The ER Project

Last weekend was a fairly quiet couple of days for me; no real plans on the schedule, which means it was the perfect weekend to finally tackle some projects I'd pinned on Pinterest and promised myself I'd finish by the end of the year.

Weeks, or maybe even months, ago I pinned a simple little project that I thought would be simple enough and add a little more personalization of our home. These yarn-wrapped letters caught my eye instantly.

I went to JoAnn Fabrics to pick up the yarn and cardboard letters and decided to get an "E" and an "R" for Eric and my first-name initials. Eric was being very patient at the craft store, so I let him choose his own color of yarn (he may have uttered "The maximum amount of time I am interested in yarn is 10 seconds. After that, I couldn't care less." Poor guy, I put him through the wringer in there.) 

I came home and began wrapping the "E" while Eric finished putting up Christmas lights outside (more on that later...). I started out wrapping each section of the letter horizontally, then went over everything again vertically. It was a little tricky making sure everything was covered smoothly, but once I got the hang of it it was easy - never even had to cut from the spindle of yarn. After having to start over halfway through, it took me about an hour or so to complete while watching TV. 

We had wild plans to make homemade pizza and watch "Baby Mama," which we checked out from the library (I got my first library card since probably age 10 earlier that day. You guys... the library kind of rocks. I can't wait to check out what kind of fun home design and DIY books they have!), so I decided to tackle the "R" the next day. 

Almost as soon as I began work on my "R," I knew it wasn't going to be as simple as the "E." Those curves, that hole in the middle, they both posed issues with just how neat and clean the finished product would be. I stopped and restarted about three times after I finished that initial "first stick" section.

I got near the end of the project and realized it just wasn't going to look nice enough to display in the house. So I unraveled the entire thing and started over.

Then, I watched three episodes of "Gilmore Girls" I'd DVRed from SOAP Net the day before (I'm watching the final season for the first time... no spoilers, please!).

After a couple hours, I mustered the strength to start again. I reworked the entire "R," and had to cut quite a few lengths of yarn to ensure everything was wrapping the right way. With every piece of yarn I cut, I made sure the beginning and end of each piece was tucked in an glued to the back of the "R," so the front would look nice. I cursed myself for having the name "Rachel" while making this. Why couldn't I be Olivia, or Isabella, or Lisa??? Those letters would be cake! Finally, after about three hours total throughout the day of wrapping coral-colored yarn around that damn cardboard "R," I was finished. It didn't look as perfect as I would've liked, but at least it was presentable enough.

When I finished, all I wanted to do was find a good place for the letters to go. I decided to send them to what has become somewhat of a refugee camp for all the little tchotchke projects I do: the Expedit unit in the French room.

Eric's "E" now sits in the coveted cubby that also houses my collection of Kurt Vonnegut books.

And my "R" is tucked into a cubby with a couple of Chuck Klosterman books and a vase I picked up at a flea market a couple years ago.

And, of course, while I was taking pictures of everything else in the little cubbies, Mr. Pancakes had to hop in one so I would take his photo, too. I apologize for the horrible photo, but the little guy would not sit still.

The "ER" project (or I guess it would be more appropriate to call it the "RE" project, seeing as how I had to RE-start so many times) fits in nicely at home in the Expedit refugee camp.

Although I had a couple hiccups, this really was a fun, simple and cheap little project. Head to the craft store and expect to be done in less than two hours! Or make it easy on yourself and buy the cardboard letters and just paint them a fun color or bedazzle them with sparkles and rhinestones.... I don't know, make them your own!