Must or Bust : The Threesome

Okay, okay, fine. I was too lazy to write out the real title, which would have been : "Must or Bust: Aluminum Dryer Balls and a Hook Monster and a Grease Catcher".  That's way too long. Do you blame me?! :)

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Aluminum Foil Dryer Balls: Must. . . kinda-sorta


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I actually got this idea from my buddy, BreAnne, but you can also find the link HERE. I have some theories as to why this didn't work for me and my family. 1) I didn't make the balls big enough, 2) I have a dog that likes to lie in wait for one to fall out of the dryer unbeknownst to me and carry it off and I end up thinking I have three balls when I only have two. And then one.

One day not too long ago, I came home from a four-hour long class in another city and Chuck had cleaned the house, vacuumed the floor, and was trying, in vain, to fold a fitted sheet after numerous loads of successful laundry. Thanks to the outcome of {THIS} Must or Bust, I knew just what to do to help that gnarled pile that was seconds away from being lit on fire. I showed him how I do it, and sympathized with him about how tricky it can be. His response was, "When you fold the sheets, do they usually shock you with high voltage? Repeatedly?"

I couldn't help but laugh and say, "Yeah, well, I'm not 100% convinced those dryer balls work."

"Well, I'm about 100% sure they DON'T work." was his response.

I think he was just a little bitter because the fitted sheet was trying to give him electro-shock therapy when he didn't ask for it and refused to fold into a neat little square. We all know how frustrating that can be, so I don't blame him in the slightest.

If you try this {which I really would recommend despite the occasional electrocution} I would just make sure they measure 2-3 inches in diameter. They get a little bit smaller after they're dried a few times, so when in doubt, make them bigger than you think. :)

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A Crocheted Hook Monster: BUST

 
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I found this pattern {HERE} on "Let's Get Knitfaced". . . and the kicker is that you can make it look like a monster, like so:


{photo source}

Well, mine looked like a monster all right . . . as in "monstrosity".



Seriously. How awful is that?! Don't even tell me. I don't wanna know. ;)

In the pattern's defense, I didn't really know what in the world she was talking about when it came to making the top, so I just made it up by throwing in some single crochet decreases when I felt like it. . . so no wonder it looks horrible! If you know what you're doing, by all means, do it. However, in the thirty seconds this thing survived before being tossed in the trash, I couldn't help but notice that my hooks kept falling through the stitches at the bottom.

So, yeah, FAIL.

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An Ingenious Grease Catcher Idea: MUST 



Unfortunately, I don't have a photo source/link for this idea. It's posted as "uploaded by user", so I apologize to whomever thought up this concept. I bow to you.

I regularly fill up jars of stinky-nearly-makes-me-pass-out-from-gross-ness hamburger grease, and it grieves me to throw the once perfectly functional mason jars in the garbage. This idea came along and I was practically sold before ever actually trying it.

I tried it out the other day, and it's not nearly as easy as you think to get aluminum foil to fit inside a pint jar. I pictured just stuffing it in and having it form-fit the jar. . . um, yeah, no. It doesn't work that way, ya'll. Just make sure it fits down inside enough to create a bowl for your grease, and be happy. Oh, and don't poke a hole in your foil. It kinda defeats the point. I left it on the counter overnight to harden and threw it away in the morning. . . and then did a happy dance as I put my clean mason jar back in the pantry.

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Moral of this Must or Bust? Aluminum foil can be your friend. It can also be your husband's enemy. And laughing at your absolutely horrendous crochet projects can help you feel better about life. And that's a fact. :)