DIY~Wool Dryer Balls

A few months ago, the Mister and I attended our 2nd Mother Earth News Fair. While we enjoy listening to our favorite farming "peeps", we also enjoy perusing the different vendor booths, dreaming about all the things that could make our lives easier if only we were millionaires. One vendor that we especially liked was selling all kinds of green laundry supplies, most of which I already did. Except one.

Wool dryer balls were created to take the place of toxic dryer sheets. Made with 100% wool yarn, they help to eliminate static cling, decrease drying time, and keep your towels and unmentionables properly fluffed. But, at $21.00 for a set of 4, buying them just didn't make economical sense. So, I googled it.

You should know that there are literally hundreds of posts dedicated to the making of dryer balls. Either people have entirely too much time on their hands, or they balked at the high prices as I did. For me, it is a little of both. I have a really difficult time watching television and not doing something else at the same time. Maybe I'm just too ADHD to sit still for an entire 2 hour flick. Or maybe it's because I know that my restless hands drive my family nuts.

That's probably it.☺

Making wool dryer balls is easy, and for $10 (or less), you too can have your own 4 fancy balls to toss in the dryer.

And if you're as fortunate as I, your family will burst into fits of giggles when you ask, "Where are my balls?"

I really need to get a life.

Here's what you'll need:

1 skein of 100% wool yarn (Make sure it is NOT machine washable or the yarn will not felt.)
1 nylon stocking (I use cheap knee highs.)
1 tapestry needle
acrylic yarn (for tying)

Start by wrapping yarn around two fingers several times.

Remove the yarn from your fingers, turn the loops sideways and wrap a few more times.

Now fold this in half and continue wrapping, turning often to make a ball.

Continue to roll until the ball is 5-6 inches in circumference. Cut the yarn, leaving a 6-inch tail.

Thread the end of the yarn through a tapestry needle and draw the end through the ball.

Tie into a knot by looping around 1 strand of yarn. Cut off the tail or tuck back into the ball. Place the ball into a nylon stocking and push to the bottom. Tie off the stocking just above the ball with a piece of acrylic yarn. (Don't use wool yarn for this, you don't want it to felt.)

 

Make 3 more balls, adding each one to the stocking and tying off.

 



Place the balls in the washing machine and wash on hot with no soap. When finished, toss in the dryer and dry on high heat.

After the balls are dried, untie the yarn and remove the balls from the stocking. Increase the size of the balls by adding more yarn until the balls are approximately 9-inches around. Tie off as before and return to the stocking. Again, wash on hot with no soap, and dry on high heat. If you want, you can repeat the wash/dry cycle for a third time. You don't have to; the balls will continue to felt as they are used.

The dryer ball on the right is new; the one on the left has been in use for a few months.

 

To use, place a minimum of 4 balls in the dryer per load. (I use 8 for large loads.)

Just one word of caution when making these~don't, I repeat don't ever watch a movie with high adrenaline action, such as "The Amazing Spiderman." You may find your balls rolling half way across the living room...

 ...while the family comes up with more reasons to giggle.☺

This post is linked to Farm Girl Blog Fest at Fresh Eggs Daily.

save a tree, sew a bag

Before you think I've become some hippie environmentalist, let me set the record straight.

I have hips and some would say I'm even a little mental, but I'm no tie-me-to-the-train-tracks or chain-me-to-a-tree kind of gal.

That's a little too messy for me.

What I am is observant. Some might say it's a gift. My family would say it's a curse. (My Pinterest list is growing daily, although I see nothing wrong with having goals.☺) A couple of weeks ago, while waiting in line at the local grocery store, I noticed the cart in front of me. The twenty-something driver of that cart had piled high every kind of organic produce the store had to offer. No packaged, bagged, or processed food of any kind.

Not even a single plastic produce bag to keep her wet lettuce (12 heads of lettuce~I may have peeked at her list.) from dripping all over the newly waxed linoleum floors. Nada. Zip. Zilch. What she did have was about a dozen reusable grocery bags, some store-bought, others recycled from burlap brown rice bags.

I was in awe.

I also couldn't quit staring. This girl had arrived.

