The Mystery Thing Revealed: It's a Ya-Ya!!!

No, not the kind of ya-ya that Patti LaBelle made famous.  Perhaps I should explain...

For this week's Mystery Thing challenge, I whipped up some cute fabric yo-yos:

Very easy to make from any fabric round.  (Yo-yo tutorial here.)  However, I believe that these particular ones should actually be called ya-yas.  Why?  Because I made them out of these:

Vintage yarmulkes!

I came into possession of a huge trove of vintage kippahs, or yarmulkes.  They are Jewish skullcaps, and can come in a fascinating variety of styles and fabric.

They're always the same shape, though (top-of-the-head round), making them perfect for yo-yo-ing.  Many are stamped with celebratory events:

Some, not quite so celebratory...

News to me: they come in hat sizes!

Aren't they lovely?  I am having so much fun finding uses for my ya-yas.

I just love how the ornamental border on this handknit one forms a decorative center:

I also made some folded wrist cuffs, a bit of Victorian cuteness:

And now, the winners!  Congrats to the first and only correct guesser: Clanger.  You are one smart cookie, Clanger, and this week you take first prize - your choice of any of these yarmulkelicious creations.  I had my mom choose the random number winner, and hooray, it's Elischa!  And then I just had to give one extra prize to the one who made me laugh longest: andhisband, who said, "My god, woman, you've killed an old priest and stolen his Lenten vestments!"*  You shall all receive an email from me anon.

Thanks ten million for guessing, everybody!  There were some hysterical guesses.  (We all need to start making things from bra cups and hot water bottles.  And anyone have a source for bloomers?   Because I want to craft with them.)

Another Mystery Thing is coming up soon, so be sure to come back and play again!


*Note: no priests, rabbis or religious persons of any faith were harmed in the making of this blog post.