Great big, colourful, fluffy pompoms are the perfect way to top off your favourite knit and crochet beanies. This tutorial was written up for the Chunky Marl Pompom Beanie – Free Knitting Pattern but it will work great with lots of other projects too. It is the perfect size for bulky and chunky sized beanies and hats. Here is the method I use to get a fun, fluffy, oversized yarn pom for the top of my hats.
Yarn
For this tutorial I am using 2 strands of worsted weight wool to match my Basic Chunky Beanie (coming soon), I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Bamboo and Wool of the Andes Tweed in Olive to get this awesome colour combo. I love the yellow and green together with those tiny flecks of tweed.
Size
These pompoms measure 5.5″ (14 cm) and are super full, quick and easy.
Tools
These use tools that everyone has in their home. Find yourself 2 empty toilet paper rolls or a paper towel roll cut in half. If you are planning on making a lot of poms you’ll want something a little more heavy duty. I use a wrapping paper roll that has a little more strength and structure to it (I upgraded to this find after a bulk hat order). The diameter of the rolls I use are 1.75″. Anything close to this size is perfect. You will also need a good pair of sharp scissors because you’ll be cutting a lot of strands at the same time.
Wrap the Yarn
Hold the rolls together side by side and start wrapping yarn around them, keep it fairly loose, you’ll need to remove those rolls later. I do about 90 wraps when wrapping 2 strands at a time, but you can do a few more if you want a really dense pompom or a few less if you want to keep it light weight. You can add more colour by wrapping additional colour strands, wrap 3 strands 60 times or 4 strands 45 times… you get the idea.
Tie Your Pompom
When you are done wrapping it is time to tie it off. I use 2 strands of yarn for big bulky pompoms for a little extra strength. Cut 2 strands of yarn about 18″ (46 cm) long and put them together to form a double strand. Holding your rolls lengthwise, bring the strands behind the wrapped yarn and wedge each end between the two rolls to encircle center of the wrapped yarn.
Tie a loose knot (which will be tightened in a sec) and gently slip the rolls out of the wrapped yarn, keeping the tied strands in the middle. Now tighten your knot, hold it down with your finger (or better, someone else’s finger) so you can tie a second knot. For extra strength you can wrap the yarn one more time around the wrapped yarn and tie another double knot.
Cut the Loops
Using a pair of good sharp scissors start cutting your loops. Hold the tie strands and start going around the pompom making sure you get every loop, give a little tug with the scissors before snipping to get the cut in the centre of the loop and keep the strands even.
Finishing
When done, go around the pompom again with your scissors and give it a bit of a haircut, looking at it from every angle and snip any strands that are too long.
You are done! Use the tie yarn to attach your big bulky pompom to your Chunky Marl Pompom Beanie, or any other amazing creation that you are working on.
Thanks so much for checking out this tutorial, I hope you enjoyed it and are winding up lots of awesome colourful pompoms. I would love to see how you are using them! Leave a comment, share a pic or tag me on instagram @handknithugs #bigfluffypompom
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