The mesh produce bags work for me, but only if I'm buying a small amount of produce. I only have 6 and any more than that, I would lose track. (Which really means that my children would've found some other use for them, probably involving small creepy-crawlies or dirt. Probably both.) What I hadn't thought about was not using any type of bag for my produce. It might seem gross when you look at some of the people in the grocery store (I'm a professional hygiene profiler..unpaid of course.), but unless you are planning on eating a salad, or making some kabobs in the checkout line, your food will be washed at home anyway. (If you don't wash your produce~ew.) My only concern with not using bags for my produce is the dripping wet foods. Which mine always seem to be. So I decided to make my own produce bags. Bulk style.

Now I too can go grocery cart free-stylin'.

Here's what you'll need:

2 fat quarters of the same material

2 fat quarters of a coordinating material

matching thread

thick cord for drawstring/handles

Fat quarters measure 18"x 22".

Pair 2 different fabrics together. Place right sides together and trim to even up.

Pin material together. Repeat with the other 2 pieces.

Sew around 3 edges, 1/4" from edge. Trim corners.

Turn right-side-out; press edges.

Fold down raw edges making sure to allow room for thickness of cord. Press. Be sure that both sides are even. Fold over again to create a clean edge.

Sew along fold edge. Thread cord through the top and tie ends in knots to keep them from pulling through.

The total cost of this project was less than $8. This 4-ply bag is large enough and strong enough to hold 8 heads of lettuce, 4 limes, 1 turnip, 4 onions, 2 tomatoes, 1 bunch each of cilantro and parsley, 2 small acorn squash, and a butternut squash. (Observant and specific.) They can be used for still-warm bakery breads, or several pounds of bulk dried beans. When done with the shopping trip, just throw them in the wash!

And leave the plastic for the produce man.

This post is linked to Our Simple Country Life's Hearts 4 Home 
                                   The Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

Idle Hands? Not Me!

So, you may be wondering, if you have absolutely nothing better to do, which I'm sure you do, so maybe you weren't really wondering after all, and it was just my over-active imagination....

...oh, wait. Where was I?

While oxycodone has been my best friend for the last couple of days, I've noticed that it's really a one-way friendship. I love it. It doesn't love me back.

Oxycodone makes me stupid.

AnD dIzZy.

But mostly stupid.

You see, on the meds, I can't really seem to make my body listen to my brain. My brain says, "Move your left foot forward", and my body responds with a little twitch and a spasm. Eventually, it can be persuaded to move forward, but that's after half of the household rushes to my rescue. I can't be sure, but there may have been some prodding involved.

It is now day 4, post surgery, and I feel as if weeks have passed me by. After all, Christmas is just around the corner and I am not prepared! 

So, I did what all good Momma's do when behind schedule.

I panicked.

Before I show you some of what I've been working on, I feel it is my moral obligation to tell you to pay attention to the warning labels on medication bottles.

When they say, "Do not operate machinery while taking this product", they mean it.

They could be talking about vehicles. But personally, I believe this warning is directed to people who operate sewing machines.

 

After spending an entire afternoon piecing, ironing and pinning the binding for a baby quilt I've been working on, I realized that every other piece was on backwards.

Actually, I wouldn't have noticed it at all if my daughter hadn't stated the obvious.

It was a test. She passed.

So, day 2 was spent ripping apart the binding.

Try using a seam ripper while on narcotics.

After my fingers were properly bandaged up, I decided to bag the binding until I was coherent enough to notice the obvious, and moved onto another project.



Apron #1



Apron #2



Apron #3

As long as my boys don't mind flowers and aprons, I may be further along on my Christmas shopping than I thought!

Autumn Apron for $6!!

Every once in awhile, I get inspired by something that I've seen. This summer, while making the rounds to all of the farmer's markets and fruit stands, I came across some aprons. Not just any aprons, but really cute ones with different motif's. I ended up buying a blue plaid apron that had cute red roosters on it, for $15. At the time, I thought it was a great deal, and it made me happy to wear it!

On my next visit to the farm, I decided to buy another apron. This time, I wanted something for autumn. While trying to decide between a scarecrow or a pumpkin pattern, my husband, otherwise known as "my conscience", whispered, "I bet you could make it for less." My thoughts were, "Party pooper, you're staying home next time!" I left without a new apron, but figured that I'd be back.

