make your own wool dryer balls DIY

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I have been using wool dryer balls for about 10 years. I feel that they help with static and make your clothes fluffy. They are also said to help with cutting the drying time on your clothes. This will save money on the time the dryer runs.

I like the fact that we are not buying dryer sheets, saving us money.

I had bought a set of dryer balls and after many years, I have noticed I’m getting static in my clothes again. So I thought this time I would make my own.

It is best to have at least 3 balls when you use them in your dryer.

making wool dryer balls

3.5 package of 100% wool (pick light colors for light colored clothes and you can use dark color wool to use for dark colored clothes)

knee high nylon panty hose

pencil or crochet hook

I will say that I prefer 100% wool yarn to make them. (Paton is a brand that I used).

I bought a 3.5 oz package of wool and used that to make 1 wool ball. This was the perfect size.

You will want to start off the ball by making a few 1 inch loops going the same way. Then wrap yarn the other way. You will then be able to start making the ball. Keep wrapping the yarn around to form a nice tight ball.

When you reach the end of the yarn, the end needs to be tucked on the inside of the ball.

Take about 6 inches of the end and with the pencil or crochet hook, push it into the middle of the ball.

Repeat process to make another dryer ball.

Felting the wool dryer ball

Right now the dryer ball, is still just bunch of string balled together. We need the wool to felt (mush back together).

Take one of the nylons and carefully put the ball in it and tie a knot in it.

Wash the balls in hot water a couple times. Use the washer. I also took a pan with water and put them on the stove until the water was bubbling. Run the wool balls in the washer, then in the dryer. I did this 3 times before they felted like I wanted them to look.

Remove the wool balls from the nylons and if they felted and don’t look like they will fall apart. If they still look like string, you will want to repeat washing and drying.