Hand dyed wool dryer balls

Ok so I bought the wool yarn for the sole purpose of making wool dryer balls. In a previous post I showed how I dyed that yarn using kool-aid. Well after 24 hours of drying it was finally ready to start making into dryer balls.

I used the entire 8oz skein to make one pair.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Start a core with your yarn

Step 2: Keep winding wool till the core starts to round out

Step 3: Keep winding, you're half way there

Step 5: At last 2 finished wool yarn balls

Step 6: Use a crochet hook to secure the loose ends of the yarn inside the ball

Step 7: Stuff the yarn balls into a knee high sock, tie off between each ball, toss the caterpillar into a pillow case, wash on hot water with regular laundry, dry on hot heat, rewet or wash , then run through a hot dryer again.

Remove from sock and enjoy your new fuzzy wool dryer balls. They will continue to felt with continued use in the dryer. No need for fabric softener sheets, wool contains natural oils that soften clothes.

Dyeing wool take 2

Alright so my first attempt at dyeing the wool batting didn't turn out so well. The green color was absorbed by the top of the wool before it even had a chance to reach the bottom of the batting.

Back to the drawing board I went....

What if I put all the dye into the crock pot with the vinegar and water BEFORE adding the wool?

Well part of the scientific process is trials, so here goes:

Step 1: Make a dye bath (hot water, kool-aid or food coloring, and 1/2 cup white vinegar

Step 2: submerge wool into dye bath

Step 3: Use spoon to gently squish wool into dye bath till fully submerged

Step 4: Wait about 45 minutes

Step 5: When a spoon dipped into wool yield clear water, wool is done

Step 6: Dump wool gently into a colander to drain/cool

Step 7: Once cool transfer to a towel to dry, you may have to unroll the wool batting to make it dry faster, re-roll once dry

TIPS: Handle wet/hot wool very gently, any agitation or friction will cause the wool to begin to felt.

Did it work?

Color is even on both sides of the wool!

YAY! Success!

Here is all the wet wool batting

TIP: I did end up un-rolling all the colors and laying them flat to dry because they were still damp after 24 hours and I am too impatient to wait...

This is the wool batting re rolled into bales.

Finally ready to take to the preschool on Thursday and teach the kids how to felt their toy balls!

First times a charm, right?

WRONG!!!

Ok so here it is TRIAL 1 of dyeing the wool roving.

So first you divide your dry roving into smaller sections

Next you place your roving section into a crock pot and cover with water and 1/2 cup white vinegar, turn the crock to high and allow to slowly heat up.

Next you mix your dye, you can use kool-aid, food coloring, or gel coloring. Use HOT water, because cold water will shock the roving and cause it to felt.

Ok so now you pour the hot dye into the crock with the wool. Use a spoon to gently spread the color throughout the crock.

Cover with an inverted lid, and allow to "cook" for about an hour or till a spoon dipped into the water shows clear water in the crock.

Once the water is clear, gently dump the contents of crock into a colander that is in a sink. Be careful to not agitate the wool too much or else it will felt. Allow to drain and cool. Once cool squish out the excess water and transfer to a towel to dry.

Hmfpt? The dye didn't make it to the bottom of the wool. Crap, back to the drawing board

dying... dyeing... dead

DYEING! Wool yarn that is!

I finally found 100% virgin wool yarn today! I was like a kid in a candy store at Michael's crafts!  I went in for Dylon fabric dye and came out with a $9 skein of beautifully soft wool yarn. I was jumping up and down squealing with joy! (Imagine some crazy woman 35 weeks pregnant jumping and squealing in the very back corner of the store; made you laugh, didn't it).

Lion Brand

Ok, so as soon as I pulled myself back together, hoping no one I *knew* saw me, I took my lovely purchases to the counter to check out. $9.61 later and I was on my way home with my bland wool yarn.

I have been planning on dyeing wool yarn for a while so I pulled up my saved sites and refreshed my memory of the processes I wanted to use.

I started by winding the wool around a folding chair.

My little girl Em wanted to help so I let her wrap for a few.

After you have all the wool wrapped around the chair you need to secure the loop with acrylic yarn

Here is the loop off the chair

 Next you will place your loop into a dry/cold crock pot.

 

Add water, and 1 cup vinegar. You need enough to cover the yarn. Press down with your hands to completely wet the yarn and remove all air bubbles. Once wet turn crock pot on high.

 

Now it's time to start thinking about colors. Choose colors that complement each other and can blend well. The colors will mix in the crock pot.

I call these colors "bottle of sunshine"

You need to dump 2 packets of kool-aid of each color into a tall glass

Add about 5-6 ounces of HOT water to each cup

SLOWLY pour your colored water into different areas of the crock

It's hard to tell in this picture, but there are 3 different colors in there

Set a timer for 1 hour. Come back and check the progress of your cooking yarn. It is VERY important that you do not jiggle or agitate the hot yarn, or else it WILL felt.

