This post is mostly about making a Pom Pom and how easy they are to make. The hat itself is a simple basic knitted winter hat that takes only a day or two to make if you use a chunky wool yarn.

I’ve learnt to make pom poms from my grandmothers long ago and haven’t made one in years. This pink hat clearly asked for a huge fluffy pom pom so I made one.

It’s very simple. You cut two rounds from a sturdy material like cardboard. The size of the round dictates the size of your pom pom and the inner circle dictates the fullness. The larger the center hole, the fuller the pom pom (fits more yarn).

You put these two rings together and spin the yarn around the inner and outer perimeter. You can use several colours if you want a multicoloured pom pom. Use a lot of yarn as the more yarn you spin into it, the fuller the pom pom will be. Just don’t do so much that it becomes impossible to tie it together.

Once you have the yarn tied to the frame, you cut along the outer perimeter, between the two circles, all round. Sharp scissors are needed.

Then you take a long piece of yarn and slide it between the two rings and tie it very tightly.

After that you cut open the cardboard rings from the edge to the center so you can manouvre the pom pom out of its mold.

Finish the pom pom by giving it a trim with sharp scissors and cut all the yarns to the same lenght, a bit of a barbering is needed here.

If you want to make it very fluffy, boil water in a pan and hold the pom pom over the boiling water for a few seconds on each side. This fluffs up the fibers and makes for a very fluffy pom pom. You can trim it again with scissors after this.

Pom poms make great gifts, you can make them into keychains or anything. Or attach them to clothes. I’ve made them from reflecting yarn in the past to hang on clothes for darker months. A great way to use leftover yarn as well.