Some experiments in pompom making

I was overjoyed recently when I found out that one of my absolute favourite Japanese craft books was translated into English. I was in Dymocks when I came across a book entitled Make Your Own Cute and Easy Pompoms, which despite the differing cover art from the Japanese original, looked instantly familiar. Even though I already have the book in Japanese (because believe me when I say I try to get every single cute Japanese craft book in existence - but let's leave that for another blog post), I decided to get it in English too! Let's be honest, I buy the Japanese books for the pictures and inspirations, but I do manage much better with English instructions.

The book is filled with adorable pompom projects, ranging from flower pom poms, striped and polka dot pompoms, and my absolute favourite, which are food themed pompoms! The first project I made from the book was actually a team effort with my boyfriend. He asked me to teach him how to make pompoms on my trusty Clover Pompom makers, which I use to make all the poms for my range of knitted hats. This apple pompom was only his second attempt, can you believe it? The trick to the apple pom was wrapping a section of white, and then trimming it with scissors so it looks like a 'bite.' I helped my boyfriend with some of the trimming, and added a crochet leaf and a stem which I had left-over from another crochet project (more on that later).

I am so inspired to make more pompoms now! I want to make animal pompoms and little house pompoms, more fruit pompoms and burger pom poms and and and.... the list goes on! I will put pom poms on anything and everything. I want to have a ball pit made entirely of pom poms. I want to make a dress entirely from pompoms. I want to become an artist whose only medium is pom poms.

OK I am getting ahead of myself here. For now, I am thinking about making some fruit-themed pompoms on top of my Blythe hats, what do you think? In particular, I am thinking I can reinvent my "Cherry on Top" hat with a pom pom cherry complete with stem. I think that would be really cute. :-)