Replace your dryer sheets with crochet!

Dryer Balls!

What a great idea! I loved that I would be replacing something I bought regularly, used, and then threw away. When I went searching the internet about dryer balls I really learned a lot. There are A TON of way to make dryer balls!! For people who knit, for people who are just DIYers. You can make them with yarn or some people dare make them out of old 100% wool sweaters. Great ideas, but I needed a crochet plan.

I stumbled upon a great blog post about dryer balls that, at the time, didn't have very good instructions for them. Good basic guild lines that I really didn't have a hard time adjusting to work for me. I made one pretty large maroon dryer ball for myself and then a few years later created three more for my in-laws. They loved them as much as I did! Not only that but my mother-in-law wanted to custom order a bunch from me. 36! Wow! 36 dryer balls was a lot.

prettystitches.wordpress.com/crochet-felted-wool-dryer-balls

When I went searching through my patterns again to find the dryer ball pattern I had used I couldn't find it. I did my project without searching for the first pattern I used. It took me so long to find that link above it was crazy, but it wasn't my only problem. I had to purchase new yarn and somehow calculate out 36 dryer balls. I needed a solid plan and a pattern I could do 36 + times over again and again. I bought two balls of 100% wool  Patons Classic Wool Worsted and experimented.

This pattern is made using Patons classic wool worsted weight yarn 100g and I used a variety of colors. Its what I used to make the pattern so its what I recommend.

Also used a 4.00mm hook

Lets get down to it

Take your yarn and starting with the outside strand wind it up into a good size ball, about the size of a small tennis ball. Keep your yarn nice and loose, If you wind it too tight then your balls will end up being a little on the small side for the ball cover pattern. Starting with the outside strand makes making your second ball a ton easier, just trust me guys.

When your done with the first ball then pull your center string and, you guessed it, wind it up into a nice little ball. Having both the balls side by side it was easy for me to adjust their sizes to get them both about the same size. Leave a nice long tail and weave it all over your ball. The longer the string the more you have to weave and the less likely your ball will come unwrapped.

Easy part over.

Crochet a cover

Keep in mind that you want your dryer ball to fit nice and tightly snug inside the covering.

1. Magic loop, 6 SC in magic loop (6)

2. 2 SC in each ST around (12)

3. *2 SC, SC next ST* repeat around (18)

4. *2 SC, SC next 2 ST* repeat around (24)

5. *2 SC, SC next 3 ST* repeat around (30)

6. *2 SC, SC next 4 ST* repeat around (36)

At this point I like to weave in my start strand (don't want to forget it!)

7-11. SC each ST around (36)

12. *SC decrease, SC next 4 ST* repeat around (30)

At this point place your wound ball of yarn into your covering

13. *SC decrease, SC next 3 ST* repeat around (24)

14. *SC decrease, SC next 2 ST* repeat around (18)

15. *SC decrease, SC next ST* repeat around (12)

16. SC decrease each ST around (6)

Weave your end through your six stitches and pull closed and weaved in end.

On To Felting

This is where the blog link from above comes into play, I did remember the felting method that she used and used it with these. Felting is a lot of work! I'll give you some basics of how I felt mine and then I'll give you some tid-bits of wisdom or you can head back to the blog I used. Down below is a link to her felting page.

prettystitches.wordpress.com/felted-wool-dryer-balls/felting

Alright, I am a cheater, I don't follow the whole process from above. I probably actually half it and let my dryer do the work over a LONG period of time. I boil a large pot and boiled all the balls of the same color. I hold them under the water with tongs to help them fill with the water. Let them boil for a few minutes and then throw them in an ice bath. This process is all about time. Let them sit in the ice water, I like to squeeze mine to fully empty the hot water from them and let the cold water completely in. Then repeat! squeeze out the cold water and throw them back into the boiling water to start all over. I do this probably four to five times. Then after coming out of the cold water for the last time I let them dry on a towel and rotate them to new dry spot or a new towel until they are dry. Then its off to the dryer!

Tid-bits of Wisdom

1. This boiling process comes with a certain smell. I imagine its what a hot wet sheep would smell like haha

2. Boil all the same color. Your water is going to draw a little bit of color from your yarn. DONT WORRY!!!! it doesn't mean your clothes will be colored in the dryer.

3. Don't expect great things right off the bat. Although I love dryer balls, the first few times of use there is still a little static.

picture of my boiling water after felting my maroon dryer balls


















Overall

This was a long process to make 36! I won't be doing anymore in the near future. On a smaller scale a person could buy two balls of yarn and produce 3 dryer balls. Small batches are easy to make, I usually make my wound yarn while watching a TV show. The covering is a basic ball pattern in crochet, easily adapted for many other projects. Could be a very easy project for a beginner with little out of pocket cost (two balls and a crochet hook) and have a lasting result.

Head on out people and start making! Replace those dryer sheets that are slowly eating up your money.

Etsy

If you just aren't in for all the work then head on over to the Etsy Store, LyssaLousCustomCraft. I don't have dryer balls in the shop but please don't let that stop you from placing a custom order for your own personal set. While there take a peek around! you might see something you love!

