Knowing The Sheep Behind The Dryer Balls Makes All The Difference

I never expected that my Bedlam Farm Dryer Balls would be so popular.

I certainly liked selling them and making them was fun.  But what surprised me was that there were so many people who wanted them.  It wasn’t just that they wanted dryer balls, it was that they wanted Dryer Balls that were made from the wool of sheep that they know.

This is one of the wonderful things about how creativity works.

Because I share the story of my sheep on my blog, everyone who reads about them gets to know them.  And as I’ve learned, they really are all different.  They all look different and each has their own unique personality.

Many of the people who bought my dryer balls, made from Asher, Issachar and some of Zelda’s wool, have never bought anything else from me.  They have no use for yarn or roving and they’re not in the market for potholders or quilts or fabric paintings.

But dryer balls were just the thing for them.

So now there’s a way for them to have a little bit of Bedlam Farm in their home in a very everyday way.

And I once again have to thank my friend and artist Emily Gold for giving me the idea. She mentioned them to me when I told her I had all that extra unexpected roving.  I’d heard of dryer balls but never used them and never thought to make them.

Holly who sent me the photo above of her Bedlam Farm Dryer Balls wrote me that she was inspired to make her own dryer balls and is working on her third one.  Mary wrote how she helped raise a flock of sheep when she was a kid and how much she loved working with them.  So the dryer balls brought that back to her.  And another person (I forget who it was now) wrote how she likes to see Bedlam Farm continue to be a working farm.

Then my friend Suzy, who hand spins and knits all those beautiful shawls, sent me a package of roving scraps in a rainbow of colors to use on my next batch of dryer balls.  And I ordered a dry felting needle which I think (I don’t really know I’ve never tried it before) will allow me to be more discriminating when putting the colored roving on the dryer balls.

Even as I write this I marvel at how many people are helping to make my Bedlam Farm Dryer Balls a success.  And now with the new colorful roving and dry felting needles, who knows where it will go.