If you're not only looking for a memorable gift, but a way to use up some of your stash, consider making a Magic Party Skein.
What is a Magic Party Skein?
A Magic Party Skein is a ball of yarn made of different lengths of the same weight yarn connected using Magic Knots. The result? A skein of yarn made from different types and colors of yarns to make a super fun skein of yarn that offers surprise after surprise as you work with it.
Why Make a Magic Party Skein?
It makes a super fun gift.
It is a great keepsake of the yarn you have bought and loved.
It gives you something to do with all those little leftover balls of yarn you've been saving.
Use a Magic Party Skein to make a scrapy blanket and you won't have a million ends to weave in.
How to Make a Magic Party Skein
1. Gather Your Yarn
Magic Party Skeins are most successful when you use the same weight of yarn. You can choose to use yarns in the same color family or go wild with a rainbow spectrum of color.
2. Connect Your Yarn with Magic Knots
You will join a new length of yarn to your Magic Party Skein using the Magic Knot technique. To do this, lay the new, scrap yarn perpendicularly above the end of your Magic Party Skein with the two ends opposite of each other (like shown below).
You will then connect the two strands by tying the "working yarn" to the "scrap yarn" and then the scrap yarn to the working yarn in two different places indicated in the photo below.
Start by tying the working yarn around the scrap yarn. Bring the working yarn underneath the scrap yarn and move it counter clockwise over the scrap yarn and working yarn.
Bring the end of the working yarn under and up through the loop. Pull the knot tight around the scrap yarn.
Now, tie the scrap yarn to the working yarn. Position your working yarn above your scrap yarn. Bring the scrap yarn underneath your working yarn. Then, moving clockwise, bring your scrap yarn over the working yarn and the scrap yarn.
Bring the scrap yarn under and through the loop. Pull the knot tightly around the working yarn.
With the working yarn in your left hand and the scrap yarn in your right, and the two knots positioned in between, pull your hands in opposite directions to bring the two knots together.
Pull the knots tightly together and then cut the ends close to the knot.
You will then roll the newly attached yarn onto your Magic Party Skein. Roll as much as you'd like and then add a new length of yarn in the same way.
3. Finishing your Magic Party Skein
There is no right or wrong way to finishing your Magic Party Skein. However, as a general rule, most skeins of yarn you would buy are 100 grams. Use any postal or food scale to measure your Magic Party Skein as you work so you can gauge when you're ready to stop.
You can choose to re-roll your yarn into a hank, but we prefer keeping it in a ball so every stitch remains a surprise.
Share your Magic Party Skeins with us using #billyandbaamagicpartyskein.
