POM POM VALENTINE GARLAND

It was such lazy day today, it was perfect for messing around in my craft room.  I wanted to make a Valentine's Day decoration for my newly renovated office!

First - the office.  I've worked in the same school district for over 30 years.  In all that time, and with all the construction and upgrades over the years, I've never had the joy of experiencing it in my classroom or in my office.  When I was an elementary teacher, they put in carpet after I left.  At the middle school, again I left before any upgrades started.  Same scenario at the two high schools I've worked at... until this past week.  Our office is being updated and now my office has tackboard on one complete wall AND new, beautiful carpet and window shades!  I'm in heaven!

So, now, with shades rather than vertical blinds, I can put things on the window sills and (hopefully) string a banner over the shades, or at the very least, across the tackboard.

When trolling through Pinterest over the holidays, I saw lots of pictures of pom poms.  I've always loved pom poms and made about 20 of them for all the knit hats I made as Christmas presents.  I did them all the "old-fashioned" way - winding the yarn around my hand 50 times and then tying it in the middle and cutting through it.  But after viewing some of the Pins, I looked into buying a pom pom maker.  With a 40% off coupon for my favorite fabric store, it wasn't a big deal if it didn't work.

I started with some leftover white yarn and made a few.  Once I figured out how to work the little contraption, it was easy.  I think it probably took me about five minutes for each one.  I loved how even the edges are and they come out perfectly round.  I went and bought some more yarn in Valentine's Day colors.  I had some leftover fabric from another project so I used strips of that as well, and I'm pleased with the result.  Fifteen poms, some twine and that's it!  Garland done! 

Here are the steps for using this little contraption:

These come in many sizes.  I chose the "Large" package and used the smaller of the two tools.  The poms were about 2 inches in diameter when done.

Open up both arms of one side and wrap the yarn around it.  Make it thick if you want a full pom.

Cut the yarn, close that side, then do the same for the other two arms.

When both sides are wrapped and closed, use sharp scissors to cut through the center of both sides.  Because there is a space there, it's easy.

Cut a 6 - 8 inch piece of yarn and wrap it around where you cut.  Pull it TIGHT and tie it in a knot.

Open the arms and pull the two sections apart.  Then trim as needed.  

I trimmed the piece used to tie it together as well because I strung the poms together using twine and needle.  If you're going to tie them to something, don't trim the ties.

I combined this garland with another I made earlier.  (Directions posted in this blog.)