One of the items that I sold at the craft fair this year was wool dryer balls. They were a huge hit, and for good reason.

• Wool dryer balls are non-toxic, making them a wonderful replacement to using dryer sheets, which contain all sorts of nasty chemicals and have a tendency to gum up the dryer screen over time, which may pose a fire hazard.
• Not only that, but they also replace the need for fabric softener (which I’ve never actually used), and depending on how much and what brand you use, by replacing both conventional dryer sheets and fabric softener,
• it can save you over $100 per year.
• And because dryer balls can last for over seven years, it can save your family nearly a grand. That doesn’t even factor in the energy savings, which I assume is pretty huge.
  

I’ve been using six balls in my dryer lately I’ve noticed that it has cut down drying time significantly, kept the clothes wrinkle and static-free, and imparts a very light scent thanks to adding a few drops of essential oil to each ball. My favorite is a combo of rose, grapefruit and tea tree. To make these balls, I used this tutorial from The Sleepytime Gal which uses 100% wool yarn, which I made sure to get with 40-50% off coupons. Wool yarn is spendy.

For Christmas presents I gave away what dryer balls I had leftover from the craft fair along with homemade laundry powder, which was very well received. After Christmas I started working on wool dryer balls using an old wool cardigan and vest (a gift from Kendra), and one of my husbands old hats that I accidentally put in the dryer. I used this tutorial from Eco-Friendly Homemaking, but used the felting methods from the previous tutorial by first creating a “core,” felting it, wrapping strips of wool fabric around the ball and hand-stitching it as I went, until it reached the desired size. Then I felted the balls twice in a pair of old pantyhose.

I won’t lie. It required a lot of hand-stitching. I used 100% cotton thread because I wanted something that would shrink up with the wool, but I switched to regular thread when my spool ran out. I’ve had no issues so far.

I made eleven balls using this method, and it took me about three weeks of working on it in little bits here and there. It was actually really nice having an ongoing project, something to keep my hands busy, mostly during nap times. I allowed myself to watch movies while I stitched (something I never do during the day), and really enjoyed watching New York in the 50’s and Magic Trip on Netflix. Totally interesting watching those two films back-to-back. I can’t really recommend using one method over the other, but I will say that re-purposing old woolen items is not only eco-friendly, but free.

Happy Stitching!