Blog Hop: Let's Go Colts

It's been a hell of a football season so far and it's only been compounded by the fact that I joined my very first Fantasy league this season. For me personally, it's been going pretty well. My "strategy" of picking Colts past and present plus guys who seemed sound and were still left in the draft has worked out nicely.

But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, especially after last Sunday's game, that there's only one team for me: the Indianapolis Colts. Luckily, my League is comprised of fellow crafty people who are devoted fans like I am. Today, we're doing a blog hop to celebrate our fandom with crafts of all kinds.

I have friends who are fortunate to go to Colts games on a regular basis and they keep me up to date with the latest in slammin' team gear. Around two seasons ago, I started seeing these amazing gloves with pom poms on the fingertips - and I just couldn't get them out of my head.

Hopefully, you won't be able to either. For this project, you'll need:

1 pair stretch gloves, one size fits all
2 colors of fingering weight yarn (I'm using Knit Picks Palette in White and Celestial)
1 1-inch pom-pom maker
1 pair of sharp scissors
1 tapestry needle

It may seem silly to do a tutorial for a short-cut tool found in any craftstore, but I found the instructions to be kind of difficult to wrap my head around. I spent a few minutes looking at the pom pom maker trying to figure out just what the heck was going on:

Wha?

How does this even?

But here's what I settled on:

Open one side of the pom pom maker, keeping the other side closed for the time being.

Ooooh, got it.

Take the ends of your yarn and wrap them around the the pom maker, like so:

Ready

Steady

Wrap!

Ready, Steady, Wrap would be an amazing public access talk show/ game show about competative gift wrapping. I'd watch! But I digress...

You want to wrap and overlap until the pom maker is pretty full. You can use your own judgement, but the leg should be able to close will still having plenty of yarn to make a fluffy pom pom.

One half completed

Repeat the yarn wrapping on the second side of the pom maker. Close the pom maker and grab your scissors.

Making sure the hinge-side is facing you, start to cut along the middle of the yarn. One of the many bonuses to the store-bought pom pom makers that the scissors can slip into the groove in the middle and keep your cutting steady.

Snip, snip! (sorry my craft scissors are kind of funky, y'all)

Next take about 10-12 inches of one of your colors of yarn:

I chose white because my gloves are white

And get ready to wrap it around the center of the pom by inserting it into the grooves. Note: you can also use thread for this if your yarn isn't super-strong.

Tie a half-knot, wrap the ends around the pom again and tie another knot.

Your pom kind of resembles a confetti-Oreo. Time to remove it an admire your work! Gently pull one of  the sides of the pom maker away from the other to reveal: a pom pom!

TA DA!

Repeat this ten times, one for each finger of the glove. You'll be surprised how addicting pom pom making can get. You'll be done in no time!

Now to make your gloves. Each pom pom should have a pretty significant tail. Thread y our tapestry needle using one of the tails.

With the right side of the gloves facing you, weave your needle in and out of the fingertip-seam of your gloves 2-three times.

Pull your needle through the middle of the pom pom and pull tight. You want the middle of your pom pom to the sitting snugly on the fingertip of your glove. 

Thread your needle through the middle of the pom pom again and wrap it around the base of your pom pom 2-3 times. Tie a knot with the other waste yarn. Trim the excess.

Repeat for each finger and you'll have:

Pom pom gloves! There are so many ways to customize these. Embroider your team name, make more pom poms around your wrists, maybe even try this with mittens - the possibilities for any fan are endless. Best of all, this is simple enough to bang out during the first or second half of any football game you're watching at home.

Unexpected bonus: your dog will FREAK OUT about these. Droopy was mesmerized during assembly. We're a pro pom pom household.

Pom pom hypnosis

Check out the rest of our talented team of craftspeople!

CraftyPod

InLinkz.com