advice on whether to use dryer balls for AIO drying

[Peace+Hope]

my sister is expecting her first child soon, and has decided to go with bumgenius all-in-one diapers. she picked them in part b/c of convenience/ease of use.

in the spirit of helping her make things easier, i was thinking of using some old wool yarn i have to make felted dryer balls. someone mentioned (in another thread) that they help cloth dipes dry faster.

i've never made or used dryer balls before, so i wanted to get experienced opinions on:

- if they do help cloth dipes dry faster (i assume by absorbing some of the water)
- if they would be too heavy/bump around too much and possibly rough up the dipes, causing excessive wear
-how many would be needed to make a difference in a load - 2 or three? more?

thank you in advance for any input!

[Blueone]

I made wool dryer balls from here: http://www.mothering.com/discussions/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=14689560

I think they've made a difference and I like them a lot! It used to take 3 dryer cycles to get our diaper inserts dry (Ai2) but now it takes just over 2. They're easy to make and last a really long time. I made 8, they do bump around if the dryer isn't really full, but with the diapers they get caught up in them and I haven't noticed any excessive wear and tear on the diapers.

[Peace+Hope]

heh, that's the pattern i was thinking of using!

so, you use 8 at once?

[Blueone]

No, I usually only use 4. The other 4 are backup when they wear out or if I can't find one because it got caught up in a sheet.

[Peace+Hope]

Originally Posted by Blueone

No, I usually only use 4. The other 4 are backup when they wear out or if I can't find one because it got caught up in a sheet.

thanks so much - i don't have enough yarn to make 8!


any other moms with experience on this?