How to Make Yarn Puffs
Cheerleaders and ice skaters may be involved in two different sports but they both have a use for yarn puffs. These fluffy balls of yarn, also known as pompoms, can be tied to shoes, at the top of ice skates or used in a number of different craft projects. Yarn puff making is a beginner's craft, appropriate even for school-aged children. Make pompoms in school colors, or use a variety of yarns to create a rainbow effect.
Things You'll Need
- Thin cardboard or poster board
- Drinking glass
- Pencil
- Quarter
- Scissors
- 1 skein worsted-weight yarn
- Yarn needle
Instructions
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1
Place a drinking glass upside down on top of a piece of cardboard or poster board. Trace around the glass opening with a pencil. Move the glass and trace around it again, to create a pair of circles on the cardboard.
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2
Place a quarter on the cardboard in the center of one of the circles and trace around it with a pencil. Move the quarter to the middle of the other circle and trace around it.
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3
Cut out both circles. Cut out a hole in the middle of each circle by cutting out the smaller circle you made by tracing the quarter.
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4
Cut a piece of worsted-weight yarn about 3 feet long. Thread a yarn needle with the yarn, leaving a small tail.
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5
Place the two cardboard circles together. Hold the circles in your left hand. Lay the end of the yarn strand on top of the cardboard so that the end of the strand is even with the outer edge of the circle, and the rest of the strand hangs down toward the inner circle. Hold the strand in place with your left thumb.
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Push the yarn needle through the center hole and back up toward the outside edge of the circle with your right hand. Wrap the yarn around the circle and push the needle through the hole again in the same direction.
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7
Continue wrapping the yarn around and around the outside of the circle until the center hole is completely filled. When you reach the end of a yarn strand, clip it off even with the edge of the circle and start another one just like the first.
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8
Cut the top outside edge of the circle, cutting down until you can push the scissors in between the two cardboard circles. Cut all the way around the entire circle in this manner. The strands of yarn will puff out from the center circles on each side.
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9
Cut an 8-inch piece of yarn. Slide the yarn between the two cardboard circles. Pull the two ends of the yarn strand and tie it tightly into a square knot.
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10
Hold the long tied piece of yarn to stabilize the yarn puff. Pull one cardboard circle from the yarn, and then the other. If there is too much yarn and the cardboard won't come off, tear the cardboard circle to release the yarn.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are left handed, reverse hands in the above directions.
Make multi-colored yarn puffs by using more than one color of yarn.
References
- Photo Credit Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
