So I am trying to check off one more thing on my “to create” list and making dryer balls seemed the most intriguing to me. As I was seeing who in my local area would either have wool yarn or wool roving I realized hardly no one had heard of wool dryer balls. This really shouldn’t have surprised me as I just found out about them about 6 months ago myself. I saw them on the website that I buy a lot of my cloth diapers from and realized they were a great alternative to dryer sheets. They fluff clothes, reduce static and speed up drying time just like a normal dryer sheet but without all of the chemicals. Plus with cloth diapers you’re not supposed to use those dryer sheet because they’ll reduce absorbancy, and of course may cause your baby’s sensitive bum to react poorly. So after some research and some purchases I was on my way to make my own dryer balls!
What you’ll need: nylons – felting needles – wool yarn and or wool roving (wool before it’s made into yarn) – scissors
I started by making a small ball with 100% wool yarn. Now you need to make sure that the yarn you get is 100% wool and it’s use is for felting and not washable. If you get washable wool, you’ll end up with an expensive cat toy. =)
I used a natural color inside because it was a little cheaper than the colored yarns. I used about 2 oz for the core and then tucked the end of the yarn into the center and felted the end so it wouldn’t come loose. Felting is super easy with a good needle – just a lot of poking to knot up the fibers!
I then took a fun green color and covered the entire ball so that there wasn’t any white showing. There are a ton of different color wools out there – so have fun with it!
I did the same to this end – felted it into the ball. I wanted to add some pizzaz to my ball (because laundry needs all the help it can get to be a little more enjoyable!) so I added some polka dots with wool roving:
This is the wool roving that I purchased. Undyed and I got about 8oz for $8.50. A lot better deal than the 3.5oz for $7-$9 for wool yarn!
So I took some of the wool roving and felted polka dots on my ball – make them whatever size you want. Here’s the finished ball:
Then put the ball into a nylon stocking to wash.
Wash on a hot cycle a few times – I’ve read this can take up to 4-5 times to get a good felting. You can wash them on their own or with a load of towels. I have yet to wash mine as I am making about 6-8 and have only got 4 completed so far.
No worries though I will post my results as soon as they’re complete! I can’t wait to see how they turn out!
