Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Get Rid of Stash by Hosting a Magic Ball Party

by

making magic ballsI don’t really know why this was news, but a few weeks ago I came across this fun article about a New Jersey knitting group that had a magic ball scarf making party.

I’ve told you before about making magic balls out of little bits of leftover stash, but this idea takes it to a whole new level because you’re also swapping yarn bits with other people.

The idea is that you get together with some friends or your yarn group and you each bring a few balls of yarn. Each person then cuts lengths of all the balls they like and makes a magic ball, then knits up a scarf.

This sounds like a really fun idea and a great way to use up some yarn you may not love on its own but would like better mixed in with other things (or just regular leftovers). I think it would be great fun for kids, too, because they’d enjoy gathering the yarn, making the ball and knitting it. Or what about doing this for a yarnbombing?

Have you ever done a group magic ball project before? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Shore News Today.]

Comments

  1. These parties sound like a great idea! I, for one, always tend to buy yarn in the same purple and blue colors. By mixing my yarn leftovers with other knitters’ stashes, I could create some new combinations that I’ve probably never thought of. Great way to widen my color horizons! Thanks!!

Have you read?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.