Want wool dryer balls with a little pizazz?
If you are going to make your own wool dryer balls, it is easy to add a little decoration to them during the process. There is no reason to add pops of color to your dryer balls other than for fun, of course. My kids like to lay with the dryer balls, so adding distinctive markings to some of them, makes the kids’ games more interesting.
You need:
- Unwashed wool roving or batting
- An old pair of tights, pantyhose, or dress socks
- Rubber bands or string
- Colored raw wool yarn or felt
Roll a bit of batting in your palm. Pull more batting from the bunch and drop it around the ball. Keep it snug enough to hold together. Keep adding wool to your ball until it is about the size of a softball. It seems big now, but it will shrink up a ton.
Now take some of your colored wool yarn, and wrap it around the ball. You can make stripes or zigzags. If you want perfect stripes or shapes, cut them out with wool felt and place them on the balls.
Put the balls inside the tights, separating each ball by tying the string or Rubber bands on the outer side of the tights. Your are tying between balls much like your would links of sausage. Once all of your balls are securely and snuggly tied into the pantyhose/tights, they are ready for the washer and dryer.
When you are using raw batting or raw roving, one run through the washer and dryer is all you need to fully felt the wool and for tight balls. Keep in mind, they first run will make whatever laundry you wash them with smell like lanolin.
OK, so if you make dryer balls with your kids, they will not come out looking very perfect or commercial, haha. Oh well, you get the idea. Either way, making wool dryer balls can be a fun little project with your kids and it will lower your energy consumption. Two wins in my book.