Pompom Maker Tutorial

My blog is now a month old! Thanks to everyone who has followed, visited and commented. I thought I’d mark the occasion with a little tutorial…nothing complicated (I haven’t written a tutorial before), but thought you might like to see how to use the pompom maker I used to complete the hat featured in yesterday’s post.

I can’t remember where I bought mine, but remember that they were very cheap and came in a pack of three in different sizes (2.5, 3 and 4 inches diameter)

Each one consists of two hinged rings, which both open out, once you’ve flipped the latch,

The two opened rings are placed on top of each other – there’s only one way they’ll sit together.

Then start winding the wool, securing the end as you go.

Continue until winding firmly around one half until it’s full and plump, then wind the yarn round the other half.

Keep winding until both sides are full, then cut the yarn.

Close the two halves together and flip the latch on both sides to hold the rings closed.

Pushing the scissor blade into the groove that runs between the two rings, snip the yarn, all the way round.

When you have cut all the way round it should look like this.

Cut a piece of yarn about 12 inches long, wind it twice round the central groove, pull tight and tie securely in a double knot (you’ll have left long enough tails to sew the pompom on to your garment).

Undo both latches and carefully open the rings to release the pompom.

And that’s all there is to it – just fluff up the pompom and snip away any longer pieces of yarn that are sticking out other than the tails you are using to attach it to your garment.

I used a chunky yarn on the small (2.5inch) pompom maker here but I much prefer the hat pompom I made yesterday using DK and the large (4 inch) maker. I think the chunkier the yarn, the bigger the pompom maker should be.

So…..much easier than cardboard discs, reusable, inexpensive and very quick to do.

Do you have a favourite gadget for your knitting and crafting?