Washing wool

FrugalFriend

Yes another laundry washing tip, this time, a tip to wash wool and delicates for next to nowt.

Instead of using expensive specialist wool washing liquid such as Woolite (ouch! :eek:) or supermarket own brand equivalents, I use shampoo. Yes, any mild family shampoo will do. I use between 30-50ml per wash, depending on the number of items, and how dirty they are. I use this for handwash, and in my automatic machine on the wool wash, just put the shampoo in the draw and switch on. Obviously you can still only wash wool items that say machine washable on the label.

To finesse (Martin-ism ) this tip a little more, the small bottles of shampoo you get when staying in hotels, are usually perfect for this, so can can wash your wool, effectively for free.

shandyclover

Thanks FrugalFriend for that tip. Was just at Mr T's yesterday thinking I should buy some more wool wash - resisted thinking there must be a more MSE way and lo and behold your post today!

valk_scot

I use shampoo or bubble bath for washing all sorts of wool. I'm a spinner so I use wool straight from the sheep's back and hand wash this, skeins of finished yarn and finished garments too in shampoo. Our hair and animal hair are not so very different in structure after all.

Two tips: Firstly scents like lavender repel moths so I use Tesco Value lavender bubble bath for wool most of the time. Secondly a little hair conditioner in the rinse water helps with softening the wool fibres without the sticky feel some fabric conditioners can give.

uolypool

My son has bought 2 very expensive jumpers, one is pure wool and says hand wash only.I have a hand wash cycle on my washine machine so am presuming that it will be ok to wash it on that cycle.However I am a bit concerned as to what detergent to wash it in.Do I have to use a special wool one or is there anything else I can use .It will be a very expensive mistake if I get it wrong:eek:

valk_scot

Advice? Hand them straight back to him and tell him to wash them himself. Grown men that can afford posh jumpers are old enough to do their own laundry rather than getting mum to do it.

However, tell him not to trust non-superwash wool jumpers to washing machines. Hand wash means just that. hand hot water, minimal agitation, no hot-cold shock in rinse water, roll in a towel to absorb excess moisture, reshape and dry flat. Don't use washing machine powder on wool either, especially not enzyme (bio) powders. Use a liquid wash made for wool, like Woolite, or mild shampoo and a drop of conditioner in the rinse water. I work with wool and wool fibres a lot (I'm a hand spinner) and that's what I'd do anyway.

Olliebeak

Hear, hear, valk_scot - heartily agree with the 'give it back to HIM to wash' advice :T .


Your advice is exactly what I do with my handknits - gentle liquid detergent or well-dissolved soapflakes in warm water; gentle squeezing in the water; NO lifting out of the water - just tip the bowl sideways to empty the water while holding the item in the bottom of the bowl; definitely no hot/cold shock treatment; gentle squeezing to remove excess rinse water; rolled in a large towel to absorb most of the dampness and then dry flat!

Makes me very angry when I've hand-knitted an item and then find that people don't have a clue how to wash them properly.

Something that I've taken a week to lovingly knit, can be ruined by an hour in a washing machine :mad:.

uolypool

valk_scot wrote: »

Advice? Hand them straight back to him and tell him to wash them himself. Grown men that can afford posh jumpers are old enough to do their own laundry rather than getting mum to do it.

However, tell him not to trust non-superwash wool jumpers to washing machines. Hand wash means just that. hand hot water, minimal agitation, no hot-cold shock in rinse water, roll in a towel to absorb excess moisture, reshape and dry flat. Don't use washing machine powder on wool either, especially not enzyme (bio) powders. Use a liquid wash made for wool, like Woolite, or mild shampoo and a drop of conditioner in the rinse water. I work with wool and wool fibres a lot (I'm a hand spinner) and that's what I'd do anyway.

Telling him to wash it himself is the best advice I could have recieved:T.Will show him what you have put about washing it and will make him go and buy some Woolite , couldn't believe it when he showed me what he had bought .I could have bought a whole outfit or 2 (slight exaggeration) for what he has just spent on a jumper:eek:.Well its his mistake now if he gets it wrong , my hands are not upto handwashing so its called tough on him i guess.;)

ermintrude1

Having previously shrunk or matted beyond help, anything woollen, regardless of how carefully I hand or machine-washed; I have been a ‘wool free’ zone for at least fifteen years.

A while back, OH returned from his golf club with two woollen sweaters, which cost him about £70. I warned him that their days were numbered if I washed them and he would have to do it himself.

However, after several months of watching the lunch stains grow down the front I was forced to intervene.

I found this odd sounding washing instruction on the Internet, at a couple of different sites;

use HOT water and gentle shampoo. Do not use detergent, it raises the scales on the wool and causes matting. Agitate the shampoo in the water, then add the jumper and leave it for 10 mins. No prodding, poking or kneading allowed. Change water and repeat the process (do not vary water temperature) to rinse. Finally I put it on spin at 600rpm and dried flat on a bath towel.

Clean, fresh and unshrunk result! :j

marmiterulesok

Interesting to read about about not using detergent,as I have just washed some woollens in detergent!
I still would prefer warm water to hot TBH.
Before putting in to spin,lay the garment flat on a large towel and roll up to remove excess water.Put the garment to spin in the machine,but still wrapped up in the towel,to protect it.I would change the towel if it's sopping wet.

Ballymackeonan

I've been washing woolens and vintage cashmeres for years with no problems, including some hand-knits I designed years ago, and put hundreds of hours of work into - it would have been a disaster if anything happened to them!

If something is very delicate, I wash it in Woolite in almost cold water, otherwise I use Dreft, with no more than lukewarm water. Leave the garment to soak for a couple of minutes, then gently squeeze the liquid through it. Don't rub at stained bits, but I would use some ordinany soap on stains, but again very gently. Rinse a couple of times with cool/lukewarm water.

It should only ne a short spin as too much spinning is supposed to cause felting. I was lucky enough to see an old-fashioned spin dryer in Curry's a few years ago - it's ideal for this as I can judge the spin exactly!

If you can dry flat in an airing cupboard, that's ideal.

Lily-Lu

Glad to hear they turned out alright. You're very brave. I doubt I'd have been brave enough to use hot water.

We have 5 pure wool articles in regular use here, but they're all labelled machine-washable. The wool programme on my machine has a maximum of 30 degrees wash and 600 spin speed. I use Woolite in the machine and find it really good, because it not only cleans them, it keeps them soft too:)