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Cheap Halloween Magic Yarn Ball

Launch gallery slideshow

Swap Coordinator:shecooks (contact)
Swap categories: Challenges  Yarn  Seasonal 
Number of people in swap:28
Location:Other
Type:None
Last day to signup/drop:September 20, 2007
Date items must be sent by:October 10, 2007
Number of swap partners:1
Description:

ok, so here I am, drinking, thinking about how much I love surprises... especially shiny ones... and tasty ones... So here's the swap...

You will send one magic yarn ball... that is a ball of yarn wound around surprises... to your partner.

US only, because, well, I'm tired of sending nice packages to the UK and France only to get flaked on in return. If you really want an international, we'll see about starting one. PM me.

The trick to this swap is we're gonna make it super cheap and easy. Newbies are welcome for this reason.

I WANT you to send acrylic yarn. In fact, it has to be a novelty yarn. There should be random bits of funny colored fluff and hair sticking out every which way... Buy it at the dollar store if you want, but there are criteria:

1) If it is a 50 gram pack, send 2. 100 gram minimum novelty yarn. Preferably, but not neccessarily, halloween colors.

2) There must be surprises! These things are pretty short balls of yarn, but you will wrap them both (together or separate, your choice) around a minimum of 7 (lucky number 7) surprises. And they better be good surprises. There has to be at least 1 temporary tattoo, 1 shiny object (not a plastic coin, those are just silly), 1 piece of jewelry, one toy from a cool vending machine (gumball machine, you know what I'm talking about) and to make it interesting, one knitting or crocheting item (depending on your partner's preference). For example, stitch markers are always popular, I love point protectors, crochet hooks... a pattern... whatever.. And candy... did I forget the candy? There must be candy.. be it ghost-shaped Peeps or candy corn... please, please, please, leave it in it's packaging! No, you cannot just wrap in 7 tootsie rolls and call it a day. I will hunt you down and beat you with them. Did I mention I've been drinking? And that this is my first swap?

Rules and ratings: This is US only. I'm not going to set a rating requirement, but I will ban at my discretion, at any time I damn well feel like it, for any reason I feel like it... it is my swap. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I can and will ban a bad vibe, or someone with a pack of 1s. Newbies welcome... try to fill out a profile, huh?

Oh, and send a note. Something saying, "hey, I found this black fluffy stuff at the dollar store and grabbed it before that creepy redneck who was giving me the eye got the guts to talk to me....but I was totally thinking of you at the time..."

Rate a 5 if you got your ball, it's hairy and it's full of stuff. Again, the 7 tootsie roll rule applies... I will hunt you down. My sister is a travel agent, I can fly there cheap... Give hearts if they sent three balls, or packed it full of cool stuff... hearts are for extra effort, acknowledge the effort even if you're gonna regift half the package.

If there is a no-send, PM me and I'll see what I can do for angels. I make no guarantees.

That said, have fun and happy swapping... I wanna see the Post Office buried in orange and black fur and those silly plastic spider rings!! Maybe some candy vampire teeth... yeah...

Post any fiber/pet/smoke allergies below.

Discussion

shecooks 08/27/2007 #

I'm thinking I need some stick-on earrings and a little tiny bottle of booze to wrap in mine... yeah... This is gonna be a little white trash... you don't even have to be white.. bear with it, it'll be fun... maybe I'll get a ball of Red Heart in like pumpkin orange and wrap it with a black furry one... that'd be cool...

alicepalace 08/27/2007 #

shecooks, you are hi-lar-ious! :) Hope you're not too hungover in the morning..

(I can't join cos i'm in the UK.)

alwaysjoy 08/27/2007 #

Killing me here, I swore up and down no more swaps until all my house stuff clears up and then you start a magic yarn ball swap. I LOVE magic yarn balls... YAY

justingrid 08/27/2007 #

Sounds great, but alas I live in Canada.

mortaine 08/27/2007 #

This is probably a really dumb question, but I will ask it anyway, because I am good at dumb questions.

