I made dryer balls!

Lately I have been faced with two dilemmas (among many, but let's just focus on these for the sake of this post):
1. I have left over, strange amounts of yarn that I don't know what to do with,
2. I have serious static in my dryer (we don't use dryer sheets and I recently found out the blue dryer balls we were using are made of PVC and therefore not going back in my dryer!)

My solution? Homemade wool dryer balls! I have heard from many people lately that they simply swear by them to not only reduce static, but soften their clothes and reduce drying times as well! So, I dug out my leftover stash and went to work! They are incredibly simple to make with a little bit of time and a good grip (I will explain in a moment!).

Left over wool yarn from other projects

1. Wrap your 100% wool yarn of choice into a tight ball- we are talkin' tight here! As tight as you can make it! The tighter the better (this is where the grip issue comes in- when the ball is very small it has a tendency to pop out of your fingers and unravel- no fun!)!

Wrapping a Tight Ball

2. Once you have wrapped to about the size of a golf ball you have made your core, which should be felted on it's own for the best results. Take the end of the yarn and wrap it into the ball with a small crochet hook to secure it.

Securing the end of the yarn

3. Place the ball into the end of an old nylon or sock and put a tie of non-wool yarn or string just past it to insure that it does not fall out and unravel. If you are making more than one ball tie in between each.

Balls tied in nylon

4. Throw the ball(s) into the washer with a load of clothes (preferably a hot wash) and follow up with a tumble through the dryer. This process can be repeated as many times as you like to acquire the desired level of felting. The more times you wash and dry the more firm and dense the ball will become.

Balls in washer

5. Once your core is sufficiently felted it is time to add on your outer layer. Just begin to wind more string (tightly, once again) onto your core until it reaches about the size of a tennis ball (generally around 9 in. in circumference) but make sure that you allow for some shrinkage in the felting process.

Starting to wind more yarn onto felted core

6. Repeat steps 2-4 and voila'- you have just made your very own dryer balls! Throw them in with each load of laundry for the softest clothes you've probably ever had! Generally speaking, the more balls in the dryer the better! So, go get busy with this fun and simple way to go green, reuse and be frugal!
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Meme Note:

If you have a clever use for leftover yarn, or you blog about making your own dryer balls, I would love for you to be a part of this Knit Bits Meme! Simply leave a link directly to your post in a comment (not to just your general blog, but the specific post itself) and then we can all share in the fun together. Make sure to add the Knit Bits Button to your post too!

Soon I hope to get a Mr. Linky up and working for these memes, but until then linked comments will have to work! I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Fall is in the air...

As I gaze out my front window right now I blatantly reminded that summer is no longer here. The wind is blowing, the sky is gray and the leaves are beginning to change colors. Normally I dread fall- all the gloomy days seem to string together. This year, however, I am actually looking forward to the change of the season. There are lots of changes going on in my life right now and so it just seems to fit.

Jeremiah says he is going to start working on our basement this weekend- a much anticipated and long awaited change! I am working on my postpartum doula training through DONA, steadily getting my reading done so that I can prepare to attend a workshop. Roman is growing and talking more- he even started telling us when he needs to go to the potty! He doesn't always make it in time, but on the whole he is doing much better than I would ever expect a 17 month old to! The picture to the right shows the first time that he actually "smiled" for the camera! We are also trying to get pregnant (as many of you know) and tonight I am going to get my hair cut (I will try to post before and after photos tomorrow and explain the whole situation!).

Chic & Savvy Mamas is also beginning to get more business. The BOLD Red Tent Event was fantastic! What a wonderful experience! I think it was the perfect venue to start getting my name out into the community for the first time! I made lots of encouraging connections and hope that things will really start to pick up. This little community is so soggy that if I can just show mamas how "non-hippie" natural parenting can be I know they will want to change!

OOO- I almost forgot! I also finished my latest pair of longies for Roman, made with the Uraguanian wool I blogged about a while back! They turned out beautifully and are so soft! I just have to make the drawstring and they will be finished! They are a little long but I want to make sure that they would last throught the winter. I will have to post a picture of them in action as soon as I get one! Speaking of projects I really need to get back to working on things for Christmas! I was hoping I would be much farther along than I am right now, and if I don't get back on it soon there is no way I will be done in time!

Well, I suppose that is all for now. It feels so good to blog again- I forget how therapeutic it can be (even if I did loose a lot of my readers during my temporary lapse in blogging- oh well, I can only do so much!). I think I am back though and ready to blog again! See you back here soon!

