How to Make the Perfect Sustainable Valentine Yarn Heart

Make this sustainable Valentine yarn heart using materials that are generally non-recyclable—styrofoam and yarn. Stryrofoam is made from polystyrene, a material that isn’t biodegradable, therefore not recyclable. But what about yarn?? Why can’t that be recycled? It’s all about what yarns are made of—problematic blends, natural yarns, man-made filaments, plastics, dyes, and metals. This makes them hard to separate so they can be effectively recycled. Additionally, yarns can become entangled in recycling machinery causing lots of problems.

So, let’s use these materials to create a sustainable Valentine yarn heart.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Styrofoam food tray
• Yarn Heart Template
• Yarn
• Craft knife or scissors
• Binder clip or paper clip
• Yarn needle

Let’s make a sustainable Valentine yarn heart:

1. Print the Yarn Heart Template and cut out the pattern of your choice.
2. Trace the pattern onto the styrofoam food tray using a blunt pencil, old ball point pen, or stylus.
3. You want the tracing to leave indentations in the styrofoam.
4. Cut out the heart with a craft knife or scissors.
5. Pierce a hole in the top center for a hanging cord. Thread a 10″ length of yarn through the hole. Tie the ends in a knot.
6. Move the knot to the back side of the heart.
7. Secure the beginning tail of your yarn to the heart template with a bind clip or paper clip. This end will be concealed as you complete the wraps.
8. If  you need to add a new length of yarn secure both the old length and new length with a binder clip or paper clip as shown below. Continue wrapping and these ends will be concealed and secured.
9. When you come to the end, tie the wrapping yarn to the hanging cord.
10. Then, using a yarn needle, thread the yarn end under the wraps. Trim the wrapping yarn.
11. Enjoy your sustainable Valentine yarn heart decoration!!