BALLS! Balls for the dryer

Oh my. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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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Yes! I use them all the time and so far so good!

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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.)

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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!).

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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.

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Awesome dryer balls :green_heart::elephant::balloon:

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Looks like you’ve got the biggest balls of them all!

Great project - do you find it reduces static from the dryer?

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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 :smile::yarn:

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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.

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That is really more of a green. Which may be worse?

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Green balls are right out.

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Success! They have survived a trip in the dryer without even a hint of unravelling. They’re on their second voyage now, lol. I was so chuffed to find them in with the clothes, still round :yarn: :laughing:

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My freind was making some dryer balls and used needle felting to ensure cohesion until they were felted. Hers were beautiful. Mine tend to be the ugly yarn someone “gifted” me. I crocheted covers for my balls and then felted them…still ugly, but they have not come apart. I was unsure all the wool was 100%…so covers were insurance. They work great so it must have been wool.

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Oh, crochetting covers is a terrific idea! I used up all that heavy wool though and only have very nice stuff left, thin for socks and super chunky fancy. I was thinking of using some already fulled sweater scraps to sew beach ball segmented covers for the old balls that started coming apart. I may do it, just to rescue those instead of throwing them out. That will give me eight of them! Lol, I will have the most colourful laundry accessories ever :smile:

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I did it! I rescued the old ratty dryer balls and sewed them new covers! I am SO pleased with myself right now, I thought it would be ages getting round to that project or, let’s be real, giving up and tossing those balls out :roll_eyes:.

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It happened! After almost a year of heavy use, the outer strands have come loose on a few of the balls. So far I’ve been able to repair them by pulling the strands straight through the middle of the ball with a long needle. I’m thinking about another solution though. Maybe Carol’s idea of crocheted covers. I wonder if there’s a fiber that discharges static better than wool though. This winter our laundry is positively crackling with electric energy!

Dryer balls are cool, but if you want to really cut static electricity, get a humidifier!

I live in the desert, with single-digit humidity. Clothes act weird, you get a shock every time you touch somebody, and your skin dries out. I’m getting wrinkles!
We rum a humidifier all year long to keep the house around 45%.

We also use dryer balls because they cut even more static. And they’re cool!

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It’s no wonder, with you and Rob’s high-voltage chemistry in the house! :firecracker: :grin:

Maybe cover the ball with a layer of additional plain wool, felted, not spun into yarn?

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The first balls I made were like that, yarn w a felted outer layer. It peeled off after a while, I sewed wool sweater covers for those.

I discharge his face every morning before kissing him bye when he drops me off at the office, lol. If not, the shock makes our fillings ache!

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