DIY Yarn Wrapped Yule Goat Julbock Christmas Decoration

Make this easy DIY yarn-wrapped Yule goat and add some colorful, Scandinavian-inspired fun to your Christmas decor.

Once you start making yarn-wrapped crafts, you’re going to love this idea! It’s the perfect way to make small Christmas crafts and use up little bits from your yarn stash that you’ve been saving for just the right project.

You don’t need a lot of yarn. And if you run out of the color you’re using, you can always just start again with something else.

The goal is to create a funky decoration that’s colorful and fun. You can use the technique to make Christmas ornaments or decorations in the shape of stars, trees, reindeer… or this Scandinavian-inspired Yule goat.

How to make a Yule goat

Supplies

• cardboard
• yarn in your choice of colors – I used classic red, avocado green, and turquoise blue scraps from my stash.
• scissors
• goat template – I drew mine and you’re welcome to download it here.

Instructions

Overall the process is pretty simple: make a cardboard shape and wrap it in yarn. I went an extra step to make my cardboard cutout 3D so that it can stand.

Step 1: Make a cardboard goat.

Start by printing off the template above or drawing your own. Cut it out and trace it onto the cardboard.

Cut out the cardboard pieces. I cut a smaller piece off of the big one to make it easier to cut out. I ended up needing to use my heavy-duty scissors to cut the cardboard because it was too thick for my regular ones.

You can see that this is a pretty straightforward design. The body is a flat outline and the legs fit perpendicular.

Step 2: Wrap the body.

Next, start at one end and wrap the green yarn around the cardboard shape. I just wrapped the yarn over itself and didn’t glue it down. You could use craft glue if you are having trouble getting the yarn to stay in one place.

I wrapped my yarn pretty randomly from one end to the other. Be careful not to block the slots where the legs will line up. I did end up putting a few loops through the slots (see below with the blue yarn) but not many.

At the other end of the goat, I just slipped the end of the yarn tail back under a few loops and tightened them up.

Repeat the yarn-wrapping process with the red yarn. Try to fill in the gaps between the green yarn, but avoid making too much of a pattern.

Messy is good!

Repeat the wrapping a third time with the blue yarn. You’ll notice that some of my cardboard is peeking out.

Step 3: Wrap the legs.

After the body is done, do the same yarn-wrapping routine on each pair of legs. Wrap the green, red, and blue yarn and snugly tuck in the tails at each end.

You’ll need to loop some of the yarn through the slots to cover the top section, but don’t use so many loops that the legs won’t fit on the body. My yarn was pretty squishy, so it all fit together fine.

Step 4: Attach the legs.

This step is pretty self-explanatory. Slide the slots together to attach the legs to the body of the goat.

Colorful Christmas decorating

I picked these colors for my yarn because it matches my other Christmas decor. I think it’s fun and festive, but choose whatever colors match your decorations.

My Yule goat looks at home next to my colorful tomten Christmas gnomes on the shelves.

He blends in with the sweater Christmas tree that I purchased last year too. Who would’ve thought that bright red, green, and blue would make such interesting camouflage?

What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:

• Christmas Gnome Printable Wall Art
• DIY 12 Days of Christmas Countdown Calendar
• Merry and Bright Cookie Exchange Party with Printables