Dryer balls are a great way to save energy while drying your laundry as they can shorten the drying times as well as working to soften your clothing, eliminating the need for dryer sheets with their nasty chemicals. As the balls tumble around in your dryer, they help keep the clothing separated so the heat is distributed more evenly and absorb moisture from the clothing which lets your wash dry faster.
Here at Marandy Hill, we like to re-use or re-purpose things as much as possible ad our dryer ball project was no exception. The wool came from two old sweaters that had outlived their usefulness. There was quite a bit of yarn after unraveling the sweaters, as you can see by my basket full of balls ready for the next step.
Once I had all the little balls of yarn rolled up, it was time to stuff them into old stockings for the felting process. I located an aging pair of stockings, and managed to fit all of the yarn balls into the legs, with ties in between each ball. The ties were strips torn from a worn-out t-shirt, about 6 inches by a half inch.
Next, the stocking-covered chains of balls went into the washer for the first round – hot water on a short cycle with plain water, followed by high heat drying. I did a total of three rounds of wash and dry. Since our washer uses sensing to determine how much water is actually needed, very little hot water was actually used in the process.
I removed the now-felted yarn balls from their stockings and they were ready to go!
My daughter gave them the first test as she tossed four of them into a load of wash in the dryer. They worked like a charm – less static and faster drying time! And best of all, there were no more nasty chemical-filled dryer sheets to be used. I love it when a plan comes together!
