How I make my stocking pom-poms

Last night I woke up in a cold sweat when I realized that I had posted about the recycled sweater stockings, but I had promised to share how I made the simple pom-pom decorations and I had forgotten!

Okay, I'm exaggerating. There was no cold sweat involved, but I did have an "oops" moment last night, so I wanted to share the instructions before Christmas was over.

Remember these stockings?

Here's how I made the easy pom-pom decorations:

Step 1: Buy some pom-poms. There's no way on earth I would try to make my own pom-poms. Craziness, people. I got a couple packs of large white pom-poms at a craft store for 99-cents each.

Step 2: Thread a needle with matching thread. (I threaded the needle with doubled thread, then doubled it again with a knot at the end. So the thread was quadrupled... I've got busy little boys with strong little hands and I prescribe to the "better safe than sorry" philosophy for most everything.)

Stitch through the pom-pom, pulling all the thread through, then go back through the pom-pom the opposite direction creating a loop (seen on the right side of photo #2 below) -- don't pull the thread all the way back through this time. 

Step 3: Thread cording (I found mine by the yard at a fabric store) through the loop created in step 1 then knot securely.

Step 4 (or 3.5?): Cut excess cording away and singe the tip to help prevent unraveling.

Step 5: Pull the thread loop tight, which will draw the cording into the center of the pom-pom so the knots will disappear. Tie several knots in the thread on the other end of the pom-pom to secure it.

Step 6 (optional): Repeat on the other end of the cording, and hang on a stocking! Or anything else that is crying out for a pom-pom... which is pretty much everything in my book.

See? Easiest thing ever. Probably didn't even require a tutorial -- but I felt pretty smart when I put it together, so don't burst my bubble if you know of a better way to do it or if this whole post was a "duh, Anna!" sort of experience for you. K? :)

(Pats herself on the back.)