From the Stitch Library…How to Make A Pom Pom

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How To Make A Pom Pom

By Jennifer Dickerson

This is one of the easiest ways to make a pom pom.  This tutorial is so super simple and requires minimal tools, no special gadgets required!  Pom poms are so cute added to your knitting and crochet projects and add a bit of whimsy.  Use them on hats, throw pillows, make a garland out of them or put them on the ends of a scarf!

To make a pom pom, all you need is yarn of your choice, a pair of sharp scissors, and a ruler (optional):

Begin by cutting a length of yarn about 12 inches long (exact measurement not necessary, just make sure it’s not too short–better to be too long than too short),

Holding the yarn like so in your fingers,

Begin winding it around two fingers for a smaller pom pom…

and around three fingers for a larger pom pom.  If you want a larger one, go up to four fingers, just be sure as you go up in size to wrap more yarn around, to keep it from looking too loose.

Once you get a full bundle of yarn in your hand (I would this about 100 times), slip the the length of yarn you cut through your bundle without removing it from your hand and tie off very tightly and securely.  You will end up with something that looks like this:

Cut all of the loops of the pom pom until it looks like this:

Note: this pom pom is a bit looser, if a denser pom pom is what you desire, simple wind more yarn around your hand before tying off.  Now for my favorite part!  Give your pom pom a “haircut” and snip until ends are uniform.  For this pom pom I cut it back a bit more to make it looks fuller.  The more you snip back, the fuller/denser the pom pom will be too.

There you have it…very simple.  You can now leave the tails on the pom poms if you want to tie them to something, as shown here:

Or you can snip the tails if you’d like to glue them to something, as shown here.

I experimented with some different yarns to make these, try several for yourself too!  I used baby yarn for the yellow one and it was particularly interesting because it turned out to be extremely fuzzy, almost like a cotton ball.  These are so fun!  

© Jennifer Dickerson 2012

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4 thoughts on “From the Stitch Library…How to Make A Pom Pom

    1. Yes, it is a lot of fun experimenting with different yarns…some make a "fuzzier" pom pom…it also matters how many times you wrap the yarn around your hand, the more times you wrap, the denser it will be. Wrap it less times and you'll get a looser looking pom pom.

  1. I just love all of your tutorials and patterns! Thank you for sharing all of them and also for their simplicity so that everyone can understand how to recreate them. ~Hugs, Patti

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