Which method should I use?

Choose your pompom-making method to suit your project

First, there’s the classic method using two cardboard rings – this is great for larger pompoms and the finished shape only needs a light trim. Here’s how:

Step 1 Cut two card rings the diameter you want for your pompom and a circle inside half as big. Cut a slit in each ring so it’s easier to get the yarn around them. Place the rings together and wrap yarn around.

Step 2 Keep wrapping until the rings are full. Step 3 Insert scissors between the rings and cut the yarn all around. Tie a new yarn length around the yarn bundle and remove the rings. Fluff up and trim lightly. You can use a similar method with a pompom-maker gadget. Another method involves using a fork for small pompoms, as follows:

Step 4 Wrap yarn around the outside of the prongs, then tie a length of yarn around the centre. Cut the yarn on both sides of the fork. Remove from the fork.

Step 5 At this point, you could trim the shape by eye until it’s a sphere, but that’s quite time-consuming. Instead, our top tip is to carefully flatten the shape, folding the lengths at the centre tie and arranging them like the shape you’d make when using card rings (see Step 2). Trim around the outside to form a circle, fluff up and trim again. This step makes it easier to create a sphere.

To make a lot of pompoms at once, use the ‘skein’ method. Here’s how:

Step 6 Wind yarn around a bowl or other cylindrical object, tie a piece of yarn around the bundle and remove it from the cylinder. It should resemble an untwisted yarn skein. Alternatively, to make life easier, use yarn already wound as a skein!

Step 7 Either leave the yarn in this loop, or flatten it and cut it at each end to make a straight length instead. We did this to make five lavender pompoms for our basket project (see page 85). Either way, the next step is to tie lengths of yarn around your bundle at the width you want for the pompoms. For example, for 3cm diameter pompoms, tie the lengths approx 3cm apart. At each end, you only need to leave half this width – 1.5cm in our example.

Step 8 Cut the yarn bundle in between each tie, to give you little bundles of yarn for your pompoms. Then repeat the process in Step 5 to form perfect little pompoms (our five lavender pompoms are shown below).