Bestowing the gift of the Pom-Pom

Another of my Christmas crafts!  The thing that got me in a crafty mood this season was a friend mentioning this wonderful contraption called a Pom-Pom maker.  I had no idea such a thing existed and she described it as such an easy thing - it was a Martha Stewart craft after all! - I immediately started thinking of all these things I could do with home-made pom-poms.  I had to go out and get one.  I am not alone, we have become like pom-pom evangelists!  Here's a demo on Youtube.

I bought both packages so that I would have four sizes.  I can make very large pom-poms (I think close to a three-inch diameter) to very small ones (just a little over an inch).  I think I have made at least a hundred.  So, for the first time, I have entered the world of yarn.  It is an addicting place and while a skein of yarn is not too expensive, when you need to buy many to complete a project, there have been times that I have wished I never embarked on this journey of fluffy cuteness.  If I wasn't such an impatient person with a bit of nagging carpel-tunnel from years of computer modeling, I might consider taking up some sort of knitting or crochet.  Anyway, I was pretty ambitious with this project and I have gifted pom-poms upon many of my friends and family (and my son's teachers).  I bought the local JoAnn's entire supply of Avocado Wool Ease yarn (a truly wonderful color if I do say so myself).

This is a simple craft only in that it doesn't require a sewing machine or any glue.  It is, however, quite time-consuming since you have to very carefully wrap yarn around a foam floral wreath.  It takes about 1/3 of a skein to make it all the way around an 8" wreath.  Then the yarn is just discretely tied on the back.  The pom-poms are tied with the same color of yarn as the wreath and also discretely tied in back. 
Most of the wreaths I made were 8" but I made a couple for myself that are 10" to hang on some of our interior doors.  The one pictured is 10".  I actually think the smaller ones are a little cuter, but I've given all of those away.
I absolutely love these and once I get over how tired of yarn I currently am, I plan to make some that would work for other seasons.  I imagine that a rich, rusty orange or a nice eggplant would look great also.
Helpful tip: My one caution with pom-pom making is this: particularly with larger pom-poms, you need to use thicker, fluffier yarn.  The cheap-o Heart-brand stuff makes them look sort of spikey and sparse.