While I have been familiar with the “magic ball” concept for a while, I have Candance (aka lobster12) to thank for bringing it to my attention recently.

This is a great pattern for using up scrap yarn from other projects. You create a magic ball by tying scraps of yarn together and winding the resulting string into a ball. You will need an equivalent amount of a solid color since the afghan is crocheted holding two strands together - the solid color and the magic ball.

You can determine the size afghan you want by first doing a swatch in half double crochet with a P hook. Determine the gauge, then figure out how many chains will be in your foundation chain and how many rows you need to crochet to get the dimensions you want. Of course, you can use any stitch pattern you want, but the half double crochet creates a fabric that isn’t too tight (which might happen with single crochet) or too loose (double crochet).

I created four magic balls which gave me the equivalent of four 7-oz skeins of my dark color. I used a specific color sequence for each ball -- but two of the four balls are in the opposite sequence.

You don’t have to be as anal as I was about creating your magic ball; just add yarn to your magic ball as you finish a project. I had a lot of yarn left over from my Babette Blanket project, so I could play around with the colors and put them in a sequence I thought was pleasing to the eye.

I was going to leave the ends out as a design element instead of weaving them in, but changed my mind (with some coaxing from my daughter). I think my neighbor will like it.