How my dryer got some balls

Dryer balls are good for several reasons. Here are the top 3:
1. They cut your drying time by about 15-20% on average because they keep your laundry fluffed up and separated and allow the heat to get to everything evenly.
2. You could eliminate using fabric softener and switch to vinegar quite comfortably because the wool helps prevent static and the gentle bouncing of the dryer balls softens your clothes.
3. If you love to hang your clothes outside to dry, but don't love your jeans and blankets feeling like cardboard, you could dry your clothes outside and pop them in the dryer for about 10 minutes with the balls and they will bounce the soft back into your clothes.

Making them is super simple. You need a skein of wool yarn. It needs to be 100% wool yarn because the wool felts together to make the balls solid. Wool also doesn't hold onto moisture.

You take the yarn and start winding it into balls. If you're new to this, you start by wrapping the yarn a few times around your fingers, then slide it off, pinch the ends between your fingers and start wrapping. Keep wrapping around and around making sure you turn the little baby ball frequently to avoid bunching and to make your ball.

I didn't make huge balls. They comfortably fit in the palm of my hand.

You can use a crotchet hook or a stick or scissors to poke the end of your yarn deep down into the center of your new dryer ball.

The you take your dryer balls and put them into the bottom part of a stocking. Put one in all the way to the bottom and knot the stocking, then put your next one in and knot, and so on and so forth until your balls are all firmly in your stocking. This step helps to keep the yarn in place until it felts up.

Now you wash and dry them at least 3 times with loads of laundry. Try to make at least two of these washings be in a hot water load. Just drop your dryer balls into the load of laundry and then into the dryer.

After 3 washes, you can see if they have felted into solid blobs. You can check right through the stockings and try to gently move a piece of yarn. Once it's solid, you can take them out and you are done.

Dryer balls just get thrown into your dryer with each load and they bounce around and work their magic. They last for ages.

Please share your story with us if you have been using them : )