I made some pom-pom Santas and Snowmen this year. It was a lot of fun. Great project for sitting in front of the TV.

Larger size:http://home.comcast.net/~u62/sallypants/pomsanta3.jpg

I use the small Clover pom-pom maker which is available at Joann, but there are lots of great PP instructions online for making them without the Clover-thing. Y2 Knit has a template that would probably work well http://www.y2knit.net/Patterns/pompom.pdf. These guys were made from a book I got at Uwajimaya. It is in Japanese, so I had to guess... The Santas aren't my favorites, but the snowmen are SO cute!

Take whatever PPmaker you chose and wrap 1/2 of it with white yarn (worsted weight), 1/4 or a little less in pink or whatever color you choose for Santa's face, and the last 1/4 with white. Obviously all white for the snowman.

Larger size:http://home.comcast.net/~u62/sallypants/pomsanta4.jpg

Then cut your yarn and tie it off. Make another pom. Santa: red, snowman: white.

Next, you take a yarn needle and a length of yarn, and pass the needle through the centers of both pom pom's. Just position the poms beforehand so Santa's face and beard are in the correct position. The snowman is much easier! You can also turn that yarn into a loop at the top if you would like to make it into a hanging ornament. Tie and cut it off.

Larger size:http://home.comcast.net/~u62/sallypants/pomsanta1.jpg

Larger size:http://home.comcast.net/~u62/sallypants/pomsanta2.jpg

Next, you embellish! I hot-glued on some 5mm eyes and small acrylic pom poms from the craft store. They both needed hats, so I used my template below to cut out a piece of felt, hot glued it into a cone, and used more hot glue inside the base of the hat to glue to the top of the head, and to glue on the mini-pom to the top of the hat. The mouths are made of six-strand embroidery floss, but I used Tacky Glue since it dries clear. The snowman also got a scarf which is three strands of yarn, tied to the side and trimmed. I didn't even glue that one down.

http://home.comcast.net/~u62/sallypants/pomhattemplate1a.gif

Larger size:http://home.comcast.net/~u62/sallypants/pompomsanta5.jpg

Here is the snowman in my Mom's movie bucket:

Larger size:http://home.comcast.net/~u62/sallypants/bucket1.jpg

I bought this adorable squirrel planter at the antique mall in October. It seemed a shame to put him away so soon, plus I didn't feel like it, and he's pretty cute, so I made him a santa hat instead! Now he can hang with us for rest of the holiday season. I think I'll make him additional hats too... maybe a top hat for president's day? Wreath of flowers for spring?

All you need is a half circle of felt, a chenille stem or similar, and hot glue!

PS: I'm having some trouble with Comcast. These pictures keep disappearing. It looks like they are working on their web hosting stuff. That may be what the problem is. If they are gone, I apologize, and will fix as soon as I am able. Thanks for checking out my post! Cheri.

PPS: I've fixed these pics three times now! sorry about that... if you would like to see the images, they are on my blog too. http://sallypants.blogspot.com/2007/12/turn-fall-into-winter.html