The all time easiest way to wash hand knits (no hand washing required)/how to make wool drier balls

Okay so I am going to teach you how I wash and care for my hand knits.  It is sooo simple and there really is no hand washing involved in this.  So first off I keep a little basket in front of the washer for all my delicate and hand knit items.  When that gets full I simple do this..

 First off you turn the dial on your machine to cold and delicate (if you washer has it mine says pulse but doesn't matter)  set it to size of load you need. (I never need bigger then a small load)

 Then add a hand wash soap.  I use soak I love the smell (this one I ordered off Ravelry.com and it is their special green apple scent) I pour in a few cupfuls as the drum is filling and wait right there with your machine.

Once there is enough water to cover your hand knits and BEFORE  it starts agitating stop your machine.  (that is very important because that is what keeps your clothes from felting) squish down the clothes so they are all getting wet.  Then you set a timer for 15 minutes and walk away.

 After 15 minutes you come back and turn your dial forward to SPIN NOT RINSE.  Because soak doesn't need washed out and you don't want your clothes agitated you don't want it adding water just spinning out the water in the drum.

 You can repeat the spin part one more time for heavier fabrics such as sweaters or blankets.  Most of the moisture will be gone and you set your things out to dry as needed.  These are new socks so I will put then on my sock blockers to give them a nice shape.(I got mine from loopy ewe but knitpicks.com has less expensive ones now) 

These baby socks I finished will be set in the shape I want them to dry in since it is their first time being washed too.

but most of our socks wind up on this octopus thing from IKEA.  If they have already been blocked this is just fine for them.  I am lucky because I have a little laundry line thing that crosses the ceiling by my washer...not so lucky that they are in the hall to my master bath so there is always laundry hanging there lol. 

Here is one more thing to share with you I made some of these some time ago and they have disappeared so I made a new set today.  They are wool balls for your drier.  They help keep clothes soft so you don't have to use fabric softener (which clogs your lint trap and makes clothes take longer to dry and is a fire hazard) but they also decrease dry time and keeps things like blankets and coats fluffy.  This is a great project for your kids to help with.  Here is how you do it.

All you have to do to make these is roll some wool into a ball (I used patons classic wool I had left over from some felted slippers) and then once you have a ball about the size of a apple you take a needle and tuck the end in.  Then you take the ball put it is a old nylon and tie a knot,  You do it again until you have row of the balls in the nylons with knots between.  Then you throw then in the washer on hot and let them run through (I did mine twice)  Mine had some weird nubs when they came out I snipped those off and threw then right in the drier so they were ready for the next load!  Here is a link to a more visual tutorial if you are like me and need that. I hope this was helpful to you guys.  If you have any questions please don't hesitate to comment and I will do my best to get back to you