so after turning all those scraps into a magic ball, it was time to start thinking about a project. i first started a granny square blanket (the one where you crochet a huge square) because i liked the idea of hours of mindless crochet. but i didn't like the result. it was okay, but i didn't love it, you know?

so i did a lot of browsing and searching for magic ball projects on ravelry and now i think i found a way to make it work and turn it into something pretty! 

i knit a log cabin with the magic ball, which is basicly a square in garter stitch that is created by picking up stitches on the other side. (for a tutorial, check out this link)... and i think it looks quite nice! a bit messy and scrappy, maybe, but that's the look we're going for, right?

 

 

 now that i have quite a big square, i was wondering what to do next. i think these squares will look best on a neutral background, to tone down all these colors... probably grey, or black. i made a little sketch to see what works best, but it is so hard to judge. so i think, once i have enough squares, i will just try and see what looks best... but i think it will make a lovely scrap blanket either way!

 i'm already collecting scraps for my next magic ball, i'm almost finished with this one. :)

talking about scraps: i'm also saving my sock yarn scraps... too pretty to throw away and i reaaaaally want to knit a pair of mismatched socks someday. :)

what about you? do you keep your yarn scraps?

last year i started collecting all my yarn scraps (literally anything that is long enough to tie together, everything else is collected in a plastic bag and will be repurposed as toy stuffing)... 

i tied all scraps together using a russian join... (have you heard about a russian join? it's brilliant, every knitter or crocheter should know how to do this)

... and i ended up with this... probably the ugliest ball of yarn i've ever seen. 

and i LOOOVE it!!

(apparently this is what you call a "magic ball" because you never know which colour comes next)

and now i'm trying to figure out a way to turn this "pretty ugly" magic ball into a "ugly pretty" project! :)

it's kinda funny; just a couple of weeks ago i was saying how much i love snow (and i do!), now it has been extremely warm and sunny for this time of the year and i enjoyed it so much! sitting in our garden with my knitting or a good book... just perfect. :)

here's my swatch for week 10, time for cables again! i just can't get over how easy they are to knit. :) this swatch is actually a double cable, it looks less twisted than the previous one but i do like it a lot!

no.10: cables#2

and, like i promised, here are all the ten swatches i made so far! 

as you can see they vary in size, which will make it harder to put them together. i think it will be interesting to put all these textures, sizes and colors together.  i've always loved these "random" knitted or crocheted blankets, you know, like those your grandma would make using every inch of scrap yarn she had lying around. when i plan a project i always want to coordinate the colors and think the whole thing trough and it feels really nice to do something more "random" for a change. :)

 

inspired by the randomness that was lying on my table, i did a little "yarn scrap experiment"; i always save the loose ends after i cut them off. i suddenly thought it might be fun to tie the longest ends all together and make something very colourful and scrappy... so here's a tiny crocheted piece of scraps.

it would literally take me ages to actually end up with a decent ball of yarn, especially if i want to knit or crochet something with it, but somehow these long-term projects always attract me... and i just love messing around anyway. :)