DIY~ 100% Wool Yarn Dryer Balls

A friend, Nikki, told me about dryer balls that you can make from winding 100% wool. I knew I had to try this! I read that it's supposed to shrink drying time down by 30% which is huge for us! We are doing laundry all the time with four kids, and it is one of my least~liked tasks that I have to do. It takes up a lot of time! At least the older boys put their clothes away themselves.

I have really sensitive skin and so do a couple of our kids. Even the 'free and clear' or fragrance free fabric softeners seem to cause a little bit of irritation.  I like using those spiky, blue, 'as seen on tv' balls, but I wanted to use something with essential oils that would make the laundry smell nice.

Not only is it supposed to be good at reducing drying time,  It also is great in reducing static and fluffing up the laundry! AND can make your clothes smell great!

My wool yarn finally came in the mail several weeks ago and I just made these last week. Thanks grandma Margaret for picking them up for me! They turned out great! In search of how to make these, I found these two sites, 1 & 2. ;) There are different ways to make them, such as using already felted wool, or reusing wool sweaters. I thought this method was the easiest and actually didn't know of any other way to try it. And if you want carpel tunnel...give it a go!! Haha. Seriously though, it cost me $5 per ball. That's $10 for my dryer balls that will last me several years.

How to make your own 100% Wool Yarn Dryer Balls

1.) Get some 100% wool warn! This makes one ball.

2.) Wind the yarn around some fingers to start your ball.

3.) Take the yarn off your fingers and wrap the yarn around it a few times to look like this.

4.) Start winding the ball

5.) Keep winding!

 6.) And winding....are you getting carpel tunnel yet? 

7.) Once finished winding up ALL the yarn into a ball, take a large needle and work through the yarn a few times to secure it.

 8.) Use some old nylons and stuff your stockings! ;)

Tie the first dryer ball off with string or simply knot the stockings. Add second ball and do the same. Make as many as you wish because you can add a lot to the nylons. Then wash them in hot water to 'felt' them.  I did this THREE times on HOT water with the laundry and also in the dryer.

9.) Once felted,  they are ready to use! My favorite part....adding the essential oils! Add whatever oils you fancy at the moment (or want your clothes to smell like). 

10.) After using a while, they will apparently pill (get linty~).  Mine aren't so bad now since I've only used them a few times. 

Edit: Now that I've had the balls for a while (which I love the essential oils added to them by the way) I think it would be best to keep them in the nylon sock until the sock comes apart. One of the balls unravelled and it was because it hadn't 'felted' completely. Keeping it in the sock, and also maybe two more washings on 'hot' would help with that.