Dryer Balls

So my friend Darcy sent me a link to http://www.bummis.com/ where they were talking about dryer balls.  Dryer balls yarn wound wool balls that you toss into your dryer along with a load of laundry. These balls fluff your garments more during tumbling, which softens clothes, and keeps them from clinging together, so that more air exchange occurs between the clothes, leading to faster drying times.

I have a Energy Efficient dryer that drys jeans in 44 minutes.  However, my cloth diapers take a full run time and a half of another just to dry my cloth diaps.  So I checked out this link and made my own dryer balls and it actually worked!  My cloth diaps dry in 44 minutes!  woo hoo!  Also when I washed our sheets this morning they were dryer quicker (24 minutes) and weren't staticy at all! 

The only draw back is that it took me an entire roll of wool to make a dryer ball, and at Joanns each roll of woll costs $6.00 (it needs to be 100% wool), however if you load up on their 50% off coupons, you can make 4 dryer balls (I use 4 balls in the dryer for best results) for only $12.00! 

So here is how you do it!

Here is what you'll need:

*  1 roll of wool per ball you'd like to make.  Make sure that the yarn you're using is 100% wool or it won't felt properly.

*  Old pantyhose or socks

*  A small amount of non-wool string (cotton or acrylic both work fine)

*  Scissors

Step 1 :Roll the wool like 15 times or so around your 3 fingers

Step 2:  Pinch the roll in the middle and wind continue wrapping the wool around, turning the ball slightly every few loops or so. You don't need to be neat about this first bit since it won't be visible once your ball is finished.

Once you reach the end of your roll of wool tuck the end deep into the ball or use a crochet hook to push it down. 

Step 3:

Put all of the balls into pantyhose and tie a tight knot with string in between each ball.  Throw these into your regular wash (the hotter you wash them the better it will be), then (keeping them in the pantyhose) toss them in the dryer for a load or 2.  Pull them out and cut them out of the pantyhose and now your dryer balls are ready to use and help save you time & money!