishing touch.
If you share a closet space, color coordinate your hangups so you can easily identify which items belong to whom. Read on.
Style #2 using two hangers
Before After
Tape 2 hangers together at 5 points shown.
Step : Begin by taping 2 metal clothes hangers together at the five key points.
Step : Tape together the ends of two different color yarn balls (use only 1 color of yarn, if desired) to the end of the hanger neck, leaving 2-3 inches outside of the tape for extra security.
Note: Hold the taped double-hangers between your knees. See video. Throughout the remaining steps keep 1 ball of yarn on each side of your hangup, i.e., hold 1 yarn ball in your left hand; hold the other yarn ball in your right hand. In this case I used aquayarn in my left hand, coralyarn in my right hand as shown above.
Aqua yarn, left hand. Coral yarn, right hand.
Step : Make a knot by slipping the first ball under the wire and slipping it back through the loop and pulling tight. In this case, I started with aqua yarn on the left so I pulled those knots to the left. Repeat the knot 5-10 times with the first color.
Step : Using the second ball, on your right, make the same knots pulling tight to the right. Count the knots and do as many as you did of the first color on the left.
Step : Continue alternating the knots from side to side. You'll start to see your multi-colored pattern emerge!
Step : Continue knotting all the way around the hanger.
Step : When you reach the neck and have completely covered the metal, cut both balls of yarn from the hanger leaving 4-5 inches connected to the hanger. You are almost done!
Step : To complete your hangup, tie the two strands into a bow!