After returning home, I sort of forgot about the apron that I had really wanted. Instead, I decided to work on a quilt. Needing some backing and batting, I drove to the fabric store with the sole purpose of finishing a quilt. I was determined to walk right past the cute holiday fabrics and head straight to "quilter's alley". But then...*cue harps*...I saw it. The perfect autumn pattern. Fabric that had scarecrow's and sunflowers. Fabric that just screamed, "APRON"!!!

With the quilt mission completely aborted, I had a new purpose...get to the cutting counter before anyone seen me! (I am sure that my dear husband has spies all over town waiting to report back to him!) Before common sense could kick in, I gathered my material, matching thread and eyelet and raced home.

Upon returning home, I placed my new purchase on the buffet and got busy with some other things. I needed time to collect my thoughts and see if maybe I could find a pattern for aprons. After all, I had NEVER sewn an apron before! I guess I needed a lot of time to collect my thoughts, because 3 weeks later, the only thing that had been collected was dust!

Finally, the day came, when I decided that it was time to jump into the apron project. The worst outcome would be that I would have to make quilt squares for later. I did find a pattern, but couldn't make heads or tails of it, so I had to resort to plan B. Plan A would've been to find a pattern, cut it out, sew it to perfection and enter it in the county fair. Plan B was to "wing it". Now that, I can do.

I laid my newly washed material out on the kitchen table. The rooster apron that I had previously purchased was placed on top of that. I had to move it around a little to make sure that the scarecrow pattern would be straight. I then took my scissors and carefully cut around the entire apron, adding approximately 2 inches all around. With that done, I folded over edges, pinned, then sewed a seam around the two sides and the top. Then I cut out a scarecrow square and sewed it in top of an identical square for a pocket. I found some contrasting material in a pile of forgotten projects (More spontaneous shopping!) and cut strips for the ties and the neck piece. Those were stitched into 3 individual "tubes" with one end left open (sewed inside out) so that I could turn them right side out. Before sewing the ties onto the apron, I measured the tie length that I would need. Then I did the same for the neck piece. After cutting to length and sewing those on, I tried on the apron to check the overall length before putting in the bottom hem. Lastly, I hand-sewed the eyelet across the bottom.

The total amount spent on this project was less than $6. And, it only took a couple of hours! The greatest part? My husband saying, "I knew you could do it."

Quilts and Cookies?

Well, today I am feeling better. Not 100%, but
definitely better. I am "trying" to take it easy,
but anyone that knows me, knows that I don't
follow directions well!

Since I live with a bunch of tattletales, I've decided to work on a quilt. I started this quilt earlier in the year, and then got a little side-tracked with the garden, and had to set it aside. It's difficult to see, but there are beautiful orange flowers on the brown squares. I bought matching orange/copper material for the backing, and I'll finish the edges with brown. It's 60"x60", so it will make a nice throw for the living room. I made this same quilt for my granddaughter, but it was in hot pink, turquoise, green and yellow...NOT the color of my living room!

I have another quilt that I'm working on, but it requires my brain to be fully functional! It is a basket quilt and my first attempt at triangles and flying geese and while it's not perfect, I am proud of it. I'll post pictures of that one when I get up the nerve to jump back into that one! I'm on basket #5 out of 5, so it is getting close to being pieced together. (The blocks, I mean.)

Tonight, our church youth group is "borrowing" our family room for a Harvest Party. Thankfully, there is a door at the top of the stairs, so the noise is generally contained to the downstairs. Even though all of the details have been taken care of, I still worry that somebody might forget to bring something, or there aren't enough chairs, or the room isn't clean enough...really, with a large family, it's NEVER really clean enough! So today, I decided to quit worrying and do something. Bake cookies! (Isn't that what all worriers do?) There may not be enough seating for everyone (they can sit on the floor...they're young, right?), the room may have a little dust (okay, that IS NOT my fault...woodstove!), but at least there will be cookies!


Aren't they pretty? And, I took it easy...I sat while frosting! See, I CAN follow directions!