Dryer Balls

I sat here and stared at a blank page for a long time, trying to come up with something to blog.  So I fell back to my Christmas gifts.  Every year I get something "green" for Christmas and this year I got dryer balls.  I've used dryer balls before, even blogged about them, but these new ones are different.  My old ones were bumpy plastic things that would crack after repeated use.  These new ones are wool.  Let me back up.  What's a dryer ball, you ask?  It's a ball that goes in the dryer, or course!  Why you use it is the interesting part.  They're supposed to reduce drying time and help soften clothes, reduce wrinkles and static.  The wool variety will also absorb some of the moisture to help decrease the drying time even more.  Tennis balls are sometimes used as dryer balls as well.

The dryer balls I got for Christmas from my mom were from The Sitting Tree.  (Pictured above) I like the idea of dryer balls.  I like not needing to buy dryer sheets (although they work WONDERS to stop static hair in the winter-only an issue for Ellie now that mine is so short) and I like that they're all natural as opposed to the plastic (what was I just saying about heating plastics?!), but in reality, I'm not sure I LOVE them.  These wool ones really do absorb the moisture, I can tell when I pull them out of the dryer that they're still a little damp.  You can even add a drop of essential oils to them before you toss them in the dryer and voila, naturally scented clothes!  (Actually, I was just rereading the directions on their Etsy page and you need to let the oil dry overnight before tossing them in with clothes to prevent spotting.)
Mom got me a 5 pack, which after I read their Etsy page is about half of what I need for a full large load, so I couldn't really give them a fair trial when I wasn't really using them as directed.  But here's my issue.  I lose them like crazy!  I had 5, now I'm down to 3!  One's been gone awhile and this last guy I just lost in my last round of laundry.  The other issue I have stems from the way I do laundry.  First, I alternate days of washing and folding/putting away.  If I washed a load, then folder it and put it away it might work better, but since I wash 3-4 loads in a row, it's hard to dig out the dryer ball from each load to throw it back in with the next load.  I think if I had about 40 dryer balls, I'd be in good shape, but that's a TON to spend when 5 were $30!  HOWEVER, when I Googled "Felted Wool Dryer Balls" some YouTube clips came up.  I checked them out and these dryer balls look SUPER easy to do.  Basically you just roll a ball of WOOL yarn, wash it on hot and throw it in the dryer.  I think I see a project in Ellie's future... maybe "Make A dryer ball"  should be added to my chore sticks!