Thanks for stopping by everyone and enjoy!

Happiness is Homemade!

Alyssa

The Diamond Ghan Blanket

Diamond Ghan Baby Blanket

This is one of my very favorite patterns to work. It is a good easy pattern that doesn't need balls upon balls of yarn to make and is open and lightweight for warmer months. Pattern found for free over on Ravelry. Pattern has directions for different sizes and also give you the number of multiples (and extra) you need to make your own size. WARNING: Pay close attention to which row your working, can easily mix rows up.

Things I did differently

Even though the pattern comes with the different blanket sizes and instruction when I work up the chain for the baby blanket I knew it would be two small, my yarn and hook are smaller so I had to work off of the number of multiples given and measure my chain to about 40" plus the extra start stitches and start working. 

ravelry.com/patterns/library/diamond-ghan

Baby boy blessing blanket

This is a baby boy blessing blanket I made for my cousin and her first baby. Due date was in August so I knew it needed to be a nice light blanket that wouldn't have baby overheating. Made using one ball of Bernat Baby yarn in white and it took a little under a month to make. The boarder I used is not included, its just something I made up as I worked around. 

Baby boy blanket in blue

My second diamond ghan blanket I made for my best friend in Florida who had a baby boy in November. Florida is hot most months. I remember it feeling cold to me in January, maybe Feburary but that was is. Keeping this in mind I came back to this light blanket pattern. Blanket made in Bernat Baby Yarn in Lavender marble, It just looked like blue instead, funny yarn color names. I tried to recreate the same boarder with color changes using some extra white yarn I had on hand. This one turned out a little bigger then anticipated (just means he can use it longer) and used about one and a half skiens of yarn and the scrap white yarn. I did make a mistake like 13 rows back and had to pull it out and rework and because of that it took me almost a month and a half to make. Worth ever minute! 

I haven't met the little man yet but I do get pictures! Here he is with his older sister enjoying his gift.

This makes the work worth it. I might not be there but I little piece of me is. 

Updates!

So far I have used this pattern six times and its still a pattern I consider first when wanting to make a baby blanket. 

After gifting the blue blanket to my close friend she asked if I could make the same one for her other two children. Turns out the babies blanket was being stolen by the other kids and loved on just as much. Oh I couldn't wait to try out this pattern for a girl and make another one for an older boy.

Yellow diamond ghan with a flower boarder

Problem with making blankets from your stash of yarn is you never know if you will have enough yarn to make what you had in mind. This was the case with this yellow blanket. I have no idea what type of yarn it is or how much was used. It came out short and looked more square then the rectangular shape I love. So I went looking for an awesome boarder I could use on just the top and bottom to elongate the blanket just a tad. Sorry to say I have no idea what happened to the pattern I used for the boarder. Maybe someday I will happen upon it again and attach a link. 

Grey big boys diamond ghan blanket

After the struggles I had with the yellow stash blanket I decided the next one needed to be made with a yarn I knew I could get at the store. I chose the Caron Simply Soft Yarn in a dark grey color. Turned out I had a ball or two of it in my stash and then got the other balls I needed from Walmart on the cheap. This one while being bigger was just as easy at the first few I created but took quiet a few move skeins. This one I did a color change boarder with between the grey and a black yarn I had on hand. It turned out great and these two kids LOVE their personal blankets!

Tri-color baby diamond ghan blanket

After a few years of struggling to get pregnant my husband and I found out we were expecting a little boy (due in February 2018). My mom also crochets and asked if I would like her to make a blanket and my answer was of course! I told her that there were all seasons here and I wanted to make a summer light blanket and she could make a winter heavy blanket for him. 

This blanket is just like the others I have made. Its created using Bernat baby yarn in a variegated yarn that has blue, green and white. The boarder is thick and made with a baby blue yarn I had in the stash and the bernat yarn. This one is pretty big and used a skein and a half and took me a while and even longer to get laid out and wet blocked (pretty sure I was 7 months pregnant or more lol). 

Little girls variegated baby blanket

This one is just from stash yarn. I had a few balls (4 if I remember correctly) of a beautiful Bernat baby yarn in variegated pink, grey, peach and white. It has been in the stash for a very long time and I decided to use it once finding out a new friend was expecting her third child, a little girl. I love making girly things! I did a different boarder with a matching solid pink Bernet yarn I had in the stash. All the yarn wasn't used and it is a much smaller blanket but it turned out so beautiful I can't stand it. 

Overall this is a great pattern that I love doing over and over again with different types of yarn and trying out different boarders. I highly recommend this pattern to anyone.

Etsy

Lyssa Lou's Custom Crafts

The Etsy store is filled with fun creative handmade things available for purchase. Head on over there and check it out. 

www.etsy.com/shop/LyssaLousCustomCraft

Don't have anything in the shop that your looking for? Maybe check out what I've created in the past by going to the facebook page. 

www.facebook.com/LyssaLousCustomCraft

If you are interested in a custom item just let me know! You can message me through Etsy or on facebook.