Who doesn’t love a faux fur pompom?  They have been all the rage for a few years and don’t show any signs of becoming a thing of the past.

Whilst you can buy all manner of ready made faux fur pompoms, it is actually pretty easy to make them yourself.  All you need is a square of faux fur and some toy stuffing.  Sew a running stitch around the outside edges of the fur fabric, pull up, secure and voilà – a wonderfully fluffy pom for your hats and accessories.

Why not take making your own faux fur pompoms a step further and actually knit them?

There is so much faux fur yarn on the market these days that you could conjure up all manner of pompoms – rainbows, stripes, half and half colours, and spots and dots.

As you can see, we have made a fun, spotty faux fur pompom which will make any hat look outstanding.  You could also use a hand knit faux fur pompom to make accessories such as keyring, bag charms, and wall or tree decorations.

Read on to find out how to make your own dotty faux fur pompom.

And yes, this would make a super fun cat toy too!

Post may contain affiliate links.

Knitting pattern for a dotty faux fur pompom

The dotty pompom is made by knitting up a really simple Fair Isle pattern.  No chart is needed for this stitch – you simply work 2 stitches of each colour for two rows, and then alternate the order of the colours.

All you need is a pair of 10mm knitting needles and some faux fur yarn.

You can use any faux fur yarn that knits up on 10mm needles.  I used Sirdar Alpine to make the pompom shown in the photos.  Eyelash yarn would make a fuzzier pompom than the one shown. You can knit multiple strands of thinner yarn held together to achieve a super chunky thickness if you are struggling to find what you need.

You will use 10mm knitting needles to make this pompom..

In colour 1 (main), cast on 12 stitches. I would like to point out that the pompom in the photo is a huge one (12cm) – I cast on 20 stitches to make that one.  For a hat sized pompom, 12 is good.   You need multiples of 4 stitches to knit the pompom.

Add in colour 2 (contrast).  You will now work with both colours, following a simple Fair Isle pattern. Ensure that yarn is correctly crossed over/wrapped at the back as with usual Fair Isle knitting to avoid holes.  If you are absolutely new to Fair Isle knitting, we would recommend reading this article (link to Knitpicks website).  The article does explain how to wrap the stitches correctly as you change colours.

Work the following 4 row pattern until piece measures  20 – 21cm ending on a wrong side row.

4 row Fair Isle stitch pattern to make your dotty pompom

1. (K2 main, K2 contrast) across row
2. (P2 contrast, P2 main) across row
3. (K2 contrast, K2 main) across row
4. (P2 main, P2 contrast) across row

Cast off in colour 1.

You will now sew a running stitch around the edges and pull to gather up.  Whilst not essential, it is easier to do this in a plain and thinner yarn. Use a yarn in one of the colours of your pompom.

Once you have made a running stitch around all four edges of your square (it should be a slightly rectangle square), gather up the piece. Do not gather up completely – you need to stuff this little package with toy filling.

Once filled, stick all your yarn ends inside, gather completely and add a few stitches to secure your work.  Sew in ends.  You can use any remaining yarn tail ends to sew on your pompom.  You could alternatively glue on your pompom using a hot glue gun.  Be careful if doing this though!

Alternatives to toy filling when making pompoms

A great way to both recycle and save money if you knit projects that require the use of toy filling/stuffing is to save all the ends of your yarn.  As you snip off, don’t throw your ends away.  Place them into a container such as an old shoe box.  These bits and pieces of yarn are perfect for filling pompoms, pin cushions and similar items.

You can alternatively use rags, unwanted yarn, damaged socks and so on as alternative to toy filling.

The following photo shows a pompom that I made using 2 strands of King Cole Tinsel Chunky held together. This was mega easy as it is just one colour – cast on 12 stitches as above and simply knit in garter or stocking stitch until 20cm is reached and then cast off. Using this sparkly eyelash yarn made a really fun Christmas tree decoration!

Thanks for joining us today at The Knitting Times.  We hope you enjoyed this pompom knitting pattern and will find a great use for it.  We think a black and white pompom would be be awesome on a red or black hat.