It’s That Time of Year Again
You may be thinking No, it’s not Christmas time yet. I am still enjoying cooler days with amazing trees putting on a show. And you’re are right it’s not Christmas time. It’s getting ready for sales time. and that means making dryer balls and soap for the guild sale and the Log Farm Market.
I don’t have a booth this year at our Guild sale, https://www.ovwsg.com/sale/ instead, I am joining the co-op booth where members who only have a few things to sell can put things and the guild takes a small commission.
The Log Farm where we do the Farmers’ Market has a small store, https://thelogfarm.com/karens-kountry-market/ that is open through the lead-up to Christmas. They want dryer balls and soap.
So off my son and I went to find the Corriedale wool and the soap I know I bought and the bag with the pantyhose/nylons/stockings( depending on where you are from).
We found the wool and the pantyhose but no soap. We dragged out the big boxes of wool. One has all my dyed wool in it. I will need that for making soap. I am sure there is soap in there somewhere but that’s enough searching. I will go buy more soap. I will find the other stuff eventually and it doesn’t go bad. The other good thing I found was a box of frames. I hope to get a few things framed for the show too.
On to making dryer balls. Here is one leg of dryer balls ready to go to the washer and dryer.
And this is what they look like after I got them all done.
Monday evening I took my bag of dryer balls to the guild with me and with the help of another guild member( sorry I do not remember your name, sometime between 2 and 10 years of knowing you I will remember it) They were all removed. this means untying the knots between each ball that are now tight and pealing them out. they are stuck pretty good.
Now I am putting them into the pantyhose again so they can have another trip through the washer and dryer to get rid of their fuzzies from being stuck and peeled out of the pantyhose the first time.
After another trip through the washer and dryer, I will need to bag them, put a topper on them, and then label them with a unique number so they can be tracked in the co-op booth. and I then need to make the soap too. and I haven’t started that so they will have to be another post.
11 thoughts on “It’s That Time of Year Again”
The co-op booth is a great idea for those with not enough items to sell to invest in a booth of their own.
Good luck with making all those soaps! At least the dryer balls are nearly ready though.
This is the time of year when panic starts to set in when you realise how few weeks there are left to achieve all you want to.
Thanks Lyn, yes the co-op booth been well used over the years. lots of people have to much of something but not enough to have a booth. Yes the balls are close to done. putting them in and out the second time is much easier. Time does seem to run fast this time of year.
Great mass-production of dryer balls, Ann. How much felting do you do before they go into the panty hose? Do you just tack them together by needle felting or do you start wet felting them?
Thanks Lindsay, I don’t tack them together I just wrap them and hole it wile I pop it into the pantyhose. Once in, the pantyhose holds them tight.
I applaud your industry Ann – I just don’t understand what the dryer balls do – do you put them in the tumble dryer with wet fabrics? What does that do? (apart from possibly getting fibres all over the dry clothes).
Are the balls felted hard or are they still “squeezable”? I have seen plastic balls with spikes that are put in the dryer, but I’ve never understood why.
Questions Questions!
Ann
The balls are tight and smooth so they don’t shed. They help you cloths dry faster by keeping things fluffed up and wool is good at pulling moisture. Also they help with static. I have never understood this one, but it works. They are hard but not rock solid.
I wrote about dryer balls recently, Ann! If you feel like it, have a read: https://eleanorshadow.com/six-reasons-wool-dryer-balls-are-the-best/ 🙂
Thanks for that, I’ll have a look.
Ann
I absolutely LOVE wool dryer balls. I’m currently making more for selling, too 😀 I needle felt them a lot first, which keeps me busy in front of the telly during the evenings.
Ah, wool soaps… I miss making those. It was a glorious task of suds and rubbing!
I do them in front of the TV too. Making soap gets you really clean and wrinkly. I willhave a look at your post too.
Great tips regrading Soap Boxes . You provided the best information which helps us a lot. Thanks for sharing the wonderful information.