Alpaca Dryer Balls!

                                                 

Making Alpaca Dryer Balls is not only time intensive, hard on the hands but also takes a lot of raw material to make them. The cost of the dryer balls is more than worth the time, the materials and the effectiveness they have on your clothes. Dryer balls are a chemical free way to dry clothes, remove static cling and leave your clothes super soft. When I make them I wash our second cut alpaca and allow to partly dry. I weigh up about 2 ounces of the fiber. This is the part of the animal we can't spin but it becomes very useful for this project. 

Using Dawn Dishwashing Detergent I place a small amount in a bowl and add the hotest water I can tolerate to the bowl. 

I then dunk it into the hot water and work it into a ball, squeezing and rotating in my hand. Often I will put just a small drop of detergent directly onto the fiber as I am woking it into a ball. This really helps tame the fibers and get them to work with you.

Our shearers in the past have made felted sheets that I have had laying around forever so I cut some up, wrapped them around the ball of already worked fiber. This is then dunked into the bowl of hot water and aggitated and squeezed over and over until it begins to cover. You get a nice squishy ball this way. I place it into a sock, tying it off and adding more as I go. This is then placed into the wash with several others and then into the dryer.

When done they are these lovely natural colors of our alpacas! We have had so many request to bring back our alpaca balls, have had numerous request for them at shows so they will be ready to go soon! Stay tuned for our new eco friendly packaging change we are making too!