DIY Wool Dryer Balls

Let me introduce y'all to one of my most favorite small DIY projects I have done lately, my wool dryer balls. These things are the best laundry items ever. Let me tell you the main benefits, and then i'll show you how easy they are to make.
Benefits:

1. Cuts your drying time in almost 1/2
2. Prevents static in clothes
3. Softens clothes as a dryer sheet would
4. Much more eco-friendly than dryer sheets are
5. Can be used with any type of fabric, cloth diapers included {which dryer sheets are a BIG NO-NO for cloth diapers}

I had seen these sold all the time on sites like Babysteals and Zulily, but I knew that they had to be easy to make. To make four large sized dryer balls {I keep feeling like I have to write dryer in front of balls for this post to not get weirdos finding it in google!} this is what you need:

1. 100% wool { I ended up using about 1 1/2 things of Wool}
2. Some sort of tights or knee-highs {yes, I did just write knee-highs...who owns those now a-days?!}
3. String
4. Scissors

• I have pictured a measuring tape, but didn't find it necessary at all actually, so ignore it:)

• Begin by rolling the wool around your fingers until you create a little ball, and then take it off of your fingers and continue rolling until you have a ball that is about the size of a lime.
• Once the dryer ball is 'lime' sized, cut your wool and tuck the end into the center. You can use a crochet hook if you have one, or you can be super classy like me and simply use a bobbypin:

• Once the end is tucked, put the dryer ball all the way in the tights and tie it off with your string. You will end up having all four dryer balls in the tights separated by the string. Now throw them in the washer and dryer with your next load of laundry. I washed and dried mine about three times. This allows the dryer balls to felt {harden in to firm dryer balls {again, key word DRYER}}.
• Once they have felted, cut the string and take them out of the tights for the next round. You now are making the dryer ball its full size. Simply wrap the wool around the dryer ball more until it reaches about the size of a large lemon. 

• Once you have finished wrapping, cut and tuck in the end of the wool again, and place back in the tights. Felt again with your wash, and then they are finished and ready to be used!!

I have had mine going for about two months now and love them. They truly do cut down on drying time and make the clothes so incredible soft. You can even add a couple of drops of essential oils to them so they add fragrance to your clothes, but I just keep mine unscented. Hope you like the tip, and put it to good use.

PS- I did a little Pinterest tip yesterday for my shower curtain liner. I simply threw that, along with my actual shower curtain {since it is solid white as well} in the washing machine and ran a hot wash with just bleach. The curtain came out looking brand new. Why didn't I think of this on my own earlier?! I love sparkling clean things, especially in the area where we go to get clean:)

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