Giant Ball Of Yarn Tells Man's Life Story

FLORENCE, Ore. - It may never be as famous as the world's largest hand-dug well in Kansas or as large as its counterpart in Minnesota, but for Joe Dyer of Florence the 6-foot ball of string, twine and yarn that fills his carport also tells the history of his life.

Dyer, 46, said he started winding the ball of string when he was 9 years old.

"My grandmother gave me a book called `Homer and the Doughnut Factory,' " he said. "I don't remember the book very well, but in the book he started a ball of string. I decided I would do the same thing, so my grandmother gave me a ball of string, and it grew from there."

And ever since, Dyer has continued the project he and his grandmother started.

The ball weighs at least a ton, Dyer said. But the weight is not all string.

He started wrapping change in with the string when he was young and then began putting newspapers and other articles of his life into the ball to make a living history.

"It's a time capsule of my life and what's going on close to it," Dyer said. He said he adds to the ball of string at least once each week, and as the ball grows larger, it takes more and more string to make one wrap around it.

"It's getting hard to get enough twine to put on it because it doesn't take long until you're out of string," he said.

Dyer uses just about any type of string on the ball. It is made up of nylon, regular string, twine, yarn and even some small rope. He said he gets string from anywhere he can find it, including the string that seals dog-food bags.

The ball attracts many sightseers, he said. And his wife, Phoenix, said people often donate to Joe's hobby.

"Sometimes people even leave bags of yarn on our doorstep," she said.

The colors that Joe Dyer adds to his ball of string change from season to season.

"In October I make it orange and brown, and I make it green and red during the Christmas season," he said.

Phoenix Dyer, a clinical therapist, said it is often a helpful tool with her work.

"Usually if I have a tough case, I take them to see it, and it usually gets them to open up," she said. "Usually even the shyest child wants to ask questions about it."

She said she also used a photo of the ball of string, along with a textbook photo of the world's largest ball of twine in Darwin, Minn., which measures 12 feet 9 inches in diameter, during a speech she gave on obsessive-compulsive behavior.

However, she has "never regarded Joe's hobby in that light." She said the ball is a childhood project that has become a type of therapy for him.

The ball of string is something Joe said he plans on having for a long time to come.

"I plan on putting it in something like a gazebo so people can come look at it," he said.