The Curse of the Purple Crayon

A couple months ago I found a surprise when I opened up my dryer door after slaving over Mt. Washmore all day. Covering one of Mr. Wonderful's dress shirts was the prettiest purple metallic swirls one has ever seen. Of course my reaction is not that of an art connoisseur admiring a masterpiece, but one of sheer horror of how the heck a crayon made it past my inspection, through the washer, and into the dryer without being detected. The inside of my dryer has been streaked a pretty purple ever since and Mr. Wonderful's shirt tucked away in the closet in hopes of finding a solution that will remove the crayon before he decides to wear it again. Thank God it is summer in TX and long sleeves aren't the best choice of clothing right now!

In the midst of remodeling the game room, cleaning cabinets and drawers, and tackling Mt. Washmore, that metallic purple crayon swirl curse returned! I opened the dryer door and streaked all over the entire load of mine and Mr. Wonderful's khaki laundry was the prettiest, sparkliest, purple swirls one has ever seen. WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM? I know for a FACT that it was NOT in any pockets, because I actually checked them this time. I know for a FACT that it did NOT get into the dryer from the washer, because I actually shook out each piece of clothing before chucking them into the dryer this time. So that leaves me wondering where that dang purple crayon came from! I have my theories...

Along with the curiosity, I was left with an entire load of laundry and a dryer streaked with purple wax and glitter. I removed the laundry from the matching dryer and grabbed the goo gone to clean the dryer. Did you know they make that stuff in a spray gel now?...good stuff! As I'm scrubbing purple wax from my dryer drum, it occurs to me that it may not be safe for me to run the dryer after using half a bottle of goo gone on the inside. Wasn't quite sure how heat would mix with the orange fumes. I let it air out, threw the next load in and ran it on fluff/no heat for 30 min to absorb fumes and any residue that may have been left, then ran it for 20 min to make sure it wasn't going to catch fire then proceeded with normal procedure.

Dryer taken care of, but I was still facing an entire load of purple swirled laundry. HOW in the world do you get crayon out of an entire load of laundry? And why couldn't it be a load of towels or dark clothes?

Let me tell you how I got the crayon out...

Having to think fast because Mr. Wonderful was in the vicinity and hot on the trail of the orange smell coming from the laundry room. Thank God I had been on a cleaning streak, he thought I was cleaning shelves and didn't question the smell. It's a good thing he's not familiar with smells of cleaning products...I could have recognized goo gone from three houses down.

Anywhooo...I grabbed the bottle of goo gone, thinking I had seen it would remove crayon.

I read the label carefully to make sure it wasn't going to eat holes in the clothes or something crazy. Like it would have mattered at that point. Sounded good to me, so I set out spraying goo gone on the clothes until I could spray no more ( I ran out). I let those sit for a bit while I cooked dinner and pondered my options for the rest of the load. I ended up filling washer with hot water, couple extra shots of laundry detergent, and a 1/2 cup of Murphy's Oil Soap (stain treatment, read the label, lol). To my surprise, the load came out purple swirl free and threads still intact. There were only two shirts that didn't come completely crayon free which I plan to treat again today, along with the one tucked away in my closet and hope for the best.

As for my theories on HOW the crayon made it into the dryer...

1. Aliens snuck through the dryer vent and colored all over my clothes.
2. My Mom's imaginary friend, Harvey, did it.
3. Mr. Wonderful has a purple crayon fetish and tucked it away in a secret pocket in his shorts.
4. Since I didn't find the purple crayon the first time this happened, it could have broken off and made it's way into one of the little air holes in the dryer where it has been lurking for months for the right moment to make it's second appearance.

I don't know...