Thursday, January 9, 2014

How to make pom poms from yarn

So you want to know how to make yarn pom poms...for perhaps garland or a wreath.   Today I'm going to show you how to make these easy pom poms and tomorrow I'm going to share a great way to use them.

You can make yarn pom poms in many different sizes by varying what you wrap the yarn around.  I wanted mine to be about the size of a baseball so I wrapped the yarn around a large serving fork.  I also made them by wrapping the yarn around four fingers (sans the thumb) and they came out about the same size as the fork method. The only drawback to that method is your hand is quite literally tied up so it's a little more difficult to work one-handed.

For the sake of this post, I'm going to assume you're using the fork method so I'll be referring to that throughout.  Start by looping the end of the yarn through the fork spokes keep the loose end to the side. 
You want this part left out so you have something to tie to the other end after you're done wrapping.   Excuse my sweatpants...when you have to make 50+ yarn balls, you do it while relaxing on the couch in your comfies. 


Now just start wrapping the yarn around the fork....a lot.  I don't even know how many times, but maybe 50...75?  The more times you wrap the yarn around the fork, the fuller the yarn pom pom will be.  If you don't use enough yarn the pom pom will be very flimsy and not very full.


Once you've decided you've wrapped enough yarn around the fork, take the end still connected to the yarn ball and wrap it around the other way so you catch all the yarn wraps...basically it should look like a butterfly when you pull the ends tight.   I'm so bad at explaining this...hopefully the pictures make it easier to understand.    



Now pull that center piece as tight as possible.  Once it's nice and tight, cut it from the yarn ball and tie that loose end to the other loose end that you left out when you started wrapping.   This is what's going to hold all the yarn together after you cut it.   After you have it wrapped around there really tight pull the entire yarn 'butterfly' off the fork.



Now you have what kind of looks like a little donut.  Take a sharp pair of scissors and start cutting the loops to create the pom pom.  Cut all the way around the 'donut'.


When you're done, start fluffing the pom pom and at the same time making sure there are no loops left uncut.

Do not cut the two long pieces of yarn, you'll need them to attach your pom poms to whatever craft it is that you're going to use them for.  Repeat...repeat...repeat...repeat...repeat...repeat....


 I made a yarn pom pom wreath...which I'll be sharing on the blog tomorrow so be sure to check back then.  

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