This is a very unusual Bad Craft in that I don't object to the pompom itself. In fact, I think they are kind of cute. I have used them in my knitting projects many times in the past. No problem there.
No, what puts the pompom (or "pompon" if you're a weirdo) on the Bad Crafts hit list is that THEY ARE THE WORST THINGS TO MAKE. The last time I had to make a pompom I really wanted it to turn out well. It took me AN ENTIRE HOUR. And at the end, despite my best efforts I had hot pink yarn bits scattered all over myself, my coffee table, and the living room carpet.
There are several ways you can make a pompom. You can use your fingers, which is the lazy way to do it (thus the way that I use most often).
You can use a fork to make a tiny pompom. I don't know why you would want to, but I have been assured that it works quite well. If you don't want a tiny pompom then I guess you need to find a bigger fork. Personally I only own one size of fork, but that is because I live alone and am mostly feral when it comes to dishware.
You can cut out two rings of cardboard, and then spend a really long time threading the yarn through it to fill it up until you think you're going to cry. This is the method that took me an entire hour (but it resulted in a nice pompom).
Or you can buy one of several different kinds of strange plastic gadgets at the craft store, all of which are bizarre and difficult to figure out, and in the end don't really work all that much better than the other methods.
No matter which method you use, you always have to prune your pompom like a topiary to tidy it up. Which ironically creates a huge mess. RAGE.
Image courtesy Flickr/estonia76
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