I’ve got big balls. Made from 100% wool yarn family brought back from the coast for me. I expected sock weight but this is more what’s referred to as, I think, worsted? Anyhoo, pretty thick. It was so nice though, beautiful colours. I didn’t really have a project for it and the dryer balls I made a while ago bit the bucket so I thought I’d wind this stuff up and felt it with the laundry. Unlike one of my impatient friends who shall remain nameless (ahem @JoyfulClover. I am a big liar who can’t keep secrets!) who ended up with a mess of yarn tangled up with their clothes (I shouldn’t laugh but I AM ), these turned out pretty good, I must say.
I wound them up and tied them tightly inside a nylon stocking. Then I found all the laundry I could wash and dry on HOT. There are 5 of us so it wasn’t that difficult, all the sheets, towels, socks, undies, tshirts and jeans in the place are SO DANGED CLEAN NOW!
I was a bit apprehensive about cutting them free, considering what happened to my friend! But they were fine except for this weird bit that was hanging free on the yellow ball. My partner said it looked like, erm, something.
I may do a bit of needlefelting to make sure they are really and truly not going to unwind in the dryer but they do feel pretty solid right now.
~ Yay DIY~
This is how I made some too. I did cut one out of the stocking too early but was able to put it back in another stocking and keep washing and drying.
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AIMR
(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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Balls are a good thing…
batgirl from the dead site made me a set of 3 that I am still using…my dog sort of chewed on one but not enough to damage it beyond use…
Good that you persisted…sometimes felling takes a very long time and lot of agitation and banging around…they are really great if you have to wash towels and blankets…seems to dry faster and fluffier
Your balls are lovely and luscious. They demanded a copious amount of hot, slippery agitation, but you endured and now they are going to be friends for life, flopping around proudly in the dryer. All they need now is a hanging sack, so they are handy, contained, and out of the way when not in use.
You totally can make these! With yarn or with wool roving, there are lots of tutorials online. I might rescue the older set I made years ago by adding a nice thick layer of roving, they were a combo of roving and yarn and have slowly started to come apart.
I totally would have taken them out of the stocking after the first couple rounds in the dryer if your yarn tangle hadn’t warned me off! I have a feeling yours will felt up eventually, it seems to take way longer than is reasonable. I must have washed and dried these a dozen times.
How much have they gotten used and how are they looking now? @calluna mentioned she thinks the yarn ones can start to unravel when they get old. Seems like the opposite of what you’d expect but maybe laundry products degrade the fibers after a while?
That’s what happened with the ones I had but I haven’t heard much about others’ experiences; they held up for a few years and were super-hard, so I think the individual fibers on the outer layers started disintegrating. I should add that it was a very rough and hairy wool, not the kind you’d use for needle-felting or objects close to the skin, and that could have affected the matter. They were a swap gift from dreadlocklove on the old site (and much loved!) so I don’t know what kind of wool or processes were used.
I was! to be fair, though, I did tell on myself, so it wasn’t truly a secret!
Also, I BOUGHT a felted dog ball (which is a regular felted ball, just marketed for dogs). And he loved that thing, truly! My other dog just wants to pluck it, so maybe I will just chuck it in the wash and it will become a dryer ball as well! A little nibble never hurt!
OH yes, let me be a warning to all ye to dare attempt!
I’m going to continue washing for quite some time.
I made them for @Lynx this past Christmas so hopefully they are still in good shape! I actually did make a few for me at the time but now I am embarrassed to say I haven’t actually used this. This will be the push I need to go get them and throw them in the dryer.
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Lynx
(In a world where you can be anything, be kind.)
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I have some that I got from a swap about a decade ago, which are still going strong. (Admittedly, I only use the dryer in the winter, so I’m not sure how that would compare to constant usage.)
The ones I’ve been using live inside the dryer, I leave them in there when I take stuff out so they are always included in every load, even if it’s not me doing the laundry (we’ve trained the kids to do their own every weekend or I would never have time for life, haha). Occasionally one ends up tangled in laundry but if I repair the old ones there will be 8 in total so it will hardly matter if one goes missing (they better not though, after all that work!).
Super cool! I love that they’re so colorful! I found a set of 3 on sale at a discount store a couple weeks back and have been liking the diminished dry time! They’re tennis ball/Chuck-it ball sized so I am careful to keep them stored in the dryer when there dog won’t find them! I haven’t decided how they are for diminishing static, yet. We’ve had a warm, wet winter so the static has been pretty minor so far.
I’m not sure, I am hyper chemical and fragrance sensitive so have never used any sort of laundry product with stuff in it to reduce static. Plus most of our clothes are natural fiber so that might be less staticy than synthetics? It is supposed to reduce static but I am not sure what that even means so… It does reduce drying time and can cut down on wrinkles too since things are pummelled around in the dryer rather than clumping up. They make a fun soft thumping sound in the barrel that I find quite amusing too
Thanks for sharing pics of your balls and letting us know how well they are working even after extensive use. I might try my hand at some balls of my own, but maybe not the blue ones.
), these turned out pretty good, I must say.
I just bought some to try and sure like how they work. I’ll have to keep in mind to make my own sometime.
