Dryer Balls and gnomes

What do you do with all those scraps of fleece
and roving that every spinner has build up
in baskets and bags and bins? Make wool felt balls.

Off and on over many years, my family has made wool felt balls. When the kids were little, they were toys (medieval nerf balls we called'm). Then we made them for kitties with catnip centers and for dogs to try to teach them to play that game called "fetch." Quigley has never understood why humans would want to play such a funny game and he's not going to waste the energy on it.

A couple years ago I read an article in Mary Jane magazine about using them as dryer balls. You just pop a few of the wool felt balls that we always have around the house into the dryer and they cut down on the time it takes to dry clothes and take the static out. We tried it, and they do work that way. We also found they have a far more important function in the dryer.

Solid wool felt dryer balls that
the gnomes have not yet traded out.

Dryer gnomes love felt balls! They will happily trade a felt ball for one, or even two of your socks that they have been hording. And if you give them dryer balls, they will quit taking your favorite wash cloths. They sometimes even trade an especially colorful dryer ball for one of my special Summer tie-dyed tea towels that they do so love to steal.

And no, I have no idea where they take them, any more than I have any idea where missing pens go. But I do think the parallel universe must be a pretty, fun place. And I bet gnomes never have cold feet.