Two Tone Pom Pom Tutorial

Hey everyone, it's Deja from CrochetEverAfter.com. Today I'm going to show you how to make this super easy two-tone pom-pom with the Clover Pom-Pom Maker. So, the Clover Pom-Pom Maker. It looks kind of difficult, it looks like a weird contraption, but it makes these really great pom-poms. So this is what the package looks like, this is the larger pom-poms, but if you want to buy these, this is what you're going to be looking for. I reviewed this pom-pom maker, and as I reviewed it, I realized I could do a lot of really cool pom-poms with it, so I'm making a little series of all these different pom-poms we can make. So this is the two tone. Very simple to make with this machine, so let's get started with how you're going to do it. So the Clover pom-pom tool, it's a two-piece setup machine. See, there's a little bar right in the middle that you push these together to get your full machine that you're going to use. And it has arms. It has four total, but you're going to use two at the same time. They have to put them separate because the whole thing has to come apart. So, it's a really simple tool to use once you get used to it. The first time was a little difficult. You can check out my review to see. I made one for the very first time during the review, so you could see trying to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do was a little tricky the first time, but now it's super simple. Um, I'm doing one side completely in one color, so I'm going to use white. I used one strand, I found that's the easiest, fastest way to do this because you want to keep, and I'm just going to hold the tail in the same hand that I'm holding my machine. And then I'm going to start wrapping from one end to the other. And I'm not going to worry too much about them being completely next to each other, because this inner curve is smaller than the outer curve, it's a little difficult to do. So I'm just going to start making one single layer, and then I'm going to come back and fill in those spots. Now the reason I'm using one strand instead of Speeding it up with two or three, I found that if you have your yarn twisted, so if you have like three strands of yarn and they're all twisted together, your pom-pom is a lot more uneven when you're done. So if you check out the tutorial review that I have, you'll see I have a couple different pom-poms that I did, some with the twisted up yarn so you can see how uneven it came out. So I found that the single strand is the fastest and easiest because it keeps everything nice and lined up as if I was using three strands, because I could use three strands but I need to keep them flat and in line as I'm weaving and that ends up getting a really big tangled mess down here because they all want to wind and I have to unwind it as I go. So the single strand is way easier. And I found that I can fill this up a lot. So basically, I'm going to keep going back and forth until this little divot is almost flat. So I just keep winding, kind of fill in the spaces that look a little sparse. It's a little hard to see with the white. It'll be easier with the red that I'm doing for the other side. But you just keep going back and forth until that divot fills up nice and you can do less. You can do if you don't want your pom-pom as thick, but I think most people like the pom-poms nice and thick. Also because this is a two-part machine where one side of your pom-pom is made on this side and the other is made on this side, one way to keep them consistent so that you don't have a real poofy side here and a real sparse side on this side is to count how many times So, I obviously was not counting because I've been talking, but if I wanted a really good looking pom-pom, I would count how many times I've wound this yarn around. So, when I think I've got enough, I want to close it before I cut it just to make sure that my arms are touching. If they're not touching, unwind a little. If you think you can go more, you can wind more if you want, but just close and make sure your arms touch because you want them to be able to close completely, and then you can cut your yarn. So I cut it the same height as my pom-pom, so that way it will blend in good and it's one less thing I have to cut. And then I'm going to start with the red on the other side. So I open up my two arms with my loop facing down, facing up, I'm kidding. So I hold it, and again I start going back around, same thing as the white. So remember, count your wraps to get a really nice, even pom-pom, that'll help. Let's do the same thing that I did on the other side. So I won't bore you with all of the wrapping because I gave you all the tips on the first side. I'll just come back when this is almost completely done and then we'll cut it and move on. Okay, you can see that my pom-pom is pretty much filled up. Looking good. Make sure I can close