This week is a pretty busy week for my town, my family, and especially my sister. Every year my town hosts the National Outdoor Show (this year is the 73rd). Our sister town in Louisiana hosts the Outdoor Show as well but for those of you who have never been able to experience this lovely event please allow me to explain.
I typed this a couple of times trying to find the best words, The Outdoor Show is simply the most redneck event I have ever attended. It's spread out over Friday through Sunday, each day bringing different things to try. Saturday and Sunday are full of competitions such as muskrat skinning and eating, oyster shucking, log sawing (In case you were wondering my friend Jasmine and I hold the title of log sawing champ from 2012 to 2015), duck and turkey calling, etc. This year we are even having a documentary made about the scrapple we serve. It's all around incredible.
The best part is the Friday of we set aside all the weird things you can do to have a beauty pageant. While beauty pageants are really not my style my younger sister loves them. This year she is tap dancing in it and I am in charge of helping her back stage. The women back there are a little catty so wish me luck.
Anyway the reason I am telling you this is because the Outdoor Show has asked me to make some beanies and now seemed like the perfect time to do a little pompom lesson.
Yarn pompoms are my go to. I like fur poms as well but I'm cheap and something about making my own is kind of relaxing. My mom taught me how to make them in a bowling alley and it has just stuck with me.
I took these pictures in a bowling alley for extra effect.
So if you're using bulky yarn like I am in this picture, you should wrap it around your hand about 50 to 75 times. Tight but not so tight that you cut your fingers off. If you're using worsted weight yarn wrap it around your hand 200 - 250 times. Cut yarn whenever you feel you have enough.
Gently, or not gently depending on the mood your in slide all the wrapped yarn off your hand. You'll end up with a cute little ball of yarn, try to keep it in the shape it's in. Then cut a piece of yarn about a foot in a half.
Take the yarn you cut and wrap it around your ball, going against the yarn not with the yarn. I like to tie it on one side, flip it over tie it again, and flipping back to tie it one more time while trying to keep the knot as tight as humanly possible.
Now before we start cutting, get a Walmart bag. Small pieces of yarn all over your floor will not make you very happy.
Start cutting each loop of yarn right in the middle. don't worry about trimming it down until all of the yarn is free.
This is the fun part, the actual trimming. Be careful because it is really easy to become scissor happy. Before you start cutting think about the kind of pompom you want. For any hat I am making that is not sports related I like to make the poms short, tight and compact. For sports beanies I like to make the pompoms a little longer and looser, it gives it a wild look. Whatever works for you is best!
The pompom I made is short and compact.
Here's your perfect pompom for your project! To attach the pompom I cut along piece of yarn and use my yarn needle to weave one side into the middle of the pom and through the other side. Then I weave both ends of the yarn through my hat or whatever else I am making.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I hope it helps a lot!
Stay tuned for more Outdoor Show inspired patterns and stories, there will definitely be more to come.
Happy hooking!
