The MonSTAR birthday party has been scaring up some squeals of delight with its yarn pom monsters. They are so cute and would be so perfect for a Monstar baby shower (someone please do this!!!) and would look frighteningly cute if used in a baby mobile, so we went straight to Kristy, the top Pug at The Purple Pug to find out how Monstar maker Mindy put together her monstrously adorable yarn pom creations at her party.
What you’ll need:
yarn
small, sharp scissors
wire cutters
a hot glue gun and glue sticks
googly eyes
any other fun crafts you have laying around like buttons
For this yarn monster project, chunky yarn, or thinner yarn will work perfectly. Do NOT use cotton yarn or fuzzy yarn-it will shed everywhere!
You can buy a pom pom maker for a few dollars at any local craft store. You set the dowels whatever width apart you would like for different sized pom poms. Hang it over the dowels. And then start winding… Helpful tip: If you don’t have a pom maker, you can also recreate this process by wrapping yarn around three or four of your fingers. Go back and forth when you wind so it stay pretty evenly thick. Do not wrap too tightly or it will be difficult to remove form the dowels. These pictures show first 15 then 80 rotations. The thicker the yarn, the less rotations you will need to make your yarn monster.
Next, cut a long piece of your yarn, as you will use this to tie your pom. If it is too long you can always cut it later. Next, take the piece of yarn you just cut and wrap it around the “waist” of the yarn. Do not tie a knot- just cross over and secure lightly so you can remove the yarn from the dowels (or fingers). Slide the yarn off the dowels and then knot the yarn piece tightly. You will still have the hanging ends. LEAVE them, as you can cut them later if you want.
Scissor time! Stick the blade in the center and start cutting down the middle. Try to stay centered so your pieces will be pretty even. Do not use your best scissors. They will take a beating when doing this. Helpful tip: Be AWARE of where your two yarn strings are when you are cutting. You do not want to cut them off by accident! Keep cutting around the circle of yarn.
When you have cut all the way through, it will look like a sloppy meatball. Say hello to Mama and baby sloppy meatball. Repeat the same process as many times as you would like, with different types of yarn and in different colors.
Now it’s haircut time! Take your poms and trim away. It will get MESSY. For these monsters, Kristy likes the more messy pom, furry look. You can keep trimming them down to get a more precise, traditional, tighter pom look. Make sure you cut over a garbage can. It gets very furry. Keep cutting all around until you are happy with the look and it is relatively even.
Next, select their outfits and accessories…It makes it easier to glue when I am already with glue gun in hand. Take pipe cleaners and do the classic wrap around the pencil trick. Then cut in half to make antennae. Hot glue craft pom poms for little fluffy feet. Next, hot glued googly eyes. You could also add noses, mouths or eevn belly buttons! Hot glued in the pipe cleaners antennae. Hairbows or flowers would be super cute too.
There you have it…Now you can use those strings to hang them from anywhere…Attach to garland, packages, decorations, etc. If you do not want the strings, now you can snip away.
