How to Make Wool Dryer Balls With Essential Oils
Ingredients
- 1 skein 100% pure wool yarn (see notes above when choosing your yarn)
- Old pantyhose OR knee-high stockings
- Crochet hook
Instructions
- To start your homemade dryer ball, wrap the yarn around two fingers about 10 times. Slide the yarn off your fingers, then wrap the yarn around the middle of the yarn bundle. This will be the base of your ball.
- Continue wrapping the yarn around the base in every direction, until your ball has reached the desired size. Be sure that you are wrapping the yarn tightly. Tennis ball-sized is sufficient, but you can go as large as softball-sized to help decrease drying time even more.
- Once you have completed wrapping, cut the yarn, leaving a tail. Use a crochet hook or large needle to pull the thread into the ball. Trim the excess from the tail.
- Place your dryer ball(s) into the pantyhose or knee-high, knotting them closely in between and at the end. You can simply tie the hose, or you can use cotton yarn to tie off each section. Do NOT use wool yarn for this step, as it will felt.
- Wash your newly wrapped dryer balls on a hot water cycle and dry on high heat to felt them. You can do this with loads of laundry to help conserve energy. It may take 3-4 cycles for the wool strands to bond together and have the “felted” exterior you want to achieve.
- When the felting process is complete, remove the dryer balls from the hose, and pop them in your dryer with each load. For best results, use 3-4 DIY dryer balls for small and medium loads, 5-6 balls for larger loads. You can use them as-is or add 3-4 drops of essential oils to each ball with each load of laundry.
Notes
If you add essential oils to your dryer balls, you should let them absorb the oils before tossing them into the dryer. Though it is unlikely that there would be spotting from the oils if you skipped this step, it’s better to err on the side of caution and protect your clothing.