All About Hacky Sacks

My mom crochets our hacky sacks from a design we got from Instructables.Com You have to pay to get a pdf version of the instructions but you can print out the instructions using the printscreen function or P. You will get whatever you see on the webpage including a bunch of advertisements. She did have to tweak it a little bit and practice before she got some that were just right. If you are crocheting the footbags make sure you use some kind of sports thread. You will need a variety of colors and waiting until they go on sale at the fabric outlets or buying them at flea markets or estates sale will save you a bunch of money. Most patterns call for at least 2 colors and one ball of each can make at least 3 or 4 hackysacks. Crocheting them does take a little time and skill but it is well worth the effort. The downside is you will need to buy some knee-hi’s to hold whichever filler you use. We used the knee-hi hosiery and found a great deal at Walmart in the women’s hosiery section. The really inexpensive ones comes in the plastic bubbles like you get in a prize gumball machine. The last time we went they were selling for $0.10 a piece. Not a bad deal for 2 footbag fillers.

You can use leather pieces or suede to sew your hacksacks with but they are kind of tough to work with. You have to have a good needle and strong thread. Any of the fabric stores or outlets can help you with which needle and thread you should use for both leather and suede. If you want to fill you bags with plastic pellets like in the Beany Babies you should go online to see which of the fabric outlets carries them. We have tried the craft sand which gives the sacks a nice weight but the sand dust comes through the material as you use the footbag. You can fill them with dried beans as well. You really should use pinto beans or black beans whichever are cheaper as they seem to be tougher than the rest. The downside with using beans as they don’t have as much weight as the sand or plastic pellets. We got the suede pieces off of Ebay from an upholster who was selling piece lots in a variety of colors and sizes. They worked really well but you have to ask for pieces that are at least 4in x 6in.

MAKE YOUR OWN HACKY SACKS/FOOTBAGS WEBSITES

http://valinet.com/~dbotkin/sew.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Your-Own-Hacky-Sack-or-FootBag/

http://www.ehow.com/how_5240490_crochet-hacky-sack.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-crochet-a-ball-or-a-hackey-sack/