it. Everything's touching so I'm good. So I'll just leave it closed and I'm going to cut it there. Don't worry about your extra tails that you have right here. You're going to have a couple more once you tie this off so you can just leave them for now. But now it's time to cut. So this is the important part. This is the part where you're going to make the pom-pom. When you're doing it, a couple things. Do it over a trash can, because you're going to get a lot of fuzzies falling off of this thing. So if you're doing it on a pair of black pants, you're going to be covered in fuzzies, you can see. So do this part over the trash can. It'll be a lot less messy. You'll see all the fuzz that accumulates down here in a second. Also, you need really sharp scissors. Nice, pointy, sharp scissors at the top, because you're only going to stick that first half inch, maybe, under your yarn. So you have that divot, remember the arms were in two pieces, you have a divot between the arms that you're going to be cutting. Hold your arms down. That's what I like to do. I like to hold the arms down on the opposite end because once you cut this, these are just strands of yarn that are being held in place by these arms. So you don't want to accidentally pop those up because your strands will shift and you'll have a lopsided pom-pom. Ask me how I know. But this is very sturdy. It's not going to open on its own. But just to help so you don't accidentally knock it open, just hold on to it. So start at one end and just start cutting right down the center. See how it's starting to look pom-pom-y. One side and do the other side. So I'm going to hold down the arms again, cutting. And we're almost done. We're almost ready to make our pom-pom. The next thing we need to do is to join it though. So I need some yarn. You can use either thread or yarn. I'm just going to use a piece of my white yarn. To tie my pom-pom together, because remember, these are still loose strands of yarn. We can't open our machine, or we will just have a bunch of nicely equal-length yarn. If you need equal-length yarn for any reason, this is a good machine for that, too. So, we put the yarn through that divot, and then we're going to tie a double knot. Remember, we just have that middle metal post that holds this whole thing together, so we're going to tie all the way to that post. So you'll see, as I tie... My yarn goes inside the machine, so it pulls it apart slightly so that you can get right next to that post to tie it. Don't pull too tight on the yarn, because I've broken my yarn a couple times pulling so tight, but pull pretty tight so that it will be nice and secure and tied right as close as possible to your yarn. So I'm all tied off, now I'm going to cut my yarn. If you're going to be using your yarn to attach, Your pom-pom, you can leave it nice and long so you can just tie, double knot it straight to whatever you're making. If you don't need the length of the yarn, just cut it right off the same size as your pom-pom. And now I'm going to cut these extra pieces off before I open my pom-pom. It's just easier to see the same length of everything here. And you can see I'm already getting fuzz down here. I'm going to make more fuzz right now. So I'm going to open up my arms. And I'm just going to kind of dust this a little bit to get all the fuzz off. Do this before you attach it to your project so you don't have all this fuzz sticking to whatever you're making. All that fuzz that's coming off, that will stick to you if you don't do this over a trash can. And I'll do the other side. It's not as noticeable unless you're on dark clothing. And now I'm ready to make my pom-poms. I'm going to take both sides. I just probably got a bunch of red fuzz. I'm going to take both sides and I'm going to open it up. And you'll see it's kind of flat in the middle from where the pom-pom was, so I just take it in my hands and I kind of roll it around and poof it up everywhere. And you'll see that I now have my two-tone pom-pom. Pretty cute, huh? These are probably great cat toys as well. So, I just take my scissors, because usually kind of just a couple spots, you'll see that a couple pieces of yarn will be taller than the rest. So just take your scissors and kind of trim it. Don't get too over-ambitious trying to get all of your pieces, though, otherwise you'll probably end up with a hairless pom-pom, because I know when I start trimming, I want to keep trimming. Oh, enough for now. But that's how you're going to make your two-tone pom-pom. It's super easy with this machine because you have those two designated sides, so I really like this clover pom-pom tool for that. But I'm doing a whole series of different kinds of pom-poms, so make sure you check out the rest of them for some pretty cool-looking pom-poms. But if you have any questions or comments, leave them below and thank you for watching.