Snow, Potato Stamps & Dryer Balls Cont.

We did get out to fly our new kite on Wednesday. It was a real treat. Jilly held the kite a few times, but it was chasing the kite when it fell and lifting it up so it could catch the air again that she really loved. Tobin observed from his stroller and was sad he couldn't walk.

Snow

Yesterday it was Thursday and it snowed. The wind was so strong it knocked over several fences in the neighborhood including the one in between our neighbor in back and our houses (see picture).

Our fence post got pushed inward and a second beam fell off the top (see picture).

Potato Stamps

After lunch we had an hour before nap time so we took a potato and cut out hearts in relief for stamps. Jillian used red and green water color paints for them and then painted around the stamps she'd made. She learned about smearing the stamps vs. up and down technique to get a clearer image. She likes smearing the best. Tobin provided moral support sitting on my lap.

It took some convincing to get them to agree to go to nap as Jilly does Not like to leave her work unfinished.

Project #1 Continued: Felted Wool Dryer Balls

I found wool yarn in my yarn tub so I started rolling some balls. I did some research on the best way to make the balls and there are several techniques. The first I read about, and what I ended up doing, is by rolling the yarn into a ball slightly smaller than a tennis ball to make a core, sticking it in a sock or pantie hose and hot washing, drying to felt. Then, adding another layer of yarn, felt it again until the final result is about 9 inches in circumference. It's supposed to be more durable to have a core than if you just make a ball and felted it. You can also put fleece in to make a core, but I didn't have any of that. One creative woman put tennis balls in as a core and felted a layer over them. I don't know how well they'd soak up the static from the clothes, but maybe since you use between 3 and 12 balls (yes, this is the range I heard - all the same type ball, I guess it's personal preference) I could make some and mix 'em in. So far I've made 4 core balls.

Jillian shows the original size of the balls (which are wrapped in black pantie hose) in the picture to the right. I've washed them once in hot with our towels and was a little disappointed that they hadn't felted more. I stuck them in the dryer on high to see if that's the ticket. The end result will be felted between 3 and 5 times. I'm thinking I'll do the core once or twice and then put it thru the 3 to 5. I suppose the more it's felted the better it'll hold up.

I would like to add that a box full of yarn isn't, by it's nature, a great project to leave out with kids. I ended up giving Jillian a 'project yarn'. She interpreted her project as being unwinding the whole ball and winding parts of it back. Her handiwork is below.