Cheryl,
I can relate!  I do the same thing.  I told someone the other day that I don't have any problem with ripping out my work...but then it has to be redone.
One thing I learned from short row knitting is to use a "lifeline."  Sure saved my life!    I was frogging back to the beginning every time, as the short rows made it impossible to tell where anything had begun and ended.  I started using a lifeline with each project...I'd thread a contrasting color of yarn through a row that I knew to be correct in the pattern.
After that it was easy peasy! 
Hugs,
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^

yeah i will definately post it if it goes well, problem with me i do get very frustrated easily when i do things wrong and always starts it again, there was one time i was knitting something i cant remember what it was, but i was at my friends house the one who taught me how to knit, and i made a mistake, and my friend told me that i only needed to take out few rows and do those rows again, but i didnt i ended up pulling it all out and starting it all again, but now to save me time i do try only take out the rows where i have made a mistake and do it again, but most times i do pull it all out. but i need to learn not to do that because that also frustates me knowing that i have to start it all again. so yeah i really do hope when i start this pom pom blanket i will do well, and just take my time. thats another one of my problems is rushing to finish, and i do make a lot of mistakes when i rush, and that needs to stop lol. 
 

Cheryl,
It sounds divine!    If you'd like, feel free to share pics of your progress as you make it.
It really is better to pay someone else if the frame is so prohibitively expensive.  It sounds like you'll be getting a great bargain to have your friend make one - a win-win, IMO!    No doubt you'll do well at this.    It looks less complex than knitting!
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=

I have seen some videos and pictures of the pom pom blanket, and i fell in love with it and but lucky i know someone who can make me a frame to do this because i have had a look around where i could buy one but they are expensive, and i have offered my friend £10 to do this for me, but i cant wait to get started on it, but might take me some time to learn how to do it, but im still looking forward to it. i have even saved some picture of some pom pom blankets some to give me ideas of the colors.
 

Cheryl,
I hear you!  IMO, it's never a good thing for someone to know you're working on a gift for them.  And I agree with your mom about not buying something from a shop if it's feasible to make something.  I'd much rather make something, so if time will permit, that's what I do!
Aww, that's so lovely how your mom has the flowers you made for her!  <3  And it's true...they definitely last.  The live type would have been around for maybe a week, and then that would have been it, but now your mom has a wonderful gift she can look at, again and again!  <3
I did a similar thing years ago for my Grandma.  I used to make ribbon roses.  It wasn't in the mainstream then like it is now, so it was quite unique.  And Grandma's name was Rose.  So I made the roses and put them in a vase that had a metallic gold finish.  The roses turned out beautifully!  She was so pleased and kept the roses for many years.  <3  She never did get rid of them, but my guess is someone stole them, as my aunt didn't see them after Grandma passed.  ; _ ;
Ooh, that's an interesting blanket...I'd never heard of a pom pom blanket...quite the education!  <3  I'm not sure if I'd have the patience for it, but it turns out sooooo beautifully!  <3  Is it that the technique is more popular there than here?  LOL, or do I just not get out enough? 
Love the idea of the poppies in the corner...how could they resist such a beautiful gift?  <3
I think it would be cool to use such a technique for something else, but I don't know what that would be, LOL.  Anyway, thanks for bringing this to my attention...going to let that technique float around in my mind and see if there are any ideas that spring from it!  <3
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=

No I dont tell anywhere if im making them something, as if i did they would be looking forward to see it when its finish and i would feel like that ive let them down if i dont finish it or im struggling, so it always best not to say anything, my mam always say that making a gift for some mean more than buying them from shop, because it show that effort that you have put into it, like the time when my mam was in hospital and it was her birthday and we werent allowed to take flowers in, so i knitted some instead, she still has them in a vase at home. bless her! 
Another one of my friend has asked me to do Pom Pom blanket for someone he knows who due having girl and gonna name her poppy, I never done pom pom blanket before so theirs something im gonna have to learn, just need to figure out where i can get frame from, and ive had an idea of knitting some poppies and place them on each corner of the blanket. 
Cheryl 