How do you wind the magic ball? I have a ball winder that clamps to the table, but it seems to me that that wouldn't work very well for adding in all the bits and bobs.

shecooks 08/27/2007 #

I don't know how to do it with a ball winder... I don't have a ball winder, so I wind all mine by hand. Courtesy of the Ellie, who is running the Vegan swap, here is a tutorial on winding your own magic yarn ball... http://whipup.net/2006/04/25/kids-yarn-project-the-magic-wool-ball

there, now you know...

mortaine 08/28/2007 #

That's awesome! I already have some Ideas a cookin' in my brain.

shecooks 08/28/2007 #

I'm practicing my yarn balling... so far, they are lumpy and stuff sticks out all over... and I run out of yarn before I run out of stuff... but I'm thinking that these are not really Bad attributes... and I bought spider rings!!

rengawk 08/31/2007 #

This sounds sooo fun! ^^

I left you a profile comment regarding this swap that if it is too silly please delete!

RudeNun 09/ 2/2007 #

Did someone say balling?

anniemae 09/ 3/2007 #

heck yeah! i wanna play-can i be your sister shecooks? i have 2 brothers and they are NOT funny!

mortaine 09/ 5/2007 #

I have made my (very first) magic yarn ball. It is shiny and has exactly SEVEN tootsie rolls in it.

I cannot wait for my swap partner to receive it!

shecooks 09/ 5/2007 #

I have one brother and one sister and they are not funny either... so I have adopted several hysterical people. They are more fun. My family is offended that I would rather visit them all over the globe than go to my own brother's wedding... adopt cool people. That's all I can say.

shecooks 09/ 6/2007 #

this is krysana's very cool idea... I love it personally and happen to know that she can manage arumiguri (or however you spell it... it's 2am for godsakes..) MUCh better than me... I'm in the stuffie starter swap. It will be lopsided. It will, I've come to this realization...But this is a totally cool idea and if anyone tries it I MUST have pictures.. I MUST. I know, I know, I have a bent sense of humor, but that's what you love about me.

You know what would really be too funny? If you could make something to 'expell' the yarn ball, like a stuffie that holds it in its belly but you can pull it out through its mouth...or other end. Yeah I'm nuts but I didn't want to post that on the swap page, it might scare people away! It still makes me giggle...like one of those goofy pumpkins that is puking its innard out, and its seeds and pulp - but this would be yarn and goodies! Hooray for Halloween theming! Feel free to post this to the swap page if appropriate, or delete from your profile if it freaks you out! ;)

rengawk 09/10/2007 #

laughs ohhh good it didn't freak you out...I actually forgot about the whole idea until I stopped by this page because I forgot the item count for the ball, but it still cracks me up, now I'm totally going to have to figure out a way to make it work with yarn, but a lopsided plushie would totally work for such an idea too! ^^

rengawk 09/17/2007 #

I was out and got the yarn for this swap today, and I was eying up those tootsie rolls! I decided to wait for the candy part, since whatever I buy there is a good chance I will consume before partners are even assigned! =)

stuffbystephanie 09/18/2007 #

LOVE this idea, as well as all things Halloween. So excited!

shecooks 09/21/2007 #

The Assignation!! Yup. It has come... time to pack your packages!!

patabear 09/21/2007 #

okay. so the items are 1. tattoo 2. shiny object 3. jewlery 4. vending machine toy 5. knitting/crochet itme 6. candy

is the 7th one a surprise we pick?

shecooks 09/23/2007 #

yes. the seventh one is ball-winder's choice. you can always add more, you can even (and I say this because apparently one of the many ways new orleans is stupid is we have no cool gumball machines...) trade up... say, instead of sending a toy from a gumball machine, you can send a toy you found somewhere else that is better. or booze. I think booze is pretty universally welcome here. i dunno... you guys get the idea, right? Send fun stuff. If it makes you laugh, it will likely make your partner smile. I found these lollipops today, they look like silly faces on the stick end. They're cool. Guess what's going in the yarn ball?? ooh, and little packets of tattoos!! yeah!!

mortaine 09/25/2007 #

I have another strange question.

