Sammy has been keeping busy while self-isolating. One of his favorite ways to keep busy and de-stress is crafting. Who doesn’t love a good craft? 

Today Sammy tried his claws at weaving. If you want to give this a try too you will need the following:

• Some kind of cardboard
• Scissors
• Tape (any kind will work)
• Something to weave (yarn works best, but you can use string, cord, pipe cleaner, etc.)

The first step is to cut out your cardboard to a rectangle (or square) slightly bigger than you want your weaving to be. Remember that the larger your cardboard, the longer the weaving will take and the more materials you will need. Sammy decided on a nice coaster sized rectangle.

Once you have cut out your cardboard you can mark 1cm long lines along the top and bottom of the rectangle, roughly 1-1.5cm apart. You will need to have an even number of lines. Cut along these lines with a pair of scissors to make slits. 

Cut your yarn to be 3 inches longer than your cardboard. Then you can tuck the yarn into the slits you made in the last step. The yarn should lay flat against the cardboard (not too loose). 

Tape the loose ends of the yarn to the back of the cardboard with whatever tape you have. If you don’t have tape, just tuck them behind and keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t come out of the slits. Be careful not to get the tape stuck in your fur because that takes forever to get out! 

Now cut a new piece of yarn that is at least 2 feet long. Tie one end of the yarn to the top end of the string furthest to the left. Now comes the fun part! 

Weave the yarn back and forth by alternating going under and over each vertical length of yarn. When you get to the end, just double back and make sure you have looped around the end yarn or you will start to undo your weaving.

At this point you may realize that the bright green string you chose is fun but not flexible enough for weaving. That’s ok, just keep going. Make sure to push the woven lines together to keep them from getting too loose. 

When you get to the end of your yard, or when you want to switch colours, just tie on a new piece. Let’s try some Sammy coloured yarn, that might work better than the string. 

If you get tired like Sammy did, feel free to take a quick nap. To be fair, sloths are not known for working particularly fast so you may not need a nap! No judgement though, if you do 😉

Keep going until you have reached the end of the cardboard. Tied off the yarn (or non-flexible bright green string) that you are weaving with. Then you will need to remove the tape at the back of the cardboard and untuck the strings from the slits. Ties these loose ends together in pairs. You can cut off the loose ends or leave them as tassels. 

Congratulations, you finished! Look how proud Sammy is. To be fair, sloth claws are not really designed for crafting. You did good Sammy! 

Make yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy your new coaster! Sammy’s favorite tea is hibiscus tea. What’s yours?