Fuzzy Little Balls

*Before I start, my husband came up with the title to this one, it was much more clever than anything I could come up with.*

So a little known fact about me is that in high school, I was a member of the FFA (they used to be known as the Future Farmers of America, but now it s just FFA). While in the FFA I was on several judging teams, we went to other schools and competed against other students in different areas. 

The judging categories were everything from identifying bugs (Entomology), to identifying wildlife (which we call Wildlife, unique right haha, this was one of my categories), Meats, Crops, Livestock, Floral Design, I could go on and on, but then there was Wool . I ended up being the number one spot on my Wool team my senior year. While many people might find that super nerdy, I loved judging Wool. I love sheep, I think they are the coolest little critters. I hope to one day be able to learn to sheer sheep (A.K.A.  a sheep haircut), it can't be that different from people right? Right!? Maybe I will have an advantage since I have been cutting people hair for a while now?

 Anyway, this all leads up to today's Pinstrosity which had me down memory lane in the first place. 

Nicole decided to make DIY Dryer Balls out of wool yarn and a sweater, let's check it out:

The Original

http://www.crunchybetty.com/how-to-make-felted-wool-dryer-balls

Does anyone else see an ice cream cone here?!Maybe I am just hungry. 

Nicole decided for Christmas to make these as stocking stuffers for family. She said they wanted a dryer sheet alternative that is chemical free and a little more earth friendly. This was the perfect solution. Take an old wool sweater, a skein of pure wool yarn, and go to town. 

The original blogger used wool roving as opposed to yarn. The only difference is yarn is spun, and roving is not. Roving is a long( narrow) bundle of fiber. 

The original blogger then suggests that you put the balls into an old pair of pantyhose before putting them into the washer to felt, she feels strongly about this step because she reiterates it again.

The original blogger says... "In fact, this is not an optional step. Without this, you’ll just end up with a matted bunch of goop at the bottom of your washing machine."

 If you have done everything correctly your balls will look like the picture above. If you haven't they will look something like the picture below.

The Pinstrosity

Does anyone remember DIY Pastel Jean Pains?? That is what this makes me think of. 

Poor Nicole.

She got so excited about felting her balls (go ahead, giggle, I have been giggling this whole post I just can't help it!), that she forgot the vital non-optional step of putting all the balls into a pair of pantyhose.

(From the original blog)

http://www.crunchybetty.com/how-to-make-felted-wool-dryer-balls

She  then spent 20 minutes cutting them off of the towels she washed them with, and her original 15 dryer balls, only ended up being 8.

She attributes this Pinstrosity to trying to DIY from memory. When in doubt, write it down. 

We all know what DIY from memory can cause, as we saw in The Wise Owl Says... Just Go Buy A Cake. 

If you haven't read that one either, there is another good laugh. 

Has anyone had any luck with this project? Do you have any helper tips for Nicole, or any of us less experienced felters?! We love hearing your feedback!

Have a great Monday Pinstrosipeeps!