Sara In Akko

My oldest is at about that age where she wants a pony. She hasn't got a TV to teach her to constantly pester her parents till they buy her a pony. And while we try not to bring so much extra stuff into the house, one day the thought struck me...

Child: Mama, can we have a pony
Me: No, we live in a little tiny apartment and ponies are big and need lots of space and poop.
Child: He can use the potty.
Me: What if we make a pony?
Child: Like a *miracle?
Me: No, like we'll figure out how to make it.
Child: Ohhhhh.

*Sidenote: My child has no concept of magic. Everything wondrous in her mind springs from a single idea about Moses, a stick, and then boom a miracle... I like the way she see the world.

So I embarked the great hunt for pictures of handmade Hobby Horses online. After looking over a few I saw that there are two basic philosophies on the way to go about this project.

I went with the one that had no real sewing and was made of things I already have lying around my house.

Materials:
1 Spare sock in the color of your child's dream horse
Matching scrap felt for ears (or use second sock)
Spare broom stick
Yarn for hair
Buttons for eyes
1 Heavy rubber band
1 length of ribbon or string
All the *plastic bags that you've accumulated under your sink to you're own horror

* Note: You can use some cotton or poly-fill if you'd like, I like getting rid of the plastic bags they give weight and shape. I usually am not the culprit of the magically appearing plastic bags, but I am not the only adult in the household.

Instructions: Seems like an overstatement for this quick project so just trust me, this is Eeeeeasy.

1. Although some tutorials may tell you otherwise, I started off scrunching plastic bags inside my sock until I saw what was clearly a horse head. It even has nice rounded cheeks.

2. Cut out some leafy shapes for ears from your felt (I made mine double ply) and sew them on equally spaced from the heel of the sock (eyeball it, the measurement depends on your sock)

3. Move from the ears towards the toe of the sock sew your button eyes.

4. Wrap yarn around the palm of your hand a few dozen times to create large loops. Securely tie off the loops, and cut through the sides to create a patch of the mane. Sew this first tuft on the top of the horse's head just behind the eyes. Continue making these tufts and sewing them down the back of the horses head and neck until he has a full mane.

5. Get your broomstick. Navigate the broomstick into the horse head (sock) until it reaches the top of the head. The broomstick should be solidly placed inside if you've used enough plastic bags or other stuffing.

6. Insert rubber band inside the bottom of sock and roll the sock several times upward inside the sock. This will close the end of the sock giving it a nice finished look.

7. Securely tie your ribbon or string around the base of your horse. You're done!

You may want to add string/felt/fabric reigns around your horse at this point but we're more of a wild mustang, free-range pony sort of family. Hand it over to the kids and enjoy.

Our horse, Philbert is generally a noble steed for princess travel and train bandit get away horse. Maybe next we'll need a unicorn or a whole pony ranch.