Pom-Pom Fruit

I am inspired by so many things around me, from a color that defines my entire world (emerald green!) to a clever find…I am planning an entire party around these napkins. Speaking of which, my latest craft was inspired by fun plates and coordinating napkins from Target, pom-pom fruit!

How to make pom-pom fruit; wide table view

I was going through my craft stash and wondering what to do with all the yarn I’ve accumulated over the years; I never really had the time for ambitious projects like pom-pom wreaths that I had my eye on.

Now, with more time on my hands, the creative wheels started turning when I dug these plates and napkins out for dinner. I love the color combo (that is why I bought them) but when I realized I was only missing one yarn color, it was meant to be.

I’ve also been obsessed with Mr. Printables and from paper to printables, his creativity has no bounds. I remembered his pom-pom fruits post from a few years ago. Since I have only made cherries/round pom-poms, trying something new with shapes was a fun challenge.

His tutorials are pretty straight forward; once you figure out the technique, then it’s pretty fun to figure out what to create. However, I could not figure out why my lime slices would not work out, even though I understood how they worked and made two versions. I moved on to make the apple, passion fruit, papaya and pear.

Because Mr. Printables does such an awesome job of breaking down the details, I won’t reinvent the wheel here…plus this post would be a gazillion miles long. Because I used an extra-larger Clover pom maker, I am just going to share how I made the passion fruit pom-pom fruit. You can find the pom maker at any craft store or on Amazon. Online, you can find tutorials to make your own pom maker, but I really like this pom maker because it takes out the guesswork.

The basic technique is to imagine a cross section of your design, working from the center of the design, and outward. For the dragon fruit, I am working from the white center with a few flecks of black, then surrounded by peach. The rectangle is what the yarn design looks like from the top of the pom maker. You are looking at it if you can see through the ‘skin’ of the coral yarn.

Open the arms of Clover Pom maker. Inside, there are two sections that come apart in the center with a metal peg. Start with your pom maker, arms opened and attached to the center. Begin wrapping the white yarn around one set of arms. Mix in a few strands of black yarn.
Continue to wrap more white yard, adding a few strands of black yarn, as you build up. The more yarn you add, the thicker your pom-pom will be.
To finish the fruit, wrap a thick layer of coral yarn.

4. Clip the wrapped arm closed, then wrap the second arm with coral yarn to create the bottom of the pom-pom.
5. Clip the second arm closed.
6. Place your sharp pair of scissors in the end groove of the pom maker and start cutting the yarn, going all the way around the top half, the do the same to the bottom half.

7. Be sure all the yarn threads have been cut.
8. Cut a 12 inch piece of coral yarn for tying off the pom-pom. Loop the coral yarn through the through the center of the pom maker several times on both sides, pulling the yarn tightly, then tie into a single knot. Turn the pom maker over and tie again in a knot.
9. I like to do this twice, finishing on the back of the pom pom so the coral yarn matches.