DIY Ikea Tassel Blanket

I have been all about yarn, pom poms, and tassels this winter.  For Christmas, I topped my wrapped presents with yarn pom poms.  I’ve got a couple of yarn Valentine’s Day projects in the works, and now I’ve added some chic yarn tassels to my new Ikea Eivor throw.  I’m not a knitter, but I love the warmth these yarn crafts add to my home decor.  I’m still getting used to these cold New England winters after having lived in a warm climate my whole life, and my new tassel blanket is definitely worth cozying up with!

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Last weekend I made the trek down to our closest Ikea (it’s an hour away).  I so miss being close to an Ikea!  It’s my favorite place for inexpensive home decor, organization, and kitchen stuff, so I may have gone a little crazy with my shopping.  But I digress…For a while now I’ve noticed the Eivor throw pictured in a lot of bloggers’ homes.  I love it’s classic black and white stripes, but just couldn’t picture a good place for it in my own home.  While I was shopping I started looking at the Rens sheepskin for the back of my desk chair.   You see, my desk area is FREEZING!  I face a huge window, and to the left of me is an uninsulated wall, both of which let in all kinds of cold.  I pretty much keep a space heater on at all times while I’m working.  So, while I was looking at the sheepskin I thought of the perfect place to keep the Eivor throw.  The black and white stripes look great with my white and gold mid-century modern desk.  I could have left it as is, but knew I had to give it a little lagniappe (something extra)!

I sewed some yarn tassels on to the blanket, and I have to say that it ended up being an easier project than I expected.  I have made lots of yarn pom poms, but this was my first try at tassels.  Tassels are definitely much easier!  You don’t have to wrap the yarn as many times, and they take much less time to shape.  I made a total of 14 tassels, and I’d say each one took less than 5 minutes to make.  Here’s what I did…

(1) I cut a 5 inch square out of cardboard (the length of your cardboard will be the approximate length of your tassel), and wrapped the yarn around it 25 times.  (2) I then took about a 8 inch piece of yarn and slid it in between the cardboard and the wrapped yarn and moved it to one end of the cardboard.  Some tassel instructions say to tie a loose knot with the 8 inch piece of yarn, but I did not find that necessary.  Next, I cut the wrapped yarn straight across at the opposite end of the cardboard.  (3) I laid the cut yarn on a flat surface, and centered the 8 inch piece of yarn underneath it.  I found that centering the yarn really helped with how much trimming I had to do at the end.  (4) I tied a knot in the 8 inch piece of yarn very tightly 4 times.  By tying it so many times it gave the tassel a little nub which made it easier to sew onto the blanket when it was completed.  (5) Then, the cut yarn is folded in half with the knotted 8 inch yarn sticking out the top.  I tightly wrapped about a 12 inch cut piece of yarn about a half-inch from the top of the tassel 5 times.  The two ends were then knotted together twice, and I let the ends hang with the rest of the cut yarn.  (6) Lastly, the ends were trimmed evenly. 

I thought about using the knotted ends of yarn at the top of the tassel to secure it to the blanket using a plastic yarn needle, but ultimately decided to cut the ends off, and I sewed each tassel on to the blanket using some black button thread and a darning needle.  

I used 7 tassels on each end of the blanket, and attached a tassel at the middle of every other black stripe.  I think this ended up being just the right amount of color that the blanket needed.  I used a multi-color yarn, but you could get the same effect by layering different colored yarn when you wrap around the cardboard. It took about half a skein of yarn for the whole project.

I love the pop of color that my tassel blanket gives my desk.  Now, I have a blanket to keep me warm while I work, and it even looks great when I’m not working.