If a spoon dipped into the crock yields clear water, your dyeing is done. Turn off the heat and take your crock pot to the bathroom. Very gently dump, er glide, the contents of the crock into a clean bathtub. Allow to cool completely. Don't touch or move the yarn, to avoid felting.

I wonder how this would look knitted?

Once cool, use a little shampoo to wash the yarn, very gently, using luke warm or cool water. Be careful to not agitate the wool too much or else you will cause it to felt. Once the yarn is washed clean, gently squish out the excess water. Lay on a thick towel to dry. Drying may take up to 24 hours.

Once fully dry, you can rewind the yarn and now you are ready to knit, crochet, or do whatever it is you plan on doing with your yarn. I am planning on felting mine.

I am the proud creator of 35 felted wool ball cores.

Alright, so I did a mini practice with a small fluff of wool and made a tiny wool ball. That turned out pretty cool. So I decided to make a whole slew for Em's class using the quicker felting method involving knee high panty hose and the washing machine.

So I ripped open one of these rolls and this is what I was faced with; a large pile of super soft wool.

The next thing I did was pull off thin sections of the wool; like this.

I started rolling the loose wool into balls about the size of a softball.

As each ball was finished I stuffed it into a knee high panty hose.

Here is one knee high sock filled with 3 unfelted ball cores; they were made larger than needed due to the shrinking nature of the felting process.

Next I placed the panty hose caterpillars inside a pillow case and tied it shut.

Tossed all the pillow case bags in the washing machine with some laundry that needed washed, added detergent and started the load.

When the wash cycle was finished I removed the pillow cases and tossed the rest of the laundry (now covered in wool) into the dryer. Then I began the long grueling process of ripping the balls that were now felted to the panty hose stockings. Let me tell you from personal experience only a fool willingly felts and removes 35 balls in ONE sitting. The process of yanking the wools balls free took about 2 hours and left my hands very raw. BUT it was so worth it!

I can't wait to dye the rest of the wool and start making these toys pretty!

4 pounds of wool batting arrived!

I was so excited to see the big box of the softest fluffy wool batting that I have ever seen! Of course, I couldn't resist testing out the felting process, I mean I wouldn't be called OCD otherwise!

Here is the untouched carded wool batting that I ordered from West Earl Woolen Mill in PA!

This is the fluff ball that I pulled off the ends to do a practice run:

This is the finished felted mini ball!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Walmart to pick up some supplies that I need to make the real ball cores. It's going to be an interesting checkout to say the least!

1. 6 pairs of cheapo knee high stockings (you know the kind that come in the plastic bubbles)

2. 10 packs of Kool-Aid (haven't decided a flavor, er I mean color profile yet)

3. 1 felting needle

4. Various wool yarns (hopefully I can raid the remenant bin)

Check back soon for more updates on the BALL PROJECT!

Let's get woolly!

So my middle daughter's preschool class is starting a project on balls. They will be exploring the many types, and uses of balls. I had recently discovered the wonders of using felted wool balls in the dryer to fluff your laundry without the added chemicals of fabric softeners.


Here is the link to where I got instructions to make felted wool dryer balls:

http://bnyce.tenyearsof.us/goodmama-make-your-own-wool-dryer-balls

My first thought was visiting the class and teaching them how to make their very own wool laundry balls. My kids are pretty understanding of doing things more natural and crunchy and actually get excited about all the cool home projects that come from that. I was a little unsure about how cool it would be for twenty five 3-5 year old kids to make a hard as a rock set of balls to take home and put in the dryer.

Thus yet another Google search was sparked. I was on a quest to find information about homemade TOY balls that could be made easily with a large group of preschool age kids.

Voila I came across several sites about felting wool to make toys... I was shocked at the sheer number of toys that can be made with felted wool. But I needed to focus... Her project is balls.

I came across a cool blog: http://crunchyparent.com/

On this site this awesome PhD mom, shares how to hand-felt balls using wool batting/roving. She also shares a shortcut to make the same style of balls using the convenience of the modern washing machine. Awesome!

Make sure you check back often as I will be posting my progress in turning 4 pounds of carded wool batting into at least 25 soft wool balls (might even splurge and add jingle bells). Then I will be sharing pictures of the process of teaching the kids how to decorate their ball cores with kool-aid dyed wool (for the privacy of the preschool kids, I will only post pictures of my kid working on her ball).

Check out this site for awesome instructions on how to kool-aid dye wool.

http://cyberseams.com/article/105501/craft_basics/how_to_dye_wool_roving_with_kool_aid.html

Here is one about dying wool yarn, with neat color examples!

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html