I think I'm in love!

My new yarn finally arrived today! I am so excited! It is 100% Uraguanian Merino Wool and it is sooooo soft! I bought it a couple of weeks ago from 100 Pure Wool and it is my first really nice yarn purchase. I have used Cascade and a couple other okay brands for Roman's woolies, but this is by far the most luxurious! I just can't stop petting it! I can't wait to knit it up to see how it looks! Jer liked it because he said it looked "manly". A lot of the other colorways I showed him he just couldn't get into, but this one he loved! Good thing, 'cause he is going to have to hold it for me tonight while I wrap it into a center-pull ball! And it wasn't even expensive! Shipping included I only spent about $30! I can't remember exactly how much, but it was only about $7 per skein! Woohoo!


Oh, and check out these cool stamps from Uraguay! According to the package it cost $150 Uraguanian which translated to about $9 US! Crazy Huh? I want to start keeping stamps like these, and other little bits of uncommon art to put under plexiglass on my craft table someday. When I have a craft table and a studio to put it in, that is! Wouldn't it be cool on an old door turned table? Oh, I can dream!


For now this is my "studio". We just moved it out of our bedroom into the living room yesterday so that I can get more use out of it. It is the perfect place to sit and knit and do my Bible Study.
The blanket across the front is the lapghan I am crocheting for my grandparents. It is slowly growing, taking much more yarn than I had expected! Oh well, it will be nice in the end and they will love it!

The quilt across the back is one I started a few years ago in a sampler class. I really like it but I still need to add a border to it so that it is the right size and then actually quilt it and bind it! Someday it will be finished! For now though, it helps my little chair feel homey and inspired!

On the needles- 8/09!

Okay, I probably have too many projects going at once, but hey- that keeps things interesting right? In the picture on the left, the far right project is a Curly Purly soaker with the yarn I have left over from my latest pair of shorties. However, I am doing Grey with Blue trim- just opposite of the shorties! The middle project is a Double Moss Stitch Scarf for my mom (see below for the nightmare I went through with this yarn!). And the project on the left is the most complicated project I have attempted to date: a Zip-Up Cable Jacket out of the Debbie Bliss book Simply Baby. I am really excited about this one! I think it is really going to expand my repertoire of knitting skills! Hmm... now that I am looking, I should probably be knitting, not typing! Oh the many things I put on my plate!

Oh what a mess!!

Oh my, my! What happened here? Well, I will tell you! My loving mother was working a craft fair (my parents own Labor of Love Creations- they make beautiful signs for the home! Check 'em out!) and she found a booth with beautiful hand painted yarns by Lee Greenlee of Shoalter Bay (she doesn't have a site but if you want her number I can get it to you!). Knowing that I am an avid knitter, she generously bought two skeins for me to make scarves out of- one for her and one for me! However, when I attempted to unravel the first skein to make a center-pull ball I quickly realized that something had gone terribly wrong when the skein was originally made- I found yarn criss-crossing every which way! Then, to make matters worse, my one year old son decided to "help" me! Before I knew it I had a knot worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records! It ended up taking me 3 days and over 4 solid hours to work the whole thing out! I can't believe I stuck with it- probably because it was a gift and I would have felt terribly guilty to give up!

Now that the madness is over I am finally getting to knit the first skein up in a lovely Double Moss Stitch (alternating k2 p2 k2... with p2 k2 p2... every 2 rows). In the end I am sure it will be worth the work, but I am absolutely making my husband help me hold the second skein while I roll the center-pull ball!

Perfection?

Well, I don't know about perfection but I sure do love them! The brown longies (Cascade 220) were my first ever pair. Sadly, they are getting rather short (probably should have made them longer to begin with! Oops! Oh well, part of the learning process!), but Roman still wears them almost every night to bed!

The light green on the left were the second pair I made. Since I only bought one skein they ended up being more like hot pants than perfection pants, but they did there job until I got another pair of shorties made! Some of our friends who lived in Germany for a few years said he looked like a German baby! Well- Danke!

My third pair were the dark green with brown trim. I messed with the pattern a little, wanting wider legs. Well, it seems that I over compensated a bit after the light green pair and I think Roman could probably wear these when he is, oh, I don't know- maybe FIVE! They are huge! Drat! Try again!

Which brings me to my last completed pair- the blue with grey trim! They are the closest thing to perfect I have made! Much better fit and I think the cutest pair so far! My husband even thinks they are cute- and that is saying something!

Here is Roman "helping" me take pictures:

And here are the blue ones in action: