How to make a magic yarn ball

If you’ve ever wondered what a magic yarn ball is, you’ll be happy to know they are the best way to use up your scrap yarn, so you can make scrap projects with no ends to weave in.

What is a magic yarn ball?

A magic yarn ball is a ball of yarn created by joining the ends of similar weight yarns together that are wound into a new, larger ball of yarn.

The technique allows you to have somewhere safe to store those longer length ends, so they are ready to use in your next scrap project such as a cowl, a blanket or a shawl.

The best thing is, they are so simple to make!

What yarn is suitable to create a magic ball?

You can use any of your left over yarn, from those longer length ends through to those half balls of yarn you have lying around.

Try to stitch to yarns of the same fibre, and ideally the same weight too, but not many people will notice if you’re joining a size 3 (DK weight) to a worsted ( Aran weight) yarn.

Sticking to the same fibres or at least the same care instructions will ensure your scrap projects can be washed and cared for in the same way.

1. Gather your yarn ends

You can arrange them in a colour order if you want!

Remember to try to stick to similar weight yarns and group the same fibres together too – this will allow you to block your project easily without any challenges

2. Join your Ends Together

There are a number of different techniques to join your yarns:

Quick knot
Magic Knot

Russian Knot

I LOVE the quick knot – as it means you can keep on rolling up the ball without much interruption.

3. Start Rolling

You can use your yarn winder to get the ball started or simply begin rolling your ball around your fingers – knotting on the next yarn when you reach the end.

It gets quite large quite quickly

4. Leave the tails on

If you have concerns about the tails coming undone, you can leave then attached – I’m very confident that neither the Quick knot or the Magic knot will come undone and trim as I go.