The Magic Ball Tutorial

By Josh Ryks

As a member of the Busy Bees Group on Ravelry, I was approached by the group’s
founder, netta315, to make a tutorial on making magic balls and (of course!) I accepted
the challenge! So this is my attempt at writing a tutorial about “magic yarning” So have
fun and relax!!

Materials:
Yarn in any weight, any length, any fiber content. and any color you want!
A needle (if you want to Russian join)
Scissors

Collecting:
This is the first step in making a “magic” yarn ball. To begin with you need to collect
yarns as stated above: any yarn weight, any length of yarn, any fiber content and any
color of yarn. If you want a monochromatic ball of yarn, simply choose any yarn weight
you have in any length in any fiber content in one color or color family. For a Crazy
Magic Ball, go completely random in your color choices and let your stash speak to you!
The magic ball I’ll be making will be in shades of Navy, with greys and black and a
splash of lime green.

So after collecting yarns (did you forget to dig through all your yarn ends and oddments?
Don’t forget to look in the bottom of the knitting basket. Also don’t forget the deep, dark
recesses of your stash!) , it’s time to start working some magic! I like to sort out my
yarn tangles before starting and to lay out each strand in its own little place on the floor,
the table, the counter, the bed, the desk, etc. Then I like to sort by color or weight or how
ever I think it should be arranged. Then the fun begins!!!!!!

Here’s a picture of the collection of my yarns that I’ll be using: (Figure 1)

(Figure 1: A collection of yarns)

© Copyright 2009 by Josh Ryks. Please don’t steal this and claim it as your own. Exodus 20:15.

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Joining Ends:
Now the real fun begins!! There are many ways you can join your ends together, but I’ll
give you three: 1) the short and easy way (my favorite!!), 2) the hard way that looks
spectacular! When you are joining, I would suggest waiting to wind up your yarn until
you have finished your magic yarn. The reason I say this, is because 1) you can see how
much yarn you have joined so far, 2) you can then choose either end to have for the
beginning of your project.

We’ll begin with Method #1:

1) This is a really easy method of joining the yarns. It makes little knots and little
tails in the yarn that when you work with it, will leave little tails all over your work. I like
it because it’s fast, and is easy to add more yarn onto the ball if you run out before
finishing. So here’s the method:
Step 1: Take up two pieces of yarn in each hand. Yarn A is in your left hand and Yarn
B is in your right.
Step 2: Holding the yarn in your hands, cross the strands and bend them back on them
selves as the picture shows:

Step 3: Loop the tail around its own yarn and pass the tail through the loop that the
tail made in looping around the yarn. Pull snug. Repeat this for the other tail and keep
moving on. Trim if desired.
Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until your yarn is long enough for your project.
2) This method of joining is called the Russian join and you need a needle, scissors,
and patience! This method will leave no tails or knots in your yarn, just a slight slub in
your yarn and this will hardly be noticeable in your finished object. This method does
take a long time to amass any yarn, but if you don’t want little knots or tails in your yarn
and your yarn is completely unfeltable, this method will work the best.

© Copyright 2009 by Josh Ryks. Please don’t steal this and claim it as your own. Exodus 20:15.

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Step 1: Cross your strands so they overlap on each other, and thread one of the strands
through a needle.

Step 2: Weave needle in and out of the same strand of yarn it's threaded on. I tried
running the needle through the middle of the strand of yarn. It's doable, but it's more
difficult, and weaving it in and out makes it less noticeable.

Step 3: Pull the needle through, and repeat Step 2 until about 3"-4" of this strand is
grafted.

Step 4: Repeat Steps 2 & 3 for the second strand of yarn.

© Copyright 2009 by Josh Ryks. Please don’t steal this and claim it as your own. Exodus 20:15.

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Step 5: You can clip the excess yarn now, or you can clip it after you knit (or crochet)
past the part where you joined.

Continue these steps until you have enough yarn for your project.

Rolling:
Now you are ready to roll up your magic yarn into a ball. So pick an end and wind it up
and move on to the project!!

Here’s a picture of the final product. Mine is HUGE because once I got started, I couldn’t
stop!!!! (Just thought I’d warn you!!!) This is a “planned” colorway that isn’t exactly the
same, but the color striping is.

© Copyright 2009 by Josh Ryks. Please don’t steal this and claim it as your own. Exodus 20:15.