I was originally going to title this post "What to do when you are at home sick and have lots of yarn scraps", but it was too long and sounded like I was still high from all the cold medication I've been taking. :) But really, this past Saturday, I was at home with a stuffy nose and watery eyes and could barely focus on any knitting project. My son was also sick with the same symptoms, so we were all cooped up at home feeling miserable and wanting to do something fun. My son saw a few pieces of leftover yarn I had from a recent project and asked me to make a braid for him (I had made a few braids for him in the past). I was getting ready to do so when I remembered that I had lots more scrap yarn, and could make something super fun out of them - POMPOMS! He was super excited because he's usually not allowed to touch my yarn, and PomPoms sounded new and fun! (Oh to be 2 years old again! Everything new is exciting!).

I had a lot of yarn scraps..really, quite a bit. In December, I bought a $2 glass jar from Goodwill to store them and add to my display for the Bazaar Bizarre Fair.

For my pompoms, I used the Clover Pompom Maker (see picture below). I got mine from Joann but you can also find it online on Amazon.

I had a lot of fun making my pompoms. Are you ready for the pompom explosion? Here we go!!

You don't need to buy a pompom maker to make your own pompoms though. Before I knew there were pompom makers, I used to hack my own little cardboard pieces together. I thought I'd share a bit of my process with you.

Supplies and tools needed Yarn scraps

Old piece(s) of cardboard (I used an old Kleenex box)

A pen

A pair of scissors

A large bowl/mug

A smaller bowl/mug (or in my case, a spice bottle)

First, gather your pieces of scrap yarn together. You don't need them to be of the same color. You can group them by color family, yarn thickness, or how you are feeling today. :) I sort of went with the flow when making my pompoms. For this tutorial, I picked a teal and muted orange yarn scraps for my pompoms.

Next place your larger bowl/mug on the cardboard and draw a large circle. Use the spice jar/smaller mug to draw a smaller circle inside the larger one.

Cut the drawing out to get just a large round circle (with the inner circle still intact). Now fold the circle into two and cut out the inner circle. Once that is done, cut the cardboard into 2 so you have two moon pieces (see pictures below).

Get an 8 to 10-inch piece from the yarn scraps you'll be using for the pompom, and insert it between the two halves of the cardboard, holding them pretty tightly together. Then start wrapping the yarn around the two cardboard pieces. I held the two yarns together so they would be distributed evenly. If you wrap one color first, then the next, you'll get more of a striped or color -block/blob effect.

Once you are done wrapping all the yarn, hold the piece tightly, and tie a loose knot with the 8-inch piece you previously inserted between the cardboard pieces. Open the two cardboard pieces slightly so you can insert your scissors.

Cut the strands along the circular edge of the cardboard pieces. Once you are done cutting, tighten the knot you made so the pompom puffs out.

Remove the cardboard halves (if they haven't fallen out by now) and tie around the pompom again to secure the knot. (I wrap and tie multiple times to use up as much of the 8-inches as I possibly can).