Easy-Peasy Pom-Pom Scarf

Years ago, someone gave me a battery operated glue gun and the card attached read:

Now you can glue gun on the bus!

It was intended as a gag gift, although you wouldn’t know it by the expressions on the faces of people riding the bus with me that time I needed to hem my pants in a hurry. I burned my ankle something vicious by I got to the party on time!

Since then, I have avoided portable glue guns and gone on the search for friendlier, less dangerous hobbies. Sadly, knitting and needlepoint have never grown on me, but crochet, however, is a happy struggle. See, despite my enthusiasm for crochet, I’m not very good. In fact, I’m just plain awful. I only know two stitches. I can’t follow a pattern. My stitches are uneven. I only attack crochet projects when I am traveling (like this week) and stick to lumpy yarn (it covers a multitude of sins) which usually leaves me with half-way completed lumpy afghans. Until now….

So, not long ago, my cousin John and I were walking down Franklin street in Natchez, Mississippi, when I found the most amazing lumpy tomato colored yarn at Natchez Needlearts. It’s thick and full and I knew it would hide my stitches, however wonky.

Tangent: Have you been to Natchez? It’s the Miss Havisham of the South. You need to go before she is eaten alive by termites. I’m serious, folks. Time is running out. You don’t know what you are missing. When I was a kid, shops like Natchez Needlearts were bountiful, especially on Franklin Street, but now there are only a few. Every time I go back there are less and less. It’s the mark of a dying economy and a lack of tourism in an astonishingly beautiful, historic place. If you have never been to Natchez, you need to go. Don’t ask, just go. Actually do ask, because then I can tell you where to get the best barbecue brisket and special stuff like lady fingers, and antique spoons, and airplanes made out of coke cans for $5.00. And while you are there, pick up some lumpy tomato colored yarn. If you’re lucky as I am, it will keep you busy on the car ride all the way home 🙂

This was entirely free form, so there is no real pattern, although I did sketch it out in my journal.

In a nutshell, this is just three skinny scarves of varying lengths, whip stitched together with the same lumpy tomato colored yarn. Then I tied pom-poms on all the ends, plus a few more along the way.

Fact 1: You can never have too many pom-poms!
Fact 2: If you can crochet, you can make this scarf before Xmas and impress the pants off the recipient.

The end result is a warm, lush pom pom scarf that is sure to keep anyone warm all winter!