My trip to Denver was very successful! Over a hundred people had a wonderful time making tassels and pompons at the Denver Public Library. I think what's fun about the projects are they're easy to make and you see results so quickly. For those of you who weren't able to join us for the event in Denver, here's a short tutorial on how to make pompons.
Your first step is to choose a yarn that has some loft to it. The ball or cone should feel spongy or springy to the touch and have some give to it. Then you're going to choose something to wrap the yarn around. I chose a mini-DV tape box. The larger form you use, the more yarn you'll need to make the pompon fluffy. Wrap the form with the yarn until you have a nice bulky hank on it.
Next, slide the hank off the form and tie it tightly around the middle so you have loops on both side of the tie. It's important to use a strong yarn or string for tying your pompon. It has to be tied tightly and it puts a lot of pressure on the yarn.
Once it's tied, cut the loops on both sides
And fluff out the pompon
It's going to look sort of lop-sided initially, so you'll need to give it a haircut to even it out. It makes a bit of a mess, so it's best to cut it over a plate or tray. Leave the tails from the tie on it to attach to your project.
My friend Marisa Pawelko is putting together an event for the Craft and Hobby Association summer trade show, CHA, to raise awareness of the delicate balance of the worlds oceans and has asked me to help by making two projects for it - one for the home and one to wear. Inspired by the pompon my friend Trish wore in her hair at the Denver event, I decided to make a pompon headband for the latter
...and a key tassel for the former.
If you'd like to learn how to make tassels have a look at this video on the subject from several years ago:
Hello people, This week on the show
it's all about gifts we make ourselves. I'm making two different gifts
on this week's episode - tassels and apricot cherry cordial fruit sauce.
Tassels are very simple to make. You'll need:
Yarn in different colors
A card that's about an inch longer than the length of your finished tassel
Scissors
A latch hook or crochet hook
Start by winding your yarn around
the card until you have a good hank of it collected. Cut off the tail
and slide the hank off the card keeping the center open. Then reel off a
good long piece of matching or contrasting yarn - at least 4 feet - and
double it twice and twist it until it starts coiling back on itself.
Grasp the center between your teeth and fold it in half and let it twist
into a cord. Tie it in a loop and loop it through the center of your
yarn hank making sure the knot is lost among the yarn in the hank and
pull it tight. Tie matching or contrasting yarn tightly around the top
of your hank close to the hanging loop and then begin to wrap it around
snugly until you have about a half inch of it evenly girdling the
tassel. Cut and then tie the end of the yarn to the tail left when you
first tied the yarn on the tassel, then with your hook pull the tails up
under the wrapped yarn.
Apricot Cherry Cordial Fruit Sauce is quite simple as well. You'll need:
1 cup dried apricots cut in quarters
½ cup sugar
10 oz jar maraschino cherries
1 cup vodka
Combine the apricots, sugar and
cherries with their juice in your blender until well blended, then add
the vodka and blend again. Remove the mixture to a jar and let marinate,
inverting the jar regularly, for two weeks or until all the sugar is
dissolved. Present in a tall pointy bottle with a white pompon on the
cork to create a Santa hat.
Here are a few other projects that are perfect for holiday gift giving:
