This isn’t strictly a spring craft, as it can go with any time of the year.  But I think you could easily “Springify” it by using any pretty pastel colored yarn!

I had this idea in mind sometime last year when I saw globes and world maps popping up everywhere.  I love the texture and colors of yarn, and love how versatile it can be in projects, and I knew I wanted to make the world in yarn.

DIY Globe

This project is not super easy, and it was a bit time consuming.  All told, I probably spent about 4-5 hours “making” the continents on this globe.  It is priced right though!  I used a 50% off coupon on the 12″ grapevine ball, making it $6.49, and the yarn was on sale for about $4.  Thanks to my generous Aunt who gave me a Michael’s gift card for Christmas, I spent $0 of my own money on this project.  Sweet!

My initial idea was to make the sphere, and that is one of the reasons I had put this project on the back burner.  I knew that it would take me a lot of mental effort to get through it all, and in the end I think I just didn’t want to do it that badly.  However, on one of my recent excursions to Michaels, I found this grapevine sphere in the floral crafting department.  Other than it being a bit too small, I thought it was perfect.

grapevine ball and alpaca wool yarn

Without hesitation, I picked it up and “ran” to the crochet department to look for the perfect yarn.  I spent a while searching because I wanted something that was a little bulky and had texture, and was also within the color field I wanted.  I specifically wanted a teal, turquoise, or blue color.  The one I chose is a slightly darker teal Alpaca wool.  I loved the color with the brown of the grapevine.  It also keeps with a more natural look to the globe (brown land, blue water).  Although in the end, I decided to switch the colors because I felt it was easier to “color in” the continents.

Trace continents in yarn

I found the easiest thing for me to do, was to look at different maps and globes online, and then using the yarn, trace their outlines onto the globe.  I then filled them with yarn wrapped around various pieces of the grapevine.  Not everything looks exactly right, but overall I think someone could guess what it’s supposed to be.  (And yes those are moose covered pajamas).  :)

North American Continent

I started with North and South America, and think they are successful, although too big.

African Continent

As the Americas took over the globe, it made it more difficult to add Europe, Asia, and Africa.  In the end, I don’t think Asia or Europe look right, but Africa does (sort of).  I also added Greenland and Australia.  Australia came out a bit too much like a boomerang, but that’s how it turned out with the placement of the grapevine stems.

DIY Globe on Painted Cheesebox

Right now I have it on display in the family room on top of another cheese box I painted.  This cheese box is spray-painted antique white.  I sanded it super well ahead of time, and also very lightly between coats.  It’s big enough to hold magazines completely flat.

I like my globe and I hope you do too!

I linked to these parties:  Nifty Thrifty Things, House of Hepworths, Thrifty Decor Chick, Centsational Girl