How many of you are planning to unwind your yarn ball all at once, vs. unwinding it in the course of crafting?

I'm curious to know if people tend to unwrap all at once (to get the surprises inside!) or if they just let stuff fall out while knitting/crocheting/whatever.

zigg13pra 09/25/2007 #

Considering that in the details, it says to use acrylic/novelty yarn, most people will prolly just unwind to find the goodies ;D

rengawk 09/27/2007 #

I'll be an unwinder upon arrival! I have no self control for surprises, especially if there is candy probably hidden in there... ;)

patabear 09/29/2007 #

XD I didn't even think about using it and then unwinding. I was just going to unwrap it all and get my goodies.

shecooks 09/30/2007 #

I'm an oddity... i have a perfectly fascinating magic yarn ball on my "yarn-to-use" shelf... beautiful yarn.. I pulled out the goodies I could see and am now twitching whenever I look at it... need to find a project! No excuse to unwind it without a project!!

zigg13pra-- what's wrong with novelty yarn?? I love the fluffy stuff... I can't help it... I'm a tactile person. Ok, so I'm just a damned horder of a hedonist. I stash everything from pretty things to percocet... in case of bad day... I'd stash boys if they'd stay where I put 'em.

zigg13pra 10/ 1/2007 #

Hey I dont have a problem with it. I just know on a bunch of other swaps, 'red heart' yarn is a no-good thing to send so I figured a lot of others didnt like it...

mortaine 10/ 3/2007 #

zigg13pra: "red heart" isn't typically novelty yarn. It's a very inexpensive plain 6-ply yarn made of acrylic, and a lot of people find it to be very scratchy. Since it's super-cheap and easy to find (even Walgreen's carries it), many people don't even know that there's other yarn out there! I only use it to make cat toys, when I can stand to craft with it at all.

Novelty yarn is usually stuff like eyelash yarn, fun fur, boucle (and yes, I think red heart makes a boucle), ribbon yarn, ladder yarn, sparkly, etc. It can be much softer than the standard "red heart acrylic" even though they're often made from the same materials. Acrylic is a versatile fiber and can be scratchy or soft, depending on how it's manufactured.

rengawk 10/ 3/2007 #

Okay peeps, mine came out soooo awesome that I nearly taped the box up and mailed it out without a letter! I'm gonna write it tonight (at work if its quiet!) and then mine is ready to go, although I work silly hours the next few days and won't be able to get it on its way!

Yes this is all unnecessary information, except for the fact that I just took a bunch of pictures and can't wait to send it so I can post them, arggg frustrating! I've never received a yarn ball before, so I'm calling this the 'best yarn ball presentation ever' based on the fact that I think its so darn awesome. =)

PJ376 10/ 6/2007 #

Just wanted to pop in and say that I've received my yarn ball. It's been a crazy week, so I haven't "opened" it yet. I'm hoping to sit down this weekend and dive in.

I've also sent my package so Carolyn...be on the look out!

Have a good weekend! PJ

craftycrocheter 10/ 8/2007 #

Hi, just wanted to let you know the yarn ball went out today, this was alot of fun, also i have changed my user name but I am still the same person. MaryO - craftycrocheter

zigg13pra 10/ 8/2007 #

Yes mortaine, I know what 'red heart' is and i know what its made of and what other yarns are. I was only stating what some 'other people' claim as novelty yarn. Everyone has different opinions of it...

daffyd1963 10/ 9/2007 #

I just got mine done it has more than 7 items in it and is almost round took 2 and a half skiens of yarns to get it there but I got started and didn't know when to quit this was a lot of fun my first magic ball swap. I also received my package today and it was so much fun unraveling the ball to see what surprised luked inside

mortaine 10/12/2007 #

Ah, ok. Sorry-- I misunderstood.

rengawk 10/18/2007 #

Arggggg when will mine arrive? I still can't wait to show my pictures!!

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