In crafting, pom poms are fluffy balls, usually made of yarn, which are used for edging clothing, accessories, and other projects.
If you are new to knitting, you could buy pom poms; alternatively, they can be purchased in a knitting kit for beginners, which are available from online retailers such as woolcouturecompany.com.
They are also easy and fun to make yourself. If you fancy having a go, here are some methods for making pom poms:
The dinner fork method
Wind some yarn around the prongs of a dinner fork. Slip one end of the yarn through the middle of the fork. Bring the yarn up over the yarn ball wound around the prongs and tie it tightly. This should create two loops. Now open some scissors and wedge the blade between one of the loops and the fork and begin cutting, then cut the other side. You should now have something that is beginning to resemble a pom pom. You should fluff up your pom pom with your fingers and cut the longer strands of yarn to size with the rest of the strands. You now have a pom pom! This method is also possible with a carving fork if you want to make a much bigger pom pom or find the small prongs of a fork too fiddly.
The cardboard method
Wind your yarn around a piece of cardboard 75 times. Slip the yarn bundle off the cardboard and tie the centre of the bundle carefully – you don’t have anything stabilising it now, unlike with the fork method, so take care to not unbundle the yarn. Tie the centre extra tight. You will now have two loops. Put your fingers between the two loops and fluff them out. Slip your scissors into the loops and begin cutting, then do the same on the other side.