My dear, sweet Mom is knitting teeny, tiny hats for micro-preemies (for HAIN) and most of them call for a pompom. Now, I’m the wrong one to ask because I have no patience for them. She’s having problems with them separating in the middle even though she only wraps the yarn once. She’s using mostly Bernat baby yarns (fingering and sport weights). She even tried one of those stupid pompom makers and promptly took it back to the store. How do the knitters here make their pompoms? I told Mom I would ask the experts. :teehee:
Maybe she isn’t wrapping enough around in the beginning? So when she cuts the loops, maybe it’s not dense enough? Here’s the tutorial I used when I made mine. The more I trimmed it down, the more dense it became. 
I used to make them by hand wrapping the yarn around a square of cardboard, after practicing for a while I was able to make adequate looking pompoms/pom-poms. However, last year I purchased a two piece kit made by Clover (after hearing positive comments about it) to help me make smaller size ones and for me it has worked. If you like I could post a picture of them.
Katrina
Bethany, I didn’t think to ask her if she wrapped enough yarn. :doh:
Thank you very much for the link. I’ll print that out for her.
Katrina, she’s using the old cardboard method too. The pompom maker tha she bought was not by Clover so, I would love to see a pic of the kit. Thanks!! :mrgreen:
Sorry for taking so long to reply KnitTwit, I did not see your post until this morning and then I had a little trouble downloading the pictures from my camera.
The first picture shows both pom-pom makers you receive in the “small” size kit (there are three kits to choose from). The second picture is an example of how it will look after you have wrapped both sides of the tool (I like to wrap/twist the loose ends of yarn around the slits on the flat side of the tool, so it does not unravel by chance). The third picture is the top (or bottom) of the tool after you have cut the threads, but before you tie the string. And the final picture is of the pom-pom maker once it has been opened and you remove your pom-pom. Using the smaller of the two pom-pom makers my pom-pom (using DK weight yarn) is approx. 1" in diameter after some minor fluffing and trimming.
If your mother does decide to purchase one of the Clover Pom-Pom Making kits, I have two tips.
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After she has wrapped her yarn over the two arms, push the yarn back towards the beginning and continue to wrap the yarn around the arms. She should push the yarn back and wrap two or three times to get a nice and fluffy pom-pom in the end.
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Before raising the arms of the tool or opening it make sure you have tied the thread around the threads you have cut, otherwise you will end up with a complete unusable mess. I know it sounds obvious but I have forgotten a couple of times (to my horror). I like to use a Surgeon’s Knot or a Square Knot to tie my pom-poms.
HTH. Let me know if you have any questions.
Katrina
PS. The Clover web site’s address is: http://www.clover-usa.com
Click on catalog and Pom-Pom Makers to find them. Or she could see if her LYS carries them.
Wrap yarn around your fingers. Depending on the size of pompom you want is how many fingers you use. Remove and tie tightly around the middle. Then cut through the loops and trim. That’s it!
I bought mine from lionbrand.com.
They also have a few good videos on youtube.com showing you how to make pompoms.
Mystery_Gyrl: Thank you very, very much for taking the time to post the photos of the pompom maker. I will print them out and let Mom look at them. It looks pretty easy to me. And thank you for all of the information! 
Silvia: Mom used to use her fingers to make pompoms but the arthritis in her hands really flares up and raises hell when she tries it now. Thanks for the info, though.
boo1: Thank you for the info and the link. I’ll let her know about that one too. 