How to Repair A Pom Pom or Make a Fur Pom Pom

For some reason I'm totally awful at making pom poms. I've mentioned this before and I know you didn't believe me, so now I want to show you proof.

This is the lovely Reversible Smocked Hat by Elisa McLaughlin. I loved the pattern so much, I made two. I never make two of anything! (not even socks, uh-oh). I made this version with Rowan Kid Classic.

So, you can see there is a marvelous pom pom on top, right? And man, did I show it off like a total pom pom dork! I seriously thought I had conquered my pom pom problems once and for all. Here is some of what I wrote in my Ravelry project:

I did a mega pompom tutorial with myself before embarking on this incredibly dense and wonderful pompom... Anyone who has seen me make a pompom in the past has laughed in derision. WELL, I am now an expert.

Oh, gawd.

The pom pom had become a convoluted mess.  

Pieces were sliding out of the center LIKE A BAD HERNIA. I was always pushing them back in before every wear, only to have them herniate out the other side.

A lot of us assume that because we cut up a pom pom, it is unfixable.  I decided to test this.

I removed all the pieces and piled them up neatly into a nice healthy moustache. 

I even managed to salvage the longer piece of yarn that had "held it together" (use these words loosely), and laid them all on top of it.

Then I tied them together again... REALLY HARD. Also, I used the gift-wrap ribbon technique where you hold your finger on the knot until the very end, aiming to guillotine my finger. I then used a doubled piece of thread over the entire binding and tied it even tighter.

Obviously the pom pom won't be as big as the first time, as you have to re-trim all the ends, but hey! Look at this guy! Surgery success!

I got to thinking, though, what about avoiding my pom pom issues all together?  Fur pom poms are all the rage. The bigger the better. Here is a mondo I-Don't-Want-To-Know-The-Cost-Of one that the lovely Lost In Knit just blogged from Free People.

It turns out that I have tons of old fur lying around. Old hats, collars, trims, vintage, new, fake, real... I got to messing around with an old pair of rabbit earmuffs.

And what do you know, the ear was removable, and even had a handy elastic sewn into it!

I stuffed it with some polyester fiberfill... very aptly named:

Then I sewed the midpoint of the two sides together with a doubled thread.

Then I gathered the opposite sides in to make more of a rounded ball (it ended up being a muffin top shape, in the end).  

I'm not sure how long the fur will last, it was already rubbing away on the earmuffs, but I'm very happy with how it came out!

And now I am really eyeing what I should do with this pretty fluffy thing that ripped apart years ago...

See my It's a Total Smock-out on Ravelry