wow - why hadn't i thought to *do* this before?

i have a ton (and i mean a ton, almost literally) of lion's brand wool and paton's that i stocked up on when i was learning to knit. i only bought pretty colors but i quickly became a yarn snob and at this point i've become so super picky that there are only about a half-dozen types of wool that i'm willing to knit with. well, to clarify, i will almost knit anything but i won't wear or expect my children to wear anything but some of the finest wool out there. that said. i have a ton of itchy, but pretty wool in a drawer.

and now i finally know what to do with it! http://goodmama.typepad.com/goodmama/2008/05/make-your-own-wool-dryer-balls.html

i'm going to make my own wool dryer balls!!! i will, of course, test them out on my clothing first before i convince my mate (the only one in the house that uses commercial dryer sheets) that they're useful and harmless to his business attire. see, i had no problem buying dryer sheets when we were buying other shaklee cleaning products on a regular basis, but we didn't stock up and the shipping is too high to justify ordering *just* the sheets. i was also a fan, previously, of the method dryer sheets found at target. but last time i was there? they were nowhere to be found. so i was forced to buy regular (meaning not "green", not "chemical-free", not "natural" and most definitely not "biodegradable") dryer sheets for my mate as he had been complaining about his crunchy shirts and i heard this complaint more than once and it almost sounded like, "don't come back home from target without dryer sheets...or else!"

the things i will do for love!

but now, maybe i've found a solution to please us all. i get a project to use up yarn i wouldn't otherwise use. he gets soft clothes, and i don't have to worry about the build-up of chemical softners in my dryer. hopefully the dryer balls don't get linty and pilly - that's my only concern, which is why i'm sure i'll be testing them out for a long while before i can convince him to use them ;)