how to … pompom and Co #1 …

Pompoms, tassels, curls …. even so many possibilities to finish a hat, scarf or shawl and give it a special touch. Even a dull colored hat can change dramatically depending on the pompom, its color or other embellishments.

How to make a pompom

Copy the circle above on a piece of cardboard and cut it out. Cut a 2nd one too. You need to make the circle a little larger than you want your pompom to be. I made  cardboard circles with a diameter of  8 cm / 3”. The pompom will be 8 cm / 3 ” – or less depending on how much yarn you will cut away to even it.

Hold the 2 cardboard circles together with the slits at the same side.

Wind the yarn all over the           Use different colors if you         The more you wind the
cardboards.                                  like.                                               fuller the pompom.
                                

Starting at one of the slit           Take care not to lose any       Cut a piece of yarn 
ends of the circle, slide your      yarn, so hold the middle        (± 20 cm / 8”) and 
scissors in between the two       area of the circle firmly.         slide it in between
cardboard layers and cut                                                            the cardboard layers and
through all the yarn wrapped                                                    tie very tightly.
around the top. 

                      
Remove the cardboard circles and even the pompom with scissors.

 

A pompom can be made with anything yarn-like. Fun-fur, Fantasy yarn, Eyelash yarn, Novelty yarn: it has lot of names. I had some balls of that fun-fur in my stash for years and finally found a use for it.

How to make a fun-fur pompom

If you tried to make a pompom in the usual way with cardboard and sciccors (see above) you will see that making a pompom in Fun-fur is even easier. No need for cardboard and scissors at all.

        
Wind the fun-fur around                  When it is thick enough, 
your fingers.                                       break the yarn.
                                

       
Cut a piece of matching                   (it doesn’t really look like a 
cotton or wool and tie it very          pompom now). Gently pull
tightly in the middle.                        out the fur with your fingers 
(Notice that I used the fun-              to give it the fluffy look.
fur to tie, but it’s better to
use a smooth yarn for this,
believe me)

                      
Ready to attach to your hat or scarf or to anything you like.

BTW: this is my latest pattern: Prpl rain is a set containing a beanie and a long, vintage-like, narrow scarf, both with a very easy stitch pattern that is very useful to use with variegated yarns. It effectively breaks up the ‘pooling’ in these gorgeous skeins by the use of lots of yarn overs. It equally looks good in solid or semi-solids.

Check it out here

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