Felted wool dryer balls

A few months ago my mom asked me what kind of fabric softener I used, because she had just found a tutorial for making fabric-softener-like wool balls (you'll see).  I proceeded to boast in the fact that I didn't need fabric softener.  Rarely did our clothes wrinkle, and there was never a problem with static.

Don't speak so proudly unless you're prepared for Murphy's Law to come punch you in the face.

It wasn't 2 days later that the static electricity in our clothes was so bad that the hairs on my arms would stand up straight as I attempted to fold laundry.

I really don't want to use fabric softener (liquid or sheets).  Liquid because I don't want any residue in the washer (it'll coat the fibers of the cloth diapers and cause them to hold undesirable scents) and sheets because those tend to create a waxy buildup in the lint trap of the dryer, reducing its effectiveness, and there are chemicals in it and I'm really trying to go as chemical-free in this house as possible.

So I talked to mom about what she did and I found this cool little tutorial (very similar to what she described).

Here's how it looked for me:

An old, unlined, uncomfortably scratchy, oddly fitting wool jacket that I bought for $5 a few years ago and may have worn twice.  A scane (sp?) of 100% wool yarn, and wool roving.

Cut the fabric into strips and begin to form a ball out of it.

Tightly wrap the yarn around the wool ball.

And then the roving around the yarn.  A word to perfectionists: it may not really resemble a perfect ball shape yet.  I had a hard time with this because I desperately wanted to make it perfect, but it's nearly impossible to.  But no fear...

You then stuff the balls into a pantyhose leg.  Tie each one separately and tightly.  Then run them through a hot cycle in the washing machine and dry them completely.  This is the how the wool felts.  After they came out of the dryer, I cut mine out of the pantyhose and decided to re-stuff them into another pantyhose leg and repeat the washing/drying step.  Then after they came out of the dryer the 2nd time, they were felted and beautiful.

That's it!  They're ready to go.  Just pop them in the dryer for each load of clothes.  I forgot to take an after picture right when I completed the project, so this one's from about a dozen dryer loads of use.

So the run-down of how it works is that the wool soaks in most of the moisture from your load of clothes and evenly disperses it throughout the dryer, so it stays more humid throughout the dryer during the drying time, reducing the potential for static electricity. And I've noticed that I can have the heat setting on medium instead of high, and my clothes still dry faster than before, with no wrinkling.

I'm not sure if these are going to last as long as the ones in the original tutorial.  She said they can last up to 5 years.  I think I forgot to put my washing machine on the hot setting when I washed them, so that could be the reason.  But so far, 12 loads in and they're doing great!

What I spent: $3
1) wool jacket from the closet: $0
2) yarn from Hobby Lobby with 40% off coupon: $3
3) roving from my mom (she gave me her extra): $0