Sharon Wollman of SM Wollman Designs (you remember her--she used to make pumpkins out of vintage needlepoint) shows off her Santa's beard, made the easy way with Gloriana Lorikeet wool.
Basically, you secure the thread on the back side, come up where you want a coil of beard to start, separate one ply from the bundle of nine, then holding that single ply, slide the rest down toward the canvas. It'll bunch up and twist. Put it on your canvas, poke and prod it into position, then couch down so it stays.
Sharon used Gloriana's 9 ply wool called Lorikeet in their "Winter White" color, but Gloriana has a lot of shades of white, brown, tan, charcoal, gray, etc. to use for animal fur as well as beards and hair. I really like Lorikeet myself. It's the thinnest wool you can get these days and perfect for all sorts of touches on people or animals.
After the beard, Sharon moved on to Santa's hair. This is what it looks like.
This is done in messy basketweave. Barbara from Barbara's Needlepoint demonstrates how to achieve this look in a video Sharon posted. Basically you simply do basketweave but don't pull all the stitches tight. They'll twist and raise up off the canvas. With the right wool-look thread, you too can have hair that looks like you forgot your comb!
The next lesson is twisted lazy daisy stitch, done with two threads (Wisper and Lorikeet again) and two needles. It makes an adorable sheep!
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© Copyright September 11, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
