Pompoms are currently on trend, whether adorning a sweater, swinging from a bag handle or dangling from a keyring. But why have a plain pompom when you could have a tiny pompomeranian puppy, a cheeky smiley-face emoji-pom or even a spooky Mexican Day of the Dead skull pompom? With clear step-by-step photographs to accompany all the instructions – and with each pompom taking no more than an afternoon to make – Pompomania will show you how to give your pompoms personality. With no fancy equipment needed – you can make do with rings cut from cardboard and a pair of scissors – these pompoms are inexpensive to make for yourself or for others. Pompomania will add a serious amount of pomzazz to your world. Christine Leech is an experienced author, designer, stylist, prop designer and art director. She has published a number of books and worked with clients including John Lewis and Harvey Nichols. She has 18 years' experience working in women's consumer publishing, most recently as creative director at Marie Claire magazine. She has over 27k followers on Instagram (@sewyeah) and lives in London. The most common refrain heard when I told people I was writing a book on pompoms was ‘Oh, I used to make those as a child.’ And so did I. I spent hours winding yarn onto basic cardboard pompom makers cut from cereal packets, then turning the results into fluffy chicks or monsters with big googly eyes. When I was asked to write this book, I was a little apprehensive about the time it can take to make a pompom and what exactly you might do with those simple spheres. I soon learnt that the humble cardboard maker has been replaced by more efficient plastic contraptions for speedy pompom making and that there are hundreds of things that you can do with a pompom. While some projects in this book are simple and require basic pompom-making techniques, others are more complex and involve a bit of brain power… but the results are amazing. Once you have got your head around the way a pattern is created within a pompom, there is no end to what you can create. The most exciting moment in pompom making comes when you cut through all the wraps of yarn and the pattern you hope you have created begins to reveal itself. There were many experiments when planning these projects, but even though some did not turn out just the way I expected, they all had a certain charm. Even the ones I initially considered a failure turned out pretty much okay after a hard trim with some sharp scissors. As in life, a good haircut can work wonders. In this book I have used an acrylic DK-weight yarn from a company called Stylecraft (who were kind enough to give me many balls of yarn for experimentation). I recommend you also use a similar DK-weight yarn so that the number of wraps of each colour yarn are consistent with the instructions given. The colours mentioned in the instructions are specific to Stylecraft but it is easy to swap in colours based on whatever yarn you have to hand. When choosing yarns for your pompom making, inexpensive acrylic DK-weight yarns work best as they fluff up nicely when trimmed. Using an aran-weight or bulky yarn does mean less winding to fill the pompom maker, which makes for a speedier pom, but may give a less defined pattern. Some of the weirder and more wonderful yarns with sequins and fluffy bits make incredible pompoms, so have fun and try lots of different types.  As I sit at my desk writing this introduction, surrounded by all the projects I made for this book, I am struck by how versatile the humble pompom can be. When asked to write this book, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be able to show you how to make pompoms in the shape of sushi! Happy Pompoming!