Dryer Balls

Living in the beautiful Mallee with our glorious weather I generally hang my clothes out to dry on the old faithful Hills Hoist.  Occasionally I use the clothes dryer when the weather is bad or I have let the laundry pile grow to the size of Mt Everest.  When I do use the dryer I am always frustrated by the static electricity build up which results in clothes sticking to each other and just being a nuisance. Grrr.

After I bit of research on the internet I found an upcycled natural alternative to dryer sheets. With a bit of tweaking to suit my ingredients I made these dryer balls.

They seemed to be working well after the first use and then disaster struck, aaaargh. Apparently I needed to secure the ends of the wool "securely".

Take two and this time I used the wool needle to darn the ends securely.

What you need:
100% wool
stockings

Wrap the end of the yarn around 2 of your fingers about 10 times, remove it and turn it 90° and wrap another 10 times. Keep repeating this until you are able to hold the "ball" and then continue wrapping tightly forming a round shape.  Once your ball is roughly tennis ball size cut the yarn and tuck the ends into the sides (note: see my above error, so make sure this is secure).

Repeat this process until you have 3 or more balls.

Cut one leg off the stockings, place one ball into the bottom of the leg and tie a knot above to secure it, repeat until all balls have been added and secured.

Put in the washer (can be with dirty laundry) and wash on the hottest setting. This allows the yarn to felt. Once washed dry the balls thoroughly in the dryer at the hottest setting.

When they are dry remove from the stockings and they are ready to use.

I added a couple of drops of essential oil (I used lavender), tossed them in the dryer.  The clothes were mostly static free and smelled lightly of lavender.

Re-add the essential oil every few loads.

Enjoy

Ann
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