Cheryl,
Argh, more neck warmers...just what you need, huh?!  Hopefully it won't seem as tedious, because you haven't done them in a while and you have one fewer to do...but I'm feeling your pain!
I'm back on dishcloths, LOL, which was what I did about 2 years ago.  They're not terrible to make...but this time I'm going with the same pattern, as everyone who will get them aren't mostly in the same very large family, unlike the last time!  Haven't decided yet what to make for the pepole in that very large family, though.  Maybe headbands and neck warmers (LOL, thanks for the idea!).  Sigh, not really sure.
Hope you get everything done that you've started!  <3
Do you find it's better or worse to make presents as holiday gifts, as opposed to buying?  I don't really like it, because it's such a stressful time of year, and then being under pressure to get it all done by a certain time...not fun.  It's also why I never tell people I'm making things for them, because then I get "Is it ready yet?" constantly.    And I always feel like I'm letting someone down by not finishing a certain thing in a timely fashion. 
Then there's also the fact that there are only so many things to make...whatever it is has to be fairly small, so that lets out sweaters, afghans, etc.  Headbands, neck warmers, scarves, dishcloths. 
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=

well my mam has asked me if i could make some neck warmer for my 2 brothers and also my dad has asked me to make him one too so theirs another 3 i have to do, but im not gonna start on it just yet, at moment i have just started a baby cardigan but will have to make them soon as it is starting to get very cold. 
Do you have any holiday gifts plans?
 
Cheryl 

Cheryl,
Ugh, exactly...it's hard to make the same thing, time after time.  I used to make coasters for gifts.  Then I didn't want to work on them for some time.  Bleah, so boring!
Although you make a good point about starting too many things!  I've done a lot of that, too.  But I often like to switch, since it's so dull to do the same thing again and again.
I wouldn't want to make more neckwarmers after making 4 of them, either!  Especially if the ones you made were all the same design.  The only solution I've found is to make different items of whatever, with different stitches, for instance, rather than doing them all the same...oh, ,the tedium of all the same!  It's what I did when making dishcloths for friends one year.  I bought a big cone of cotton and then I'd make different dishcloths, though each person/couple/family got four that matched.  Since it was tedious to make nothing but dishcloths, at least changing up the stitch every time made it interesting, rather than making each set of four one after the other!
Do you have any holiday gifts in your plans? 
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=

that's probably it, at the moment i am knitting neck warmer for my friends son, and i remember last year i knitted 4 for another of my friend as she has 4 children, and it took me nearly 2 weeks to finish it but it only takes me 1 day to finish on but with me when ive finish one i like to move on to something different, and after knitting all 4 neck warmers, i didnt do another one for while.
even sometime while im half way through knitting 1 project im always looking through magazines, book and on the internet to see what i can do next most time, i find something i would really like to do and i end up starting it then i end up with 2 projects to finish off.... while i was doing the blanket i was half way through knitting a neck warmer and a minecraft scarf for my son, i have finish doing the face of the minecraft creeper, but havent done any more as, i had deadline to finish the blanket, now that finished, moving on to the neck warmer which i need to have it finishe before 16th novemeber, which i have plenty of time but hopfully i will finish it by tomorrow then that another project finished, then just the scarf for my son to do. i always have the habit of knitting 1 project and starting another one even when im not finish with the other and that need to stop otherwise i'll have lot of unfinish project to finish. 
 
Cheryl 

Cheryl,
You're very welcome...is it perhaps that you're a bit tired of making the blankets now?  I've had that happen.    It got to be too much...first time, okay, second time, still okay...third time...I was sooooooooooo tired of doing the same thing, over and over...
Well, however much trouble you had with it, it turned out beautifully! 
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=

thank you so much for your lovely comment, i am just glad that i have finished it, as this one as been a nightmare compare the others, i think it must be me lol i kept dropping the stitches and having to start the row again and carefully putting the stitches back on the needle, i almost gave up but thankfully i didnt... dont think id be knitting another one any time soon, think time for me to have break from them lol 
cheryl 

Cheryl,
These turned out sooooooooo well!  <3  Undoubtedly she'll love the blanket...who wouldn't?  LOL, I don't have any babies and I would love that if someone made it for me! 
I bet my cat would love it, too...she'd look at that and think, "Wow, another bed."    Then she'd curl up on it and go to sleep.  Of course she wouldn't be able to appreciate the yumminess of it all...the fluffy center, ribbing around the edges and the gorgeous bows in the corners...drooling now!
Thank you for posting...wonderful work as always!  <3
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=

ive never heard of lifeline, i will have to look that up. 

Cheryl,
Oh, yes, it really is a lifeline!    It's wonderful.  I couldn't have done that short row project without it.  All I used was a different colored yarn to mark the row and it was a breeze!  Before then I'd frogged the same project at least 5 times in the same spot.    After...redid it once and all was fine! 
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=

Cool I will have to give it a go. 

Cheryl,
Please do let me know what you think of the technique!    It can be a bit of a pain to set it up, but IMO once it's needed, it's worth all of the pain...and more.    When kept up with about every other row or every few rows, it saves a lot of time over frogging and redoing.
Melanie  (cat slave and Official Feline Can Opener) =^.^=