How to Make a Pompom With 2 Colors of Yarn

Single-color pompoms are practically de rigueur for handmade winter hats, scarves and sometimes gloves as well. If you want to add a little extra punch to your accent piece, consider introducing a second or third color into those fun pompoms. Use sharply contrasting colors for extra interest, or use several shades of the same color for more subtle texturing.

• Scissors
• 2 colors of yarn
• 1 10-inch length of either color yarn
• Cardboard (optional)

Note: If you don't want to wrap the yarn around the fingers of one hand, you can cut a piece of cardboard to about the same size instead.

You still make a pompom the same basic way, no matter how many colors will be in it: Wrap the yarn repeatedly around all four fingers of one hand or a piece of cardboard – the more you wrap the yarn, the fuller the final pompom will be.

Slide the bundle of yarn wraps carefully off your fingers or the cardboard and tie the loose piece of yarn tightly around its middle. Snip through the top and bottom of the wraps and fluff the resulting fringe into a pompom shape. Trim carefully around the edges to make it even.

If you want your pompom to be multicolored, stop winding once you're about halfway through. Trim the end of the yarn even with the edge of your hand or your piece of cardboard. Then continue wrapping in the same direction with the second color of yarn. You should make about 30 to 40 wraps in total, but there's no need to keep exact count; feel free to estimate. Once the pompom is wrapped to the desired fullness, tie its middle, snip the ends and trim it just as you would for a single-color pompom.

You can use this technique to add as many colors as you like, just give each color of yarn a roughly equal number of wraps around your hand. The more times you wrap any given color of yarn around your hand, the stronger its presence will be in the finished pompom.

If you'd like a multicolored pompom with the colors mixed evenly together, wrap both colors of yarn around your hand or the cardboard piece at the same time. Finally, if you use variegated, printed or otherwise multicolored yarn, your pompom will automatically be multicolored – no need to change